Puyang Li is a Ph.D. student in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at the Arizona State University. Trained as an interdisciplinary researcher, he is interested in China’s approaches and practices in African agricultural development and the sustainability implications for land changes and local impacts. Exploring the socioecological matrix – the links between environmental conservation and community development in particular – constitute the core essences of his research. He applies experimental, observational, participatory, and modeling approaches to test theories on coupled human-natural systems and sustainability. He has conducted empirical research on subsistence and biophysical systems in East Africa (Tanzania in particular). His most recent research project focuses on the impacts of China’s large-scale land transactions on food security, smallholder wellbeing, and ecosystem services in sub-Saharan Africa as well as their outreaching connections with broader systems that transcend spatiotemporal and institutional scales.