Jiwen Fan

Jiwen Fan graduates with a Master of Science in Historic Preservation from Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania, concentrating in architectural conservation. She earned her BA in Art History and Anthropological Archaeology from Macalester College, MN. Before entering graduate school, she interned as a conservation assistant for the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage at the Shakyamuni Pagoda of Fogong Temple, Shanxi, working on inscribed polychrome wooden plaques. With a keen interest in Central Asian cave temple complexes, where architecture, landscape, and arts cross over, she focuses on the studies of earthen and stone masonry materials. At Penn, she developed skills in laboratory testing and material analysis to pursue a career as conservation scientist. Jiwen has been working as a student researcher at the Center for Architectural Conservation on assessment methodology for Fort Union National Monument, NM. Her master thesis explored the potentials of biological material as amendment for soil-based shelter coats on earthen structures.