Welcome to my homepage! My name is Zhan ZHANG, which is written as 张 展 in simplified Chinese, the kind of form that I grew up reading and writing in mainland China; and 張 展 in traditional Chinese, the form used in Hong Kong, Taiwan and elsewhere overseas which I'm inclined to learn and use more often nowadays -- of course you have to keep in mind that most East Asians put their surname first in their languages, so that you know which character is which ~~
I adopted the English name "Lawrence" since coming to the United States in August 2005. When people ask me whether I prefer to be called "Lawrence" or "Zhan", I always say "as you like!"
(Continue to read the story of my name...)
Right now I'm a PhD student in the Tepper School of Business (GSIA prior to 2004), Carnegie Mellon University. My research area is Organizational Behavior and Theory, and I'm also affiliated with the Center for Behavioral Decision Research (CBDR). Outside of my research life I'm interested in literature, movie, music and arts; and I also enjoy running, swimming, tennis, traveling and making new friends.
In college (Renmin University of China, or "Renda") I took two years of electives in French, and can read basic French, but I've had very few chance to use my French so am getting rusty. It is my big wish that I can pick it up again someday, and show it off in Paris...
Oh, about the title of this homepage -- Odyssey -- I think my journey across the Pacific is more than an "Odyssey" in terms of distance, although much less so in the sense of adversity conquered. "Odyssey" is the first word that jumped out of the remnant of my literature memory when it comes to the point of name-giving -- I am still an avid reader, although mostly online...
That's it for now, enjoy the rest of the O-D-Y-S-S-E-Y!
