Paul Shao

Paul Shao is a professor emeritus in architecture at Iowa State University. His main research interests are Chinese architecture and landscape architecture design, cultural diffusion: Asia and the Americas, three-dimensional design, and comparative aesthetics. He has 2 books published in 1976 and 1983 respectively, along with multiple articles and manuscripts. In 2012 he proposed his Iowa Giant Pandas Research Park to bring pandas to Des Moines, Iowa, which he has offically been working on since 2016.

SOURCE - https://www.design.iastate.edu/profiles/pshao/ (Oct 2025) & https://iowastatedaily.com/140440/news/iowa-state-professor-works-to-bring-pandas-to-des-moines/ (Oct 2025) & https://www.design.iastate.edu/facultyFiles/pshao/pshao-full.pdf (Oct 2025)