It was a busy summer for Wisconsin Real Estate faculty, with Professor Lu Han, Nathan F. Brand Chair in Real Estate, playing a particularly prominent role on the national and international stage.
Han served as Program Chair for the 2026 AREUEA National Conference in Washington, D.C., co-organized the ABFER Real Estate and Urban Economics Annual Workshop in Singapore, and delivered four invited keynote lectures and addresses around the world, including at the London School of Economics, Bern University, an international conference in Shanghai, and the IEB Workshop on Urban Economics in Barcelona.
Closer to home, Han organized the Wisconsin Real Estate PhD Alumni Conference, bringing generations of Wisconsin real estate scholars back to Madison for two days of research presentations and discussion. The gathering welcomed back former faculty leaders Richard Green, Kerry Vandell and Steve Malpezzi, along with PhD alumni including Yongqiang Chu, Jun Zhu, Da Li, Congyan Han, Yuwen Ji, Zhenguo Lin and Shengwei Guo. Current PhD students also presented new research, including work examining how generative AI is changing residential search behavior.
Han’s leadership was part of a strong summer of research activity across the Wisconsin Real Estate Program. Faculty presented and chaired sessions at leading academic and industry conferences around the country, highlighting Wisconsin’s continued influence on research addressing housing, mortgage markets, commercial real estate, climate change, finance and emerging technologies.