Hometown: Shenzhen, China
Previous education: Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po), Politics and Government
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Personal interest: Playing and composing music, reading, writing, traveling
Hometown: Shanghai, China
Previous Education: New York University; International Relations, East Asian Studies
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Academic and Research Interests: US-China relations, strategic competitions in East Asia, regional cooperative mechanisms
Career Interests: Government institutions, think tank, consulting
Thesis Title: The “Iron Curtain” Descends in the Semiconductor Industry: Intensifying Technology Competition between the United States and China Between 2017-2022
Hometown: Beijing, China
Undergraduate School of Study: University of Pennsylvania
Undergraduate Major: Visual Studies
MARSEA Specialization: China
Thesis Title:Strategic Compliance, Fluid Morality: The Making of a Clinical Labor Market in Post-Socialist PRC
Hometown: Morin Dawa Daur Autonomous Banner, Hulun Buir
Research Interests: Chinese feminist history, masculinity and femininity, world/East Asian prostitution, Chinese women’s gentility, conventionalism/religion and feminism
Region of Specialization: China
Hometown: Yokohama, Japan
Previous Education: Sophia University, Law
Specialization in MARSEA: Japan
Hometown: Nanchong, China
Previous Education: Sichuan University, Law and Finance
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Hometown: Chengdu, China
Region of Specialization: China
Hometown: Guangzhou, China
Region of Specialization: China
Hometown: Shanghai
Research Interests: Legal History, Chinese Legal System, "The Dual State" theory
Region of Specialization: China
Hometown: Jinan, China
Research Interests: Chinese nationalism, Chinese censorship and propaganda, gender and economic participation in China
Regions of Specialization: China, Japan
Previous Education: Tsinghua University, Sociology
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Hometown: Shanghai, China
Previous education: New York University; Media, Culture, and Communications
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Research interests: Parachute generation, third culture kids, mixed cultural upbringing
Thesis title: Chinese Parachute Kids in America: Understanding How the Parachute Experience Affects First Generation (Im)migrants in Young Adulthood
Hometown: Beijing, China
Previous Education: UCSD; History and Clinical Psychology
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Xiaobo Lü is the Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Political Science at Barnard College. Professor Lü was the founding Director of Columbia Global Centers | East Asia in Beijing in 2008-10. Professor Lü teaches courses on Chinese politics, political economy, and comparative politics. His research interests include post-socialist transition, corruption and good governance, regulatory reforms, and government-business relations. Currently he is working on a book manuscript, From Player to Referee: the Rise of the Regulatory State in China.
Xiaobo Lü is a member of Council on Foreign Relations, Committee of 100, and the National Committee of US-China Relations. He is a regular commentator on China and US-China relations on PBS, CNN, BBC, and NPR and has delivered speeches and briefings to organizations such as the Council on Foreign Relations, the Asia Foundation, the Asia Society, World Affairs Council, National Committee for US-China Relations, American Center for International Leadership, Asia Society, the China Institute of America, and the Japan Society.
Professor Lü received his PhD in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1994.
Hometown: Sacramento, California/Beijing, China
Research Interests: International Law, Constitutional Law, Modern Political Thought, Great Power Competition & Grand Strategy
Region of Specialization: China
Hometown: New York City, NY
Previous education: London School of Economics, Political Science and International Relations
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Research interests: Intersection of domestic and foreign policy, modern Chinese history, international relations of Southeast Asia
Thesis title: Discursive Battle in Singaporean Queer Politics
Hometown: Tampa, FL
Previous Education: BA in Visual Art, Columbia University
Specialization in MARSEA: Korea
Academic Interests: Contemporary East Asian Art, Techno-Orientalism, Modern Asia Pacific History
Personal Interests: Experimental and (very) conceptual Art
Thesis Title: Chang Hyŏkchu and the New Women: Korean Women During Colonial Korea and Their Presence in Samgoksŏn
Hometown: Plymouth, Michigan and Shanghai, China
Undergraduate School of Study: University of California, Los Angeles
Undergraduate Major: History, Japanese Minor
MARSEA Specialization: China
Thesis Title: Challenging "Tailor-Made": Uncovering Women’s Contributions to the Creation of Qipao
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Previous Education: Loyola University Chicago, Global Studies
Specialization in MARSEA: Japan
Academic and Research Interests: Modern Japanese history; family dynamics and gender inequality in JapanSpecialization in MARSEA: China
Previous Education: Columbia College
Hometown: Singapore
Previous education: Cambridge University, History
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Personal interests: Spending as much time as I can thinking about and being near the sun, sand and the sea
Thesis Title: Managed Contestation and Complex Interdependencies: How China-Singapore Relations have evolved in the post-Lee Kuan Yew Years
Hometown: Augusta, Georgia
Previous Education: Northeastern University, Major in Asian Studies - Minors in Chinese, Economics, and History
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Academic Interests: Chinese foreign policy and trade policy, particularly regarding the Central Asian region/Post-Soviet Republics; multipolar and multilateral organizations; geopolitics.
