Welcome! I am a Postdoctoral Fellow in Technology and International Security at the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation in Washington, DC.

I study international relations and international security, with a focus on conventional military strategy, extended nuclear deterrence, alliance politics, and East Asian security. My main research project examines how U.S. allies shape their military postures to remain “coupled” to the U.S. nuclear deterrent, with particular attention to allied agency in shaping escalation dynamics. It draws on extensive fieldwork, elite interviews, and foreign-language sources, and builds on my Ph.D. dissertation, which received the 2025 Lucian Pye Award for Best Doctoral Thesis in Political Science at MIT. 

Previously, I was a Stanton Nuclear Security Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Project on Managing the Atom and the International Security Program, and a Hans J. Morgenthau Fellow at the Notre Dame International Security Center. My work has been supported by the Stanton Foundation, MIT Center for International Studies, Stand Together Foundation, Northeast Asia Council of the Association for Asian Studies, and the Korea Foundation.

I received my Ph.D. in Political Science from MIT, where I was also a member of its Security Studies Program. Before MIT, I earned a master's degree in China Studies (Politics and International Relations) from the Yenching Academy of Peking University, with support from the Bai Xian Asian Future Leaders Scholarship Program (AFLSP), and a B.A. in Government, magna cum laude, from Harvard University. 

I also served 21 months of military service in the Republic of Korea Army—first in the Maintenance Battalion of the 25th Infantry Division, then with the Republic of Korea Horizontal Military Engineering Company as part of the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) in Bor, Jonglei State. 

These experiences shape my research. I first became interested in security studies after completing my tour to South Sudan, where I witnessed a civil war break out and a massive humanitarian crisis unfold. I also saw how military organizations plan and conduct missions. I aspire to read in multiple languages, travel, and understand people's perspectives. I try to bring these experiences and skills to bear on the questions I ask in my research. 

When I need a break from thinking about international politics and war (which is often), I turn to running, watching baseball, birdwatching, or wandering through museums in DC. I also tried mixed martial arts as a stress outlet, but quickly learned I am quite injury-prone. I think I will stick with birdwatching.