Sir Michael Cianci
Sir Michael Cianci graduated with an M.A. in International Relations from Johns Hopkins SAIS, focusing on Asia, and Security, Strategy and Statecraft, and a B.A. in International Studies from Rowan University, focusing on the Middle East and North Africa, and Latin America. During his undergraduate career he worked for the New Jersey State Legislature. While pursuing his master’s degree at SAIS, he worked on several research projects including the possibilities and structural challenges of North American Integration. His research interests include Japan’s grand strategy, Israel’s foreign policymaking, and how allies shape U.S. grand strategy across Eurasia. He is fluent in German, and proficient at Arabic.

Mr. Kai-chun Wang
Mr. Kai-chun Wang graduated with an M.A. in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, and a B.A. in International Liberal Studies from Waseda University. During his undergraduate career, he interned with the Embassy of the Republic of the Marshall Islands in Japan and Taiwan, and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan. Before entering SAIS, Kai-chun served in the Republic of China (Taiwan) Legislative Yuan as a foreign policy legislative assistant. While pursuing his master’s degree at SAIS, Kai-chun interned at the East–West Center Washington DC Office. His professional experiences cover Taiwan security policy, Taiwan military force buildup and reforms, US-Taiwan security cooperation, and Taiwan – Pacific trade policy. His research interests include Taiwan–Japan–US trilateral relations, Cross-Strait relations, and US–China relations and its implication for East Asia. Kai-chun was born in Taiwan and has intermediate proficiency in Japanese and is a Mandarin Chinese native speaker.

Mr. Kai-chun Wang
Mr. Kai-chun Wang graduated with an M.A. in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, and a B.A. in International Liberal Studies from Waseda University. During his undergraduate career, he interned with the Embassy of the Republic of the Marshall Islands in Japan and Taiwan, and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan. Before entering SAIS, Kai-chun served in the Republic of China (Taiwan) Legislative Yuan as a foreign policy legislative assistant. While pursuing his master’s degree at SAIS, Kai-chun interned at the East–West Center Washington DC Office. His professional experiences cover Taiwan security policy, Taiwan military force buildup and reforms, US-Taiwan security cooperation, and Taiwan – Pacific trade policy. His research interests include Taiwan–Japan–US trilateral relations, Cross-Strait relations, and US–China relations and its implication for East Asia. Kai-chun was born in Taiwan and has intermediate proficiency in Japanese and is a Mandarin Chinese native speaker.

Mr. Morgan Engel
Mr. Morgan Engel graduated from Temple University’s Japan Campus with a B.A. in International Relations with a regional focus on Northeast Asia, and a Certificate in Political Economy. His research interests center on multilateral relations in the Asia-Pacific region, with a focus on contemporary security and economic relations. He also maintains a strong interest in the role of individual perception in the implementation of soft power policies. While studying in Japan, Morgan focused on early 20^th century historical narratives in Japan and South Korea and the role of the Korean education system on democratic values on the Korean peninsula following the war. Morgan has intermediate proficiency in Japanese, as well as basic proficiency in German.

Mr. Dylan Harris
Mr. Dylan Harris graduated with an M.A. in International Relations from Waseda University and a B.A. in Geographic Information Systems and Japanese from the University of Washington. During his undergraduate career, he interned with the US Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute and volunteered as an ambassador in the DOS-sponsored Study of the US Institutes (SUSIs) program with the Foundation of International Understanding Through Students (FIUTS). While pursuing his master’s degree in Tokyo, Dylan interned at the Asia Pacific Initiative, where he conducted research on topics such as the CPTPP and Japan’s economic security strategy, and assisted the foundation’s PR team. His broader research interests include the US-Japan alliance, the US-China-Japan trilateral relationship, and the geoeconomics of East Asia. Dylan was born in Yokohama and speaks Japanese.

