About

Dr. Rachel J.C. Fu is the Chair and Professor of the Department of Tourism, Hospitality, and Event Management at the University of Florida, where she also serves as the Director of the Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute. She has extensive experience in the tourism and hospitality industry and has held academic positions at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where she was the founding Director of the Center for Sustainable Business and Development. Dr. Fu was recognized as TnHTA Educator of the Year for her excellence in research and workforce development for the industry. Her academic leadership includes serving as graduate program director at UTK and being appointed as a visiting professor at Yale University. She has contributed significantly to the field through her involvement in academic and professional organizations, including roles as guest editor, associate editor, editorial board member, reviewer, and chair/reviewer for international journals and associations. Dr. Fu has published over 200 papers covering refereed journal articles, conference papers, magazine articles, newsletters, technical reports, and book chapters. Her research interests encompass artificial intelligence and data science in tourism, hospitality, and transportation, economic impact assessments, forecasting methods, strategic management, sustainability, consumer behavior, geographic information systems, and environmental impact analysis, among others.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Sociology
• Mathematics education
• Computer Science
• Psychology
• Pedagogy
• Environmental science
• Environmental resource management
• Transport engineering
• Ecology
• Cartography
• Geography
• Environmental planning
• Engineering
• Environmental protection

Selected publications

• Spatio-Temporal evolution and scenario-based optimization of urban ecosystem services supply and Demand: A block-scale study in Xiamen, China

  Ecological Indicators · 2025-03-01 · 13 citations

  articleOpen access

  • Block-scale analysis offers a novel perspective for assessing urban ecosystem services (ES). • Application of the GMOP-PLUS model simulates future land-use patterns and ES dynamics. • Significant spatial imbalances in ecosystem service ES supply and demand are identified in Xiamen. • Actionable strategies are proposed to optimize ES provision and improve green space configuration through urban planning. The imbalance between the supply and demand of urban ecosystem services significantly impacts land resource utilization and residents’ quality of life. This study innovatively examines the spatio-temporal evolution of these services at the block scale in Xiamen, China, from 2012 to 2022, addressing a gap in current research that often focuses on larger scales like watersheds. Using multi-source data, six ecosystem services, including water conservation, carbon sequestration, and habitat quality, were assessed, revealing notable deficiencies. The study also employs the GMOP-PLUS model to simulate land use and ecosystem service changes under three scenarios—Natural development (ND), Economic development (ED), and Ecological low-carbon development (EL)—projected to 2027. Results highlight a significant spatial imbalance with a “North Supply, South Demand” pattern, particularly in southern urban areas. While all scenarios show a decline in green space and ecosystem services, the economic growth scenario improves economic benefits, and the ecological conservation scenario enhances low-carbon and ecological services. This research provides novel insights and optimization strategies for urban land use planning, aiming to enhance ecosystem services and support sustainable urban development.

  PublisherDOI

• Construction and optimization of Green Infrastructure Network in mountainous cities: a case study of Fuzhou, China

  Scientific Reports · 2024 · 9 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Geography
  • Environmental resource management

  Green infrastructure networks enhance the protection and improvement of urban ecological environments, augment the efficiency and quality of ecosystem services, and furnish residents with healthier and more comfortable living conditions. Although previous research has investigated the construction or optimization methods of green infrastructure networks, these studies have been relatively isolated and lacking in case studies for mountainous cities. In the development of green infrastructure, mountainous cities must specifically consider the impact of terrain on network construction. Taking Fuzhou, a mountainous city in China, as an example, this study constructs and optimizes the green infrastructure network by employing morphological spatial pattern analysis, connectivity analysis, the Minimum Cumulative Resistance model, and circuit theory. These methodologies increase the connectivity of the Green Infrastructure within the study area, thereby promoting the health of the local ecosystem and creating conducive circumstances for the city's sustainable development. The findings reveal that: (1) Green infrastructure in Fuzhou takes up 5366.38 ha, constituting 21.76% of the study area, primarily situated in the northwest and south; (2) Fuzhou's Green Infrastructure network comprises 10 hubs and 17 corridors with a hub area of 1306.98 ha, predominantly distributed in the mountains encircling the city, including Meifeng Mountain, Gaogai Mountain, and Qingliang Mountain; (3) Based on optimization, the circuit centrality index categorizes hub importance into three protection levels, pinpointing nine crucial protected areas in the corridors and 680 areas requiring enhancement, including 68 areas for first-level improvement, 149 areas for second-level improvement, and 463 areas for third-level improvement. This research offers a methodological reference for constructing and optimizing green infrastructure networks in mountainous cities, providing both theoretical and practical foundations for optimizing green infrastructure networks in Fuzhou City.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Opening Up Research on the Teaching of Reading by Looking beyond US Borders: What We Might Learn from Early Literacy Instruction in China

