About Me

I am currently the Japan Research Fellow with the Leiden Asia Centre. My research interests are Japan’s security and diplomacy, the U.S.-Japan alliance, alliance politics, and Indo-Pacific security, and I regularly write on these topics for The Diplomat. I am also available to give guest lectures on any of these topics, and have recently spoken at the University of Amsterdam, Georgetown University, and the U.S. Foreign Service Institute.

Previous work experiences include: Presidential Management Fellow with the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Japanese Affairs; Associate Political Scientist with the RAND Corporation’s Defense and Political Science Department; and News Producer for TV Tokyo’s Washington, DC Bureau.

I have a Ph.D. in Political Science from MIT, and a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. My doctoral dissertation examined the Political Origins of Alliances using historical cases from Japan. I was awarded the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to support my dissertation research, and I have held visiting research appointments with the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and the University of Tokyo’s Institute of Social Science.

I am based in Haarlem, the Netherlands, and looking for a Japan- and/or international security-related role starting in January 2026 for my next step. I am fluent in English and Japanese and am beginning to learn Dutch.

If you would like to connect, whether for a potential job opportunity or speaking engagement, please send a LinkedIn request.