Ms. Adriana Reinecke
Ms. Adriana Reinecke graduated from the University of Oxford with an MPhil in International Relations and holds a B.A. in East Asian Studies from Cornell University. Her master’s thesis analyzes the linguistic power politics of the negotiations surrounding the postwar drafting of the Japanese Constitution. As a 2021-22 fellow, Adriana conducted research into problems of governance in Japan and China, co-hosted the center’s podcast, and contributed to the center’s recently published, The COVID-19 Crisis and Asia’s Response: 2020-2022 and Beyond. She is broadly interested in the role that language and culture play in the conduct of international relations, law, and diplomacy. This year, Adriana seeks to understand what role Japan, the U.S., and China might play in shaping governance structures and norms in the contested global commons. In addition to Japanese, Adriana is proficient in Korean and speaks elementary Mandarin Chinese. She has studied and worked in the US, Japan, and the UK.

Ms. Emma Brenner
Ms. Emma Brenner is a senior at Johns Hopkins Homewood Campus double majoring in East Asian and International Studies. Prior to joining the Reischauer Center, she worked as an intern at Keio Academy of New York, an affiliate of Keio University in Japan, and at the AMEL Project, a non-profit organization in DC that trains civil rights activists. At Johns Hopkins, she is the President of the East Asian Studies Advisory Committee, where she works to arrange East Asian-related events. While at the Reischauer Center, she has conducted research on Japan’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on specific cases of COVID-19 outbreak and the lessons learned. She is currently undertaking a project on the evolution of the US Embassy in Tokyo, focusing on prominent ambassadors and how they influenced policy. In the Spring of 2022, she will be continuing her Japanese studies abroad at Tokyo University in Japan.

Mr. Yaxiong “Luke” Chen
Mr. Yaxiong “Luke” Chen graduated with high honors in politics from Oberlin College, receiving a BA in politics and economics as well as a minor in law and society. He returns to the Reischauer Center for a second year and seeks to deepen his understanding of comparative political economy (CPE) via studying both historical trends and current events. As a research intern in 2019 and a policy research fellow in 2020-21 at the Reischauer Center, Yaxiong conducted research on political and business relations along the Eurasian Sea Lanes as well as on COVID-19 vaccine policies in East Asia. In undergrad, his senior thesis focused on the political economy of corporate governance reforms in Chinese state-owned enterprises. More broadly, his academic and research interests in East Asia and CPE are shaped by his experiences of living and studying in China, the US, and the UK.

Ms. Jada Fraser
Ms. Jada Fraser graduated with High Honors from the University of Texas at Austin where she completed her B.A. in International Relations and Global Studies and was awarded a certificate in Security Studies from the Clements Center for National Security. As an undergraduate, Jada focused on international relations in East Asia and studied Japanese. With the support of the U.S.-Japan Council, she was able to study abroad at Waseda University during her junior year. Her undergraduate honors thesis examined the interplay of historical memory and nationalism through a comparative case study of history textbooks in Japan and South Korea. Previously, Jada worked as an intern and a research assistant with the Japan Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Her current research interests include U.S. alliance strategy in the Indo-Pacific, Japan-South Korea relations, and the impact of U.S.-China competition.

Ms. Hana Lord
Ms. Hana Lord graduated from Peking University’s Yenching Academy with an M.A. in China Studies, focusing on Politics and International Relations, and has a B.A. in Critical East Asian Studies from Grinnell College. While at Yenching Academy, she built on her undergraduate research on the Japanese colonial era by researching wartime forced labor reparations cases in the Chinese legal system. Prior to joining the Reischauer Center, she attended the Inter-University Center (IUC) 10-month intensive Japanese language program as a Blakemore Freeman Fellow. She has interned at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois and at the National Museum of China in Beijing. Her recent studies have focused on China-Japan relations, but she is also interested more broadly in civil society, public diplomacy, and cultural constructions of law in East Asia.

Ms. Lauren Mosely
Ms. Lauren Mosely graduated from Washington & Lee University with a B.A. in Global Politics and East Asian Languages and Literatures with an emphasis on Japanese. Upon graduating, she worked at the U.S.-Japan Council in Washington, DC for two years where she assisted with TOMODACHI Initiative programs as well as membership-organized events throughout the United States and Japan. In 2017, she accepted a position on the JET Program, spending the next two years teaching English in Hyogo Prefecture. Lauren’s research interests include public diplomacy, multiculturalism, transnational business practices, and international government agencies.

