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 on authoritarian regime support, South Korean democracy movement, and electoral accountability in post-transition South Korea has been published in Electoral Studies, 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, “What’s Liberal about East Asia’s Liberal Democracies?” (with Aram Hur), offers a theory-driven explanation of the left-right ideological divide in East Asia, demonstrating how nationalist principles uniquely shape the left-right schema in the region. Additionally, I study the political behavior of Asian Americans in connection to East Asian politics. My other writings have appeared in the Pacific Affairs, The Diplomat, and The Conversation. My position and research have been funded by the Korea Foundation and the Academy of Korean Studies.
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.