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Welcome! I am a Security & Foreign Policy postdoctoral fellow at the Global Research Institute (GRI) and a faculty affiliate of Public Policy at William & Mary (W&M). Previously, I was a 2022-2023 postdoctoral fellow at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) at Stanford University and a 2023-2024 faculty affiliate of the Government Department at W&M.
I study international security and cooperation, with a focus on the strategic behaviors of secondary states (e.g., small & middle powers) in the Asia-Pacific under different international system structures, and draw out implications for regional stability and the US grand strategy amid China’s rise. I use a variety of methods, including network analysis, which is a central part of my dissertation. My current book project, Navigating Heterarchy: Asia-Pacific Secondary States’ Search for Strategic Autonomy, which builds on my dissertation, examines how the relational structure of the international system influences when and why secondary states choose to cooperate with certain great powers and peers. Drawing on a network perspective, I theorize and find that heterarchy incentivizes secondary states to pursue strategies that enhance their social power by increasing their connectedness and centrality through cooperative ties. The key finding is that challenging the conventional wisdom in the security literature, the regional countries that would be ‘most likely’ to militarily align against rising China – junior allies and strategic partners of the US and countries with territorial/maritime conflicts with China – have expanded security cooperation with China in the last twenty years. This book presents original mixed-method evidence, including network analysis and case studies, using a unique dataset of joint military exercises (JMEs), strategic partnerships, and military education exchanges in the Asia-Pacific (1970-2024). It also provides qualitative studies on the behavior of secondary states concerning global supply chain issues (e.g., Chip 4), which is increasingly securitized amid intensifying US-China competition. My other work, which has appeared in International Politics, examines South Korea’s middle power diplomacy. I received my Ph.D. in Political Science and International Relations at the University of Southern California (USC), M.A. in Asian Studies at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service (SFS), and B.A. in International Studies at Ewha Womans University. I was a 2022-2023 US-Korea NextGen Scholar, an initiative by the CSIS Korea Chair and the USC Korean Studies Institute (KSI) and a 2019-2021 US-Asia Grand Strategy predoctoral fellow at the USC KSI. I also served as a contributing author of ‘Korea-Japan relations’ in Comparative Connections published by the Pacific Forum. |
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