Deborah Seligsohn is an assistant professor of political science at Villanova University, a Wilson Center China fellow, an associate at the Center for the Study of Contemporary China at the University of Pennsylvania, and a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Her research focuses on Chinese politics; U.S.-China relations; and public health, energy, and environmental politics in China and India. From 2003 to 2007, she served as the environment, science, technology, and health counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, and from 2007 to 2012, she served as the Beijing-based senior advisor to the World Resources Institute’s China Climate and Energy Program.
BEIJING, CHINA - DECEMBER 01: Chinese tourists wear masks as protection from the pollution outside the Forbidden City during a day of high pollution on December 1, 2015 in Beijing, China. China's capital and many cities in the northern part of the country recorded the worst smog of the year with air quality devices in some areas unable to read such high levels of pollutants. Levels of PM 2.5, considered the most hazardous, crossed 600 units in Beijing, nearly 25 times the acceptable standard set by the World Health Organization. The governments of more than 190 countries are meeting in Paris this week to set targets on reducing carbon emissions in an attempt to forge a new global agreement on climate change. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)