Ms. Adriana Reinecke
Ms. Adriana Reinecke graduated from the University of Oxford with an MPhil in International Relations and holds a B.A. in East Asian Studies from Cornell University. Her undergraduate studies focused on Japan and notions of race and ethnonationalism in East Asia, while her master’s thesis examines linguistic power politics through an analysis of the drafting of the Japanese Constitution. While at Oxford, she conducted research for the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. Her broad research interests include competing historical narratives in East Asia, the politics of language and identity, and the intersection between organized criminal networks and state actors including the current interaction between the COVID-19 pandemic and organized crime in East Asia. In addition to Japanese, Adriana is proficient in Korean and eager to return to her study of Mandarin Chinese.

Ms. Lam Tran
Ms. Lam Tran graduated from Franklin and Marshall College with a joint major in Government and Chinese Studies and a minor in English Literature During her college years, Lam worked at the East West Center as a Research Intern and at the Mansfield Foundation as a Program Assistant. She has also accumulated experiences in investigative research and political risk analysis at the US-ASEAN Business Council and BowerGroupAsia. Her current research focuses on supply chain resilience, techno- authoritarianism and techno-democracies. Lam speaks Vietnamese, Mandarin, and is learning Korean and Bahasa.

Ms. Riho Aizawa

Ms. Riho Aizawa is a Master’s student at the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University specializing in US foreign policy and the US-Japan alliance. She received her BA and MA degrees in International Relations from Gakushuin Women’s College. She has previously served as a research intern on Asia-Pacific security at the Hudson Institute. She is also a member of the Research Institute of Peace and Security’s US-Japan Partnership Program as well as the Pacific Forum’s Young Leaders Program.

Ms. Hana Anderson

Ms. Hana Anderson graduated from St. Olaf College in May of 2020 with a B.A. in Political Science and Chinese. As an undergraduate, Hana conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Taiwan and received a Boren Scholarship to pursue Chinese language studies in Shanghai, China. Also fluent in Japanese, she interned at the Political-Economic section of the U.S. Consulate in Osaka, Japan. As a Research Fellow, Hana is excited to work with her peers and learn from experts at the Reischauer Center. She is primarily interested in US-Japan-China trilateral relations and competing historical narratives in Asia, as well as their effects on policy.

Mr. Jonathan Canfield

Mr. Jonathan Canfield graduated from Wesleyan University with high honors in Government and East Asian Studies. He previously spent a year abroad at Waseda University in Tokyo, and wrote his senior thesis on alliance management and the U.S.-Japan security relationship. During his undergraduate career, Jonathan spent summers working with the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo and the Office of the Secretary of Defense (East Asia section), focusing on economic and security portfolios. His current research interests include the U.S.-Japan alliance, Indo-Pacific trends and relationships, and all things COVID-related. Jonathan speaks Japanese and is learning Korean.

Mr. Yaxiong Chen

Mr. Yaxiong “Luke” Chen graduated with high honors in politics from Oberlin College, receiving a BA in Politics and Economics as well as a minor in Law and Society. His senior thesis focused on the political economy of corporate governance reforms in Chinese state-owned enterprises. After working as a research intern at the Reischauer Center in the summer of 2019, he returned to the center with the hope of a fuller experience and a better understanding of Washington. His academic and research interest in East Asia and comparative political economy is shaped by his experiences of living and studying in China, the US, and the UK.

Ms. Riyo Tanaka

Ms. Riyo Tanaka graduated from Johns Hopkins SAIS with a Master’s in International Public Policy and has a B.A. in Policy Management from Keio University. Prior to joining the Reischauer Center, she worked as credit analyst and economist for the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) for over seven years. Riyo is an alumna of the Bucerius Summer School in Germany and attended the Raisina Dialogue in India. She has broad research interests, ranging from the environment to energy, healthcare, agriculture, and entertainment. She speaks French, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish.