Personal Interests: Food of all cuisines, fitness, music, contemporary popular culture, and community organizing!
Thesis Title: Blueprint for Catastrophe? Assessing the Efficacy of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan
Hometown: Denver, Colorado
Previous Education: Columbia University; East Asian Studies
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Hometown: Seoul, South KoreaPrevious Education: New York University, Politics and East Asian Studies
Specialization in MARSEA: Korea
Academic Interests: US-Korea relations, East Asian geopolitics, security policy
Personal Interests: Playing with my cat Mumu
Thesis Title: The US-ROK Alliance: A Strategic Case for OPCON Transfer
Hometown: Hacienda Heights, California, USA
Undergraduate School of Study: Vassar College
Undergraduate Major: Asian Studies, Chinese
MARSEA Specialization: China
Thesis Title: The Search for Redress: Wartime Forced Labor Compensation and the Politics of Law in East Asia
Research Interests: Sociology, anthropology, culture
Region of Specialization: China
Hometown: Naperville, IL
Previous Education: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, major in Accounting and a minor in EALC
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Academic Interests: China's social economics, culture, and language.
Personal Interests: Reading, watching movies, visiting museums (especially art museums), drawing, and dance.
Hometown: Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Previous education: Sarah Lawrence College, Pre-modern Chinese History and Philosophy
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Thesis title: China as Rentier State: the Political and Economic Impact of Land Financing in China
Hometown: Shanghai, China; Chicago, Illinois
Previous education: University College London, History
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Research interests: Social and cultural history of modern China from below, individual-society and state-society dynamics, cultural politics and the construction of historical memory, "public spheres" and public consciousness
Thesis title: With Prussian Blue and Magnetite: From Adulteration to Transnational Innovation in Chinese Tea Production, c. 1800–1940
Hometown: Seoul & Vancouver
Previous Education: Tufts University, Majors in International Relations East Asia and Japanese Language
Specialization in MARSEA: Korea
Academic Interests: Modern East Asian History, International Relations of East Asia, security/geopolitic studies of the Korean Peninsula
Personal Interests: Japanese Literature, Korean films, New England Patriots
Thesis Title: Reinterpreting “Minjok kaejoron”: How Yi Kwangsu’s Vision of National Reconstruction Embodied Confucian Principles
Hometown: Tokyo
Research Interests: Sociology, Minority Studies, Social Psychology
Region of Specialization: Japan
Region of Specialization: China
Hometown: Singapore
Undergraduate School of Study: Yale-NUS College
Undergraduate Major: Law
MARSEA Specialization: China
Thesis Title: The Chinese in Indonesia: Political Pariahs No More?
Hometown: West Hartford, Connecticut
Previous education: Bates College, Chinese
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Personal Interests: History, sports, and music
Thesis Title:Sharing the Future of China: Nationalism and The Belt and Road in the 21st Century
Region of Specialization: China
Hometown: Singapore
Previous education: University of Cambridge, Social Anthropology and Politics
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Thesis title: Crossing National Frames: Emigration From Reform-Era China to Singapore
Hometown: Guiyang, China
Previous education: Peking University, International Politics
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Thesis title: Social Capital and the Integration of College Graduates from Rural Areas in Urban China
Hometown: Singapore
Undergraduate School of Study: King's College London
Undergraduate Major: Law
MARSEA Specialization: China
Thesis Title: Disputed Islands and the Waves of Nationalism: Understanding how Nationalism and Political Legitimacy Affects China’s Strategy in Dealing with its Island Disputes
Hometown: Washington, DC
Previous education: Columbia College
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Research interests: Fashion & luxury business relations between China and Europe
Hometown: Singapore
Previous education: Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford; History and Politics
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Research interests: Global Early Modernity, and its continued parallels and connections to Contemporary International Affairs
Hometown: Singapore
Undergraduate School of Study: University College London
Undergraduate Major: Philosophy
MARSEA Specialization: China
Thesis Title: China’s Ball Game – A Discourse Analysis of Chinese Media Reports on Table Tennis
Hometown: Beijing, China and North Carolina
Previous education: UNC-Chapel Hill, History and Economics
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Academic interests: Mixed sociological methods, gender/women, collective resistance, social stratification, migration, Chinese society
Lin is the Program Coordinator of Student Affairs at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute. Previously, she taught the course "University Writing" as part of Columbia's undergraduate Core Curriculum. Lin holds an MFA from Columbia's School of the Arts and a BA from Princeton University. She is from Taipei and speaks Mandarin, Japanese, and English.
