She joins a long line of outstanding women selected by the Dean and Executive Board of the Rackham Graduate School and the Barbour Advisory Committee, who have become leaders in science, education, public service, medicine and other fields in their home countries all over the world during the past 88 years.

The Barbour Scholarship was established for women of the highest academic and professional caliber from the area formerly known as the Orient (encompassing the lands extending from Turkey in the west to Japan and the Philippines in the east) to study modern science, medicine, mathematics and other academic disciplines and professions critical to the development of their native lands.

Associate Professor Jerome Lynch is Zhang’s advisor.