Ms. Vivian Chen

Ms. Vivian Chen graduated Summa Cum Laude from Case Western Reserve University with a dual B.A. in International Studies and Japanese Studies. During the summer of 2015, she conducted senior thesis research as part of her internship at the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies (ICAS) in Tokyo. After graduation, Vivian was selected to participate in the JET Program where she taught English at elementary and junior high schools for two years in Masuda City, Shimane Prefecture (2016-2018). Before joining the Reischauer Center, she worked as a Residential Advisor for the TOMODACHI Summer 2019 SoftBank Leadership Program at UC Berkeley. Her current research interests include U.S.-China-Japan relations, trans-Pacific demography, and women’s studies in Northeast Asia. She speaks Mandarin and Japanese.

Mr. Sam Frost

In addition to his role as a Policy Research Fellow at the Reischauer Center, Mr. Samuel Frost is also a Master’s student in the Asian Studies program at the Georgetown School of Foreign Service. A 2013 graduate of Macalester College with a degree in Chinese Language and Cultural Studies, he has studied and worked extensively in both mainland China and Taiwan. He most recently spent a year in Taipei, Taiwan on a Boren Fellowship, where he studied Mandarin Chinese with the International Chinese Language Program at National Taiwan University. Sam’s primary research interests are Chinese foreign and domestic politics, as well as the strategies, tactics, and capabilities of the People’s Liberation Army.

Ms. Monica Weller

Ms. Monica Weller graduated from Knox College with a B.A. in International Relations and a double minor in Japanese and Gender Studies. She spent her junior year divided between Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan and the Amideast Institute in Amman, Jordan, analyzing regional geopolitical tensions. Her senior honors thesis focused on Japanese Prime Minister Abe’s “Womenomics” initiative, and examined the political, societal, and feminist implications of the policy. Monica participated in the Fulbright U.S. Student Program in Mongolia, where she conducted English language programming and grant writing seminars at Khovd State University. Her current research focuses on Mongolian democracy, international organizational involvement in developing states, and Chinese, American, and Japanese cultural diplomacy within Asia.

Ms. Yasmin Yoon

Ms. Yasmin Yoon graduated from Johns Hopkins University where she majored in International Studies with a focus in East Asia. While she spent her undergraduate career focusing on critical perspectives of urban development, she hopes to expand towards understanding concentration camps as a point of state formation under climate change. Currently at SAIS, she is interested in learning about the potentialities of Hong Kong discourse to break away from traditional U.S.-China dichotomy and introduce politically creative ideas for international studies. On her own time, Yasmin enjoys the occasional philosophy and literature as well.

Ms. Marina Dickson

Ms. Marina Dickson received her BA from Bates College where she double majored in Politics and History. She completed part of her degree at Yonsei University in Seoul, where she researched the topic of Japan-Korea bilateral relations and the impact of domestic politics and national identity on cooperation for her undergraduate thesis. Prior to joining the Reischauer Center she worked at The Beacon Group, a strategy consulting firm, where she helped healthcare, defense, and technology companies navigate new global market opportunities. Her academic and research interests lies in political memory, East Asia’s alliance systems, and considerations for political risk in international business. She was born and raised in Tokyo and speaks Japanese.

Mr. Thomas Ramage

Mr. Thomas Ramage graduated from Hobart College in 2016 with a B.A. in History and a minor in Asian Studies. He spent his junior year as an exchange student at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea taking intensive Korean language coursework. Tom spent the summer following his exchange as a Corporate and Institutional Clients intern at Standard Chartered Bank’s Korea headquarters in Seoul covering Korean shipping, energy, and entertainment companies market expansion into China and elsewhere. Following graduation, Tom served in the U.S. Peace Corps in China, where he was responsible for designing and implementing English language programs at Yibin University in Sichuan.