Hometown: Huizhou, China
Previous Education: King's College London
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Hometown: Hong Kong, China
Undergraduate School of Study: King’s College London, UK
Undergraduate Major: Law
MARSEA Specialization: China
Thesis Title: Hong Kong and China: Express Railway to Integration
Hometown: Wuhan, China
Previous Education: Vanderbilt University; History and Economics
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Academic and Research Interests: Gender studies in modern China/modern Chinese literature, modern Chinese history and politics
Hometown: Busan, Korea
Previous education: Georgetown University; International Business and Regional Studies
Specialization in MARSEA: Korea and China
Research interests: the relationship between economic prosperity and nationalism in Korea and China
Thesis title: Exploring the Decline of K-beauty in China: An Analysis of Amore Pacific & LG Household & Health Care
Kim Brandt is Research Scholar at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute. She serves as the Academic Director of the MARSEA program, and teaches the yearlong Core Seminar. Professor Brandt received her Ph.D. in modern Japanese history at Columbia University in 1996. She taught at Amherst College before returning to Columbia in 2007. Her publications include Kingdom of Beauty: Mingei and the Politics of Folk Art in Imperial Japan, published in 2007 by Duke University Press. Currently she is completing a second book project titled Japan’s Cultural Miracle: Rethinking the Rise of a World Power, which is under contract at Columbia University Press.
Hometown: Tokyo, Japan
Previous education: Keio University, Political Science
Specialization in MARSEA: Japan
Thesis: Development of American Interest in Japanese Ceramics since the Late Nineteenth Century
Hometown: Penang, Malaysia and Singapore
Undergraduate School of Study: Columbia University
Undergraduate Major: History
MARSEA Specialization: China/British Malaya
Thesis Title: In Queer Straits: Sexuality, Medicine, and Orientalism in British Malaya, 1875-1947
Hometown: Huntington, NY
Previous education: Pennsylvania State University, BA in History (with Honors), BA in Asian Studies and BS in International Studies, minor in Japanese
Specialization in MARSEA: Japan
Academic interests: Occupation-era and post-war Japan
Personal interests: movies, music, museums, and travel
Thesis title:Protesting Futenma: Okinawa's Fourth Wave of Protests (2013-2021)
Hometown: Singapore
Previous Education: University of Oxford, Jurisprudence
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Academic and Research Interests: Legal institutions, Chinese law, Belt and Road, Confucianism
Career Interests: Public Service
Thesis title: China before Xi in 2008: The story of Supreme People’s Court Justice Huang Songyou as an Account of China’s Backslide from the Rule of Law
Hometown: Hangzhou, China
Undergraduate School of Study: Fudan University, China
Undergraduate Major: English
MARSEA Specialization: China
Thesis Title: Discipline and Incite: Ideological and Political Education in Chinese Universities
Hometown: Long Island, New York
Previous education: Georgetown University, Sociology
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Research interests: Family in modern China
Thesis title: Migrating Chinese Grandparents Providing Child Care for Their Grandchildren
Hometown: Hong Kong
Previous Education: University of Chicago, History
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Hometown: Beijing, China
Hometown: Weston, Massachusetts
Previous education: Harvard University, Neuroscience
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Personal interest: I'm trained in mental health first aid!
