Kiril Tochkov is an Associate Professor of Economics at Texas Christian University. He studied Chinese Studies and Economics at the University of Heidelberg in Germany and Beijing Foreign Studies University in China, and received a Ph.D. in Economics from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 2005. Dr. Tochkov was a Visiting Fellow at the Bulgarian National Bank in 2008 and at the Centre for Advanced Study in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 2014. His research interests are in the area of macroeconomics, international economics, and comparative economics. He has published a number of papers on regional economic growth, fiscal decentralization, and economic efficiency in emerging economies. In Russia, Dr. Tochkov will work with Dr. Dmitry Izotov, Senior Researcher at the Economic Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Khabarovsk. The project will examine the trade links and economic integration between the Russian Far East and China.