Ms. Rachel Xian

Ms. Rachel Xian graduated with the Christian A. Herter award for academic excellence from Johns Hopkins SAIS in 2018, obtaining her M.A. with a Conflict Management concentration and a China Studies minor. In Spring 2017, she published a chapter on U.S.-China identity politics in the South China Sea after completing field research in Nanjing and Beijing, China under SAIS. Between semesters, Rachel interned with the Cato Institute’s Foreign and Defense Policy department, focusing on East Asian strategic relations and Iranian nuclear development. She has also interned with Amnesty International and the Legislative Council of Hong Kong while completing her B.A. in International Studies, Political Science, and East Asian Studies at the Johns Hopkins University. Rachel’s present research interests range from psychological theories of international cooperation to nuclear and cyber technology in China. Her most recent work “China’s Nuclear Forces: Modernization Initiatives and Stabilizing Policy Options” was published by the SAIS China Studies Review summer 2018. As a native Canadian, Rachel has traded Toronto’s tidy suburbs for Baltimore’s art districts, with a tertiary home on the MARC train to and from D.C.

Mr. Jonathan Hall-Eastman

Mr. Jonathan Hall-Eastman graduated with honors from Johns Hopkins SAIS, with a concentration in China Studies. During his first year at Johns Hopkins SAIS, he studied in China at the Johns Hopkins-Nanjing University Center. He also spent a year studying in an intensive language program in Shanghai as an undergraduate and has done extensive Chinese to English translation work. While studying in Washington D.C., he worked in research assistant and internship positions with focuses that included Chinese loan finance in Africa, the implications of China’s innovation policies, and the drivers of China’s capital account liberalization. He graduated from Rutgers University summa cum laude with a triple major in political science, economics, and history. He spent three months studying Japanese in an intensive language program in Okazaki in 2015, and in 2013 participated in the Rutgers-Ritsumeikan Exchange Program (RITS). The RITS program brought Rutgers and Ritsumeikan University students together to study politics from a comparative perspective, first at Rutgers and then at Ritsumeikan. His academic interests revolve around East Asia’s political economy and include the differing dynamics of urbanization across East Asia, regional convergence in China, and Japan’s electoral politics.

Ms. Sherry Kim

Ms. Sherry Kim graduated with honors from Johns Hopkins University in May 2017, receiving her B.A. in International Studies, with a concentration in East Asian Studies, and English Literature. Her academic and research interest in the East Asian and Southeast Asian region stems primarily from her background and experience living abroad. Born in South Korea and raised in southern California, she spent four years each living in Indonesia, China, and Vietnam, before coming to the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area. Her prior academic research has focused namely on the political economy of trade policy and its implications on security strategy in the Asia Pacific region, particularly between China, Japan, South Korea, and the U.S. Additionally, she is interested in non-profit work, having worked with Smile Bank, an organization dedicated to helping Agent Orange victims in Vietnam, and hopes to extend this work in the U.S. as well.

Ms. Yuki Numata

Ms. Yuki Numata graduated cum laude from Pomona College in May 2016, with a B.A. in International Relations. She wrote her senior thesis on policy reinterpretation regarding neutrality and self-defense in Swiss and Japanese constitutional law, respectively, for which she received the John A. Vieg Prize in International Relations. She completed part of her degree at the University of Oxford, U.K., where she focused on Japanese politics and comparative education. Prior to joining the Reischauer Center, she worked for Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting in Tokyo, Japan, where she was responsible for research and analysis of policy trends regarding Industry 4.0 technologies in East and Southeast Asia. She has also previously interned with the Research Institute of Peace and Security based in Tokyo, Japan. Her research interests lies broadly in the East Asia region and the role of private sector in international relations.

Ms. Olivia Schieber

Ms. Olivia Schieber graduated with honors from Johns Hopkins University with a dual B.A. in East Asian Studies and International Studies. As a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at Johns Hopkins, Ms. Schieber worked under the guidance of Dr. Erin Chung to study the political and societal implications of mandatory military conscription of South Korean males. This research culminated in a final paper, entitled “The South Korean Military: Influencing Perceptions on North Korea and the US Military,” which was published in the Columbia East Asia Review. Ms. Schieber recently relocated to DC after having spent two years in Seoul as a teacher and college application consultant. She has also studied at Yonsei University and Sogang University in South Korea and Osaka Gakuin Daigaku in Japan. Ms. Schieber speaks Korean, Japanese, and Chinese, and her current research interests include security issues on the Korean peninsula, energy politics of East Asia, and the domestic politics of South Korea.

