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: 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: Shenzhen, China
Previous education: Columbia, Economics; Carnegie Mellon, Computer Science
Specialization in MARSEA: China and Japan
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: 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
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: 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
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: 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
Hometown: Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Previous education: Sarah Lawrence College, Pre-modern Chinese History and Philosophy
Specialization in MARSEA: China
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
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: 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 interest: History, sports, and music
Hometown: Singapore
Previous education: University of Cambridge, Social Anthropology and Politics
Specialization in MARSEA: 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: 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
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
Kim Brandt is Research Scholar at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute. She serves as faculty advisor to 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: 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
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: 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: 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
Elizabeth is the Program Officer for Student Affairs at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute. Previously, she was a Graduate Program Assistant at the New York University College of Arts and Science Advising Center and a Student Services Advisor at Adelphi International. Elizabeth has her MA in International Education from New York University and a BA in Film and Video and a minor in Asian Studies from Georgia State University. She has studied and worked abroad in India, South Korea, and Japan. Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, she enjoys cooking, studying languages, and learning about the history and internationalization of New York City.
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
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: Beijing, China
Previous Education: Peking University
Specialization in MARSEA: China
Academic Interests: Economics and Politics
Personal Interests: Playing soccer and video games
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)