I am an Associate Professor (with tenure) of East Asian Studies and an Associate Professor, by courtesy, of Government at Wesleyan University. I received my Ph.D and A.M. degrees in Political Science from the Department of Government at Harvard University and B.A. (cum laude with honors) in Political Science from the University of Rochester.
My research focuses on authoritarianism, democracy, and social movements in Korea and East Asia. My research has been published or forthcoming in Electoral Studies, Journal of Democracy, Journal of East Asian Studies, Studies in Comparative International Development, and Routledge Handbook of Korean Culture and Society. My first book, Seeds of Mobilization: The Authoritarian Roots of South Korea’s Democracy (University of Michigan Press, 2024), examines the roles of industrialization and tertiary education in South Korea’s nonlinear path to democracy. My current project is about partisan polarization in East Asia. Additionally, I research the political behavior of Asian Americans in connection to East Asian politics. My other writings have appeared or are forthcoming in the Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Pacific Affairs, The Diplomat, and The Conversation. My research and commentary on Korean politics have been featured in media outlets such as The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Vox, New Books Network, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Behind the Closed Doors: Corruption in Democracies.
In addition to my academic appointment at Wesleyan, I am an Adjunct Fellow (Non-resident) in the Office of the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Associate-in-Research of the Council of East Asian Studies at Yale University. I also serve on the APSA Committee on the Status of Asian Pacific Americans in the Profession (2024-2027). Previously, I was Vice President of the Association of Korean Political Studies (2022-2024), faculty co-convener of the Korean Political Studies Colloquium (2022-2024), and a 2018-2019 U.S.-Korea NextGen Scholar. I held visiting fellow positions at the Asiatic Research Institute at Korea University, Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, and the Center for International Studies at Seoul National University. My research and position has also been funded by the Korea Foundation and the Academy of Korean Studies.