Ms. Neave Denny

Ms. Neave Denny graduated from Villanova University with a B.S. in Biology and a minor in Japanese Studies, which included a semester abroad at Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka. After the completion of her degree, she was selected to participate in the JET Program in Okinawa where she served in Minami Daito Island (2010-2012) and Naha (2012-2013). In the fall of 2013, Neave joined Peace Boat, a Japan-based international NGO, and taught courses in English language acquisition and cultural understanding to Japanese participants as they ported in 17 different countries throughout the southern hemisphere. After the voyage, Neave worked as a guide for Japanese students on short-term exchange programs in the U.S. as part of the KAKEHASHI Program before returning to Japan in 2015 for a year of intensive, advanced language training at the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies (IUC) in Yokohama. While at the IUC, Neave worked as a Research Fellow for the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) and examined changes in education and labor policy under the Abe Administration. As a Reischauer Policy Research Fellow, she will analyze the globalization of Japanese cities and hopes to continue to contributing the strengthening of U.S.-Japan relations.

Ms. Kathryn Botto

Ms. Kathryn Botto graduated with honors from Johns Hopkins University with a B.A. in East Asian Studies, Sociology, and International Studies. Her senior honors thesis, entitled “The Language of Internal Colonialism in Xinjiang,” focused on how language reinforces power dynamics in western China. Kathryn has studied abroad and interned in both Japan and China, and has studied Japanese, Chinese, and Korean language. She also received the Fulbright Korean Studies Graduate Degree Grant in April 2015, and will attend graduate school in South Korea under the Fulbright program at the end of her Reischauer Policy Research Fellowship in March 2016. In addition to conducting rewarding research, Kathryn hopes to give back to the DC and the Johns Hopkins SAIS community through her leadership and founding of a volunteer group to teach elementary school students foreign languages during her time at the Reischauer Center.

Mr. Alexander Evans

Mr. Alexander Evans earned an MSc in Economic History (Research) from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where his dissertation focused on the interaction between state fiscal capacity and postal savings in late 19th-century Japanese development. He previously earned a BBA in Economics and International Business from Villanova University, which included a semester abroad at Sophia University in Tokyo as a US-Japan Bridging Scholar. Outside of academia, he has held multiple internships in the financial services industry and most recently focused on business continuity management. As part of his work at the Center, he is currently researching “circles of compensation” within the Japanese political economy and the future of energy policy in Japan. Other topics in which he is interested include questions of historical economic geography, such as how pilgrimage routes may have shaped market expansion and regional development in the early-modern period.

Ms. Erika Klein

Ms. Erika Klein graduated from the University of Southern California with a B.A. in International Relations and a minor in Psychology. While at USC, she spent a semester studying abroad at Nanzan University in Nagoya, Japan, as well as a month in Tokyo as a USC Global East Asia Scholar. She also spent several months collaborating with Singaporean university students and other USC students on a report examining U.S. foreign policy toward Southeast Asia, including a 1-week trip to Singapore. Her honors thesis evaluated the durability of the U.S.-Japan alliance and fueled her interest in U.S. base issues in Okinawa. Following graduation, she taught English for 2 years in Kobe, Japan as an ALT on the JET Program, simultaneously serving as News Editor for the JET monthly publication AJET Connect. While living in Kobe, she enjoyed traveling around Japan (including twice to Okinawa), as well as to Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

Ms. Yun Han

Ms. Yun Han received an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where she earned concentrations in International Economics and Japan Studies. Her research focused on the impact of the U.S.-Japan alliance on Northeast Asian affairs and was published as part of the Reischauer Center’s annual yearbook on U.S.-Japan relations in 2013. Previously, Ms. Han graduated from the George Washington University (GWU) with a B.A. in International Affairs and minors in History and Japanese Language and Literature. While at the GWU, she spent a semester abroad at Waseda University in Tokyo and, after returning from Japan, became a Study Abroad Peer Advisor at the University’s Office for Study Abroad. She speaks Chinese Mandarin, Japanese, and Korean. Before serving as a Reischauer Policy Research Fellow, Ms. Han was an intern at the Asian Development Bank Institute, where she examined the iPhone’s global value chain and the U.S.-China trade deficit. Furthermore, she participated in the Young Ambassador Program organized by the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat of the People’s Republic of China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea in 2014.

