2019-2020 U.S.-Asia Predoctoral Fellows

Jonathan Baron is research scientist at Facebook. He received his PhD from the Department of Political Science at Yale University, researching the influence of public opinion on nuclear policy. His work focused on how public attitudes toward nuclear weapons influence attitudes toward nuclear energy.

Edward Goldring is an Assistant Professor in the Deptartment of Politics at the University of York. He received his PhD from the University of Missouri, studying how non-democratic leaders maintain power. Ed’s dissertation examines the causes of elite purges in dictatorships using a range of qualitative and quantitative tools. This includes quantitative individual-level analysis of purges in Kim Jong-un’s ruling elite during the first three years of Kim’s tenure. Ed has conducted field research in countries including Zambia and South Korea, taught research methods in Brazil, and previously been a research fellow at the London School of Economics. His research has been published or is forthcoming in journals including Comparative Political Studies, Party Politics, Democratization, and Research & Politics.

Carl Pi-Cheng Huang is a doctoral candidate studying international relations in the Department of Politics at the University of Virginia. He is also a Korea Foundation fellow. His research focuses on the role of ritualized hostilities in territorial dispute escalation, with a specific focus on East Asian security. From 2017-2018, Huang was a Nippon Foundation Fellow of the Inter-University Center of Japanese Language Studies (IUC) in Yokohama. He is also a recent (2017) alum of the Social Science Research Council Korean Studies Dissertation Workshop (KSDW). Huang received his BA in Diplomacy at National Chengchi University, Taipei in 2012 and his M.A. in Foreign Affairs at the University of Virginia in 2016.

Stephanie Kang is a postdoctoral fellow at UC Davis. She received her PhD in International Relations at the University of Southern California. Her research explains why security commitments between states vary and how such variation has different effects on the strategic environment of actors in dispute. In particular, she is interested in the relationship between the security obligations and provisions laid out in alliance treaties (“treaty commitments”) and the physical military actions/measures taken in peacetime to coordinate allies’ militaries in preparation for potential conflict (“material commitments”). Stephanie’s research has broad implications for the study of conflict, extended deterrence, and the design of security commitments. Her research has been funded by the Fulbright Program, the Korea Foundation, and the US Department of Education. She was also an APSA Minority Fellow from 2016-2017. Stephanie received her MA in international studies at Seoul National University in South Korea, and her BA with honors in political science at the University of California, Irvine.

Ellen Kim received her PhD in Political Science and International Relations at the University of Southern California. Previously, she was Associate Director of the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Relations (CSIS), where she was also a Fellow. Her research interests are East Asian security, US grand strategy in Asia, and international political economy. Her latest publication Between a Rock and a Hard Place: South Korea’s Strategic Dilemmas with China and the United States, coauthored with Victor Cha, was published in Asia Policy. She holds a BA in international relations and Japanese studies from Wellesley College and an MPP from Harvard Kennedy School.

Paul Orner works at the US Institute of Peace in Washington DC. Paul studies Chinese foreign policy and the way the states of the Asia-Pacific respond to Chinese power.  In particular, Paul’s research explores the way the PRC employs coercive diplomacy to secure its interests and undermine US influence in the region.  Prior to studying at USC, Paul spent a number of years studying and working in East Asia.

Kyuri Park is a PhD candidate in the Political Science and International Relations program at the University of Southern California. Her research focuses on the variations in security cooperation patterns in the Asia-Pacific along with the rise of China. Kyuri is particularly interested in increasing security cooperation activities in the region and its implications for regional peace and stability, and the US and China’s grand strategy toward Asia. Kyuri is also a recent (2019-2020) alumna of the US-Asia Grand Strategy Predoctoral Fellow program at the USC Korean Studies Institute (KSI). She received her MA in Asian Studies at Georgetown University and her BA in International Relations from Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea.