What explains recurring racialized conflicts between human groups — from different ethnic groups at home to countries with various collective identities in international politics? My research tackles this question by revisiting core theories and concepts in International Relations and Race and Ethnic Politics, including security dilemma, racialization and double consciousness. Based on a new theoretical framework I am building with Alastair Iain Johnston, my research examines US-Asia relations, American grand strategy, and Asian American politics.

Previous Roles

Inequality in America Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University (2022-25)

Intelligence Officer, Republic of Korea Air Force, 2012-2016

Publications

“Anti-Asian Racism and the Rise of Hawkish Mass Opinion in China.” Political Science Quarterly 139(2): 177-199. 2024. doi.org/10.1093/psquar/qqae001 

“Yellow Peril or Model Minority? Measuring Janus-Faced Prejudice toward Asians in the United States.” Political Science Research and Methods Online First View. 2024. (with Enze Han) 

“The Politicization of COVID-19 and Anti-Asian Racism in the United States: An Experimental Approach.” Journal of Experimental Political Science 11(1): 1-11. 2024. doi.org/10.1017/XPS.2023.16 

“Remember Kabul? Reputation, Strategic Contexts, and American Credibility after the Afghanistan Withdrawal.” Contemporary Security Policy 45(2): 265-297. 2024. doi.org/10.1080/13523260.2023.2253406. (with Joshua Byun and Jiyoung Ko)

• Finalist for 2025 Bernard Brodie Prize 

“Race in International Relations: Beyond the ‘Norm Against Noticing’.” Annual Review of Political Science 25: 175-96. 2022. (with Bianca Freeman and David A. Lake) 

“The Geopolitical Consequences of COVID-19: Assessing Hawkish Mass Opinion in China.” Political Science Quarterly 136(4): 641-65. 2021. (with Joshua Byun and Sichen Li)

“Racialization in the Rivalry Between the United States and China.” in Getting China Right at Home: Addressing the Domestic Challenges of Intensifying Competition, ed. Jessica Chen Weiss. 2025. (with Alastair Iain Johnston) 

“COVID-19, Anti-Asian Racism, and US-China Relations.” in COVID-19 and USChina Relations, ed. Zheng Wang. 2024. 

“The Chinese Exclusion Act.” Forthcoming in East Asia in the World: Volume II, eds. Stephan Haggard and David Kang (with Enze Han)

“Power and Perception: Neoclassical Realism and China’s Turn to Multilateralism in Post-Cold War East Asia.” Princeton Journal of East Asian Studies, Fall 2014

“The Politics of Asian Regionalism in Korea: Identity Politics and Its Implications for U.S.-South Korean Relations.” Cornell International Affairs Review 3(3), Fall 2010