Mr. Michael Kotler

Mr. Michael Kotler is a cum laude graduate from Claremont McKenna College, where he majored in economics and government (dual degree). He completed the honors program for government and his senior thesis focused on Social Security reform. He has spent time in both Representative Jan Schakowsky (IL – 09) and Assistant Majority Leader Senator Richard Durbin’s (IL) office. During his time on the hill he focused on the Toyota recalls, the Bowles-Simpson Fiscal Commission, and appropriations requests. He recently spent 3 years in Niigata Prefecture as part of the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program run by the Japanese Ministries of Education and Foreign Affairs. During his time in Japan, he taught English at junior high schools and elementary schools and played on the City Hall baseball team.

Ms. Aileen McLaren

Ms. Aileen McLaren received her M.S. in Peace Operations from George Mason University’s School of Public Policy and received with distinction her B.A. in Asian Studies from Mary Baldwin College, where her thesis was on North Korean nuclear proliferation. During her junior year at Mary Baldwin College, she spent a semester studying abroad at Kyoto’s Doshisha Women’s College. After receiving her M.S. in Peace Operations, she moved to Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan and spent two years working as an ALT for the JET Program. During that time, she taught English at Hokkaido Yuho High School and supported Japanese teachers of English in research at the Hokkaido Board of Education’s Research Center. She has also worked at the Youth for Understanding’s Japan Pre-Departure Orientation where she taught Japanese language and culture classes to help prepare North American high school students for a 6-week homestay experience in Japan. Her current research focuses on U.S.-Japan relations, Asian Energy Security, and the U.S.-Japan-Southeast Asia Triangle.

Ms. Sophie Yang

Ms. Sophie Yang received her B.A. in International Relations from Mount Holyoke College specializing in international institutions. There she learned the importance of challenging her own assumptions and striving for more nuanced understanding through interdisciplinary approach and evidence-driven research. In her senior year, she focused on East Asian regional studies and conducted independent research on “Cultural Nationalism: Confucian Cultural Legacy in Chinese Modern Nationalism.” Apart from her academic research, she has various international internship experiences. She researched under the air pollution team at the Centre for Science and Environment (New Delhi, India). She also helped to draft a grant proposal submitted to the German Marshall Fund of the United States at the Strategic Research Center (Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia).

Ms. Narae Choi

Ms. Narae Choi graduated from Johns Hopkins SAIS, concentrating in both Korea Studies and Japan Studies. While at Johns Hopkins SAIS, she focused on examining bilateral relations between the Koreas and Japan as well as Japan’s historical colonial ideology and its policies towards colonized territories. Ms. Choi completed her B.A. in International Relations, with an East Asian Studies concentration, at Johns Hopkins University with honors. Her diverse past internship experience has included work with the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment; the Korea Women’s Hotline; the Library of Congress, and the National Endowment for Democracy. Her current research compares the political economy of South Korea and Japan in areas such as agriculture, electoral politics, women’s movement, civil society, and labor.

Ms. Megan Dick

Ms. Megan Dick received her B.A. in Asian Studies from Pomona College, where she wrote her senior thesis on youth mobilization in Japan during the Pacific War. During her junior year she spent six months studying at Tokyo’s International Christian University and living with a Japanese family. In addition, Ms. Dick has a strong background in advanced mathematics and was a National Merit Scholarship Award winner. Her past professional experience includes cultural and educational programming for the Hyogo Business and Cultural Center, as well as supporting students and administrators as a Resident Advisor. Her current research focuses on comparative healthcare systems in the U.S. and Asia, as well as on the triangular US-Japan-Southeast Asia relationship.