Hometown: Beijing, China
Previous Education: Peking University; International Politics
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Academic and Research Interests: Chinese political attitudes, Chinese nationalism, and Chinese foreign policy
Career Interests: Academics
Previous Education: University of Georgia, Economics
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Hometown: Yokohama, Japan
Previous education: The University of Tokyo, International Relations
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Research interests: Chinese politics and foreign policy
Regions of Specialization: Korea, China
Hometown: Chicago
Region of Specialization: Korea
Hometown: Dongguan, China
Region of Specialization: China
Hometown: Sichuan, China
Previous Education: Brown University, majoring in International Relations
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Academic Interests: Sino-Tibet relations; Tibetan Buddhism
Personal Interests: Street dance & horseback riding
Thesis Title: The Revival of Tibetan Buddhism in Contemporary Chengdu (1980-2020)
Hometown: Seoul, South Korea
Previous Education: Smith College (BA in Government and East Asian Studies)
Specialization in MARSEA: Japan
Academic Interests: New media in Japan and Korea, transnational projects
Personal Interests: Films
Thesis Tile: The Third Korean Wave (Hallyu): YouTube, Instagram, and K-culture in Japan and the World
Hometown: Abu Dhabi, UAE
Research Interests: Imperial Japan, History of Education, Communism in East Asia, Japanese Labor History
Region of Focus: Japan
Hometown: Katy, TX
Previous Education: Texas A&M University College Station
Specialization in MARSEA: Japan
Thesis Title: Held Hostage: Japan's Lawmakers and the Self Defense Force
Regional Focus: China
Previous Institution: Renmin University of China
Thesis Title: Rural Women and Socialist Laws: The 1950 Marriage Law and Its Implementation Campaigns in 1950s Shaanxi
Hometown: Shanghai, China
Previous Education: University of British Columbia, Political Science
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Hometown: Toronto, Canada
Previous Education: Williams College with a double major in Economics and Chinese
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Academic and Research Interests: Chinese Foreign Policy, The Chinese Economy, Chinese Financial Markets,
International Finance
Career Interests: International FinanceHometown: Portland, Oregon
Previous Education: U.S. Air Force Academy, Foreign Area Studies
Specialization in MARSEA: Japan
Hometown: Beijing. China
Previous Education: Haverford College, East Asian Languages and Cultures
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Hometown: Zhanjiang (Guangdong), China
Previous education: The George Washington University, International Affairs and Economics
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Academic interests: China’s soft power strategy, public diplomacy, and their impact on its foreign policy
Personal interests: Pilates, baking, and watching Chinese spy movies!
Hometown: Seoul, South Korea
Previous education: Swarthmore College, Asian Studies and Political Science
Specialization in MARSEA: Japan and Korea
Hometown: New York City
Undergraduate School of Study: University of Tokyo
Undergraduate Major: East Asian Studies
MARSEA Specialization: Japan
Thesis Title: Immortalizing, Isolating, and Rejecting: Circles and War Memory in 1950s Japan
Hometown: Zigong, China
Previous Education: Kings College London; Politics
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Academic and Research Interests: People's Congress system through the lens of policy analysis, e.g. the policymaking process of a bill on environmental protection at the local level; human rights diplomacy, more specifically to deconstruct Western supremacy on the issue of human rights
Career Interests: Work in the consultancy/think tank industry and eventually open one by myself to facilitate communications between China and the world
Hometown: Beijing, China
Previous Education: Peking University
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Academic Interests: Economics and Politics
Personal Interests: Playing soccer and video games
Thesis Title: Why did land sale and debt result in accumulating financial and fiscal risk since 2000 in China? The role of “unfunded mandate” of local governments
Hometown: Canterbury, England
Previous education: Trinity College, University of Cambridge; Chinese Studies with Japanese
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Research interests: Modern Chinese political history, and the intellectual history of Modern China
Thesis title: A Moment of Truce: Rereading the Tanggu Agreement
Hometown: New Jersey
Previous Education: Oberlin College & Conservatory, Associated Kyoto Program, and Yonsei University; East Asian Studies, History, and Cello Performance
Specialization in MARSEA: Japan
Academic and Research Interests: Education about societal roles and future challenges
Research Interests: US-Sino-Russian relations, the war in Ukraine, political economy in China, Korean Peninsula relations
Previous Education: Fudan University
Regions of Specialization: China
Hometown: Stamford, CT
Research Interests: US national security, Chinese international politics, Indo-pacific maritime security, and AUKUS
Region of Specialization: China
Hometown: Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington), Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Undergraduate School of Study: Victoria University of Wellington
Undergraduate Major: Chinese, Asian Studies and International Relations
MARSEA Specialization: China
Thesis Title: The Aftermath: Transitional Justice in China’s Hunan Province Following the Cultural Revolution
Hometown: Oak Park, Illinois, USA
Undergraduate School of Study: University of Illinois: Chicago
Undergraduate Major: Political Science
MARSEA Specialization: Japan and Korea
Thesis Title: Raising a Problem: The Sendai Flag-Raising Incident and Shifting Perceptions of the "Korean Problem" in Early Occupied Japan (1945-1949)