  Research in the Teaching of English · 2023-08-01 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  This article discusses early literacy instruction in China, including the impact of biliteracy education on Chinese society. This presentation is based on interviews with over two dozen scholars of Chinese literacy instruction, as well as primary early grades language arts classroom teachers from four different regions across China. The purpose of this examination of literacy education in China is to open our views of literacy instruction beyond US borders, especially in those countries with different language/literacy systems. Because of the rapid increase of emergent bilingual students in our schools, we need to gain a better understanding of literacy and biliteracy education in the countries where those students grew up. On the one hand, this insight can help us realize the literacy practices that emergent bilingual students may bring to their learning in our classrooms and the importance of biliteracy as a requisite for our education. On the other hand, this understanding will urge us, both researchers and educators, to reexamine our beliefs and scholarship in reading or literacy education, and open our vision to the plurality of languages, multiple literacies, and diverse methods of literacy instruction beyond our land.

  PublisherDOI

• Special issue: translanguaging practice in diverse contexts

  Applied Linguistics Review · 2021-02-12 · 2 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• A Study of Middle School Students’ Online Credibility Assessments: Challenges and Possibilities

  Research in the Teaching of English · 2021 · 19 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Psychology
  • Pedagogy
  PublisherDOI

• Translanguaging space in a bilingual program in New York City Chinatown middle school

  Applied Linguistics Review · 2021 · 5 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Sociology
  • Pedagogy

  Abstract This study explores how translanguaging pedagogy was practiced in a New York City Chinatown middle school to engage emergent bilingual students (EBs) with diverse language literacy backgrounds in their study of the grade level social studies curriculum. The data were collected over the past two decades while we worked with classroom teachers in search of effective ways to improve EBs’ school performance. We revisited this data utilizing a translanguaging lens to reconceptualize this past work and reframe our analysis to deepen understanding of translanguaging teaching praxis. Therefore, this research not only seeks possible ways to meet challenges in the education of EBs in U.S. schools but also to add to a research method that looks back at past data as an approach to looking ahead in scholarship.

  PublisherDOI

• Ofelia García: A True Pioneer and Leader in Bilingual Education

  Fordham Research Commons (Fordham University) · 2019-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  This article traces my growth as a bilingual educator: how Ofelia García’s work has educated, humbled, and enlightened me. In this tribute to her retirement, I will focus my discussion on a few of Ofelia García’s publications that have had a great impact on me as a scholar. With her work I will examine my own scholarship development, which demonstrates my growth conceptually as a scholar in bilingualism and a teacher educator in bilingual education.

  Publisher

• Translanguaging for Emergent Bilinguals: Inclusive Teaching in the Linguistically Diverse Classroom (Language and Literacy Series)

  2019-02-22 · 2 citations

  book1st authorCorresponding
  Publisher

• Writing Instruction in China: Challenges and Efforts

  International Journal of Information and Education Technology · 2019-01-01 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  This qualitative study examined the current writing instruction in 1-12 level education with the data collected in three Chinese cities. The data from the Interviews of teachers and teacher-educators at different levels and from classroom observations at upper elementary to high schools in three metropolitan cities across China provide insights into 1-12 writing instruction in contemporary China. To further reveal the efforts taken by writing teacher under China's high-stakes testing culture, this paper also presented a case study of an exemplary 10th grade writing teacher, who took tremendous efforts in nurturing true readers and writers in his classroom under the test-obsessive culture in China.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Detection and prevalence of boid inclusion body disease in collections of boas and pythons using immunological assays

  The Veterinary Journal · 2016-10-28 · 35 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Linda Leonard Lamme

  University of Florida

  29 shared

• Zhihui Fang

  Puer University

  19 shared

• Jane S. Townsend

  7 shared

• Nancy Rankie Shelton

  University of Maryland, Baltimore County

  7 shared

• Ruth McKoy Lowery

  University of North Texas

  5 shared

• Xiaodi Zhou

  4 shared

• Xenia Hadjioannou

  4 shared

• Marylou Matoush

  3 shared

Education

• Ph.D, College of Education

  University of New Hampshire

Awards & honors

• TnHTA Educator of the Year (Stars of the Industry Awards)