Now

This page was inspired by my friend Karen Ni, who was in turn inspired by Derek Sivers. It is intended to do two things: 1) it answers the question of what I’m up to right now, and 2) it serves as a reminder to myself of my current priorities.

Last updated: February 18th, 2019

What I’m studying: 

• American foreign policy towards Asia: the world remains shaped by interactions between the United States and other powers. Nothing will impact the future more than the US and its relationship with rising Asian powers.
• Political polarization in the United States: politics everywhere from the US to Thailand has been defined by polarization. Learning about its nature will be an illuminating way to understand modern politics.
• European intellectual history 1500-1800: I’d love to know more about philosophy and so I’m taking this class to fill some gaps in my humanities understanding. (And it’ll be fun reading Leviathan!)
• Foundations of data science: I know nothing about statistics, data or data science. This should be a fun ride…

What I’m working on right now: 

Covering the 2018 Thai general election

This will be Thailand’s first general election since 2014 and likely the first one to yield a government since 2011. I will dedicate a lot of my writing to cover this general election. Along the way, I want to develop a number of resources that can be used to help readers analyze Thai politics, including more political science-y articles about ideologies, sources of legitimacy and causes of conflict in Thai politics. In addition, I want to explore ways in which political literacy can be more effectively built in Thailand, and how the intersection of political science and the media can facilitate this process.

Researching constitutional legal frameworks

I’m on a project team supported by the US Department of Defense aiming to explain why some states’ security institutions are more effective than others by examining constitutional legal frameworks. My focus is on developing countries in Asia. It’s a way for me to learn how rigorous, quantifiable social science research is done while exploring my interests in constitutional issues in a comparative manner.

Building a more effective student government at UC Berkeley

I have one more semester left in my term as the ASUC’s Chief Communications Officer, and I intend to continue working on developing the ASUC’s branding strategy, internal organizational culture and raising awareness about the ASUC’s vital work on campus.

Consulting work for LinkedIn with DiversaTech

I’m on a project team doing consulting work for LinkedIn as part of DiversaTech, a UC Berkeley consulting group.

Current interests

Things I’m reading: Goodreads

Current random interests: Japanese politics, British constitutional issues, organizational culture & climate development