I grew up in southern Washington just outside of Portland, Oregon. I completed my undergraduate degree at Portland State University before going to the University of Hawaii, Manoa for Graduate School. My research interests focus around the historical aspects of globalization and Americanization that transformed cultural institutions in Asia in the twentieth century. I primarily examine international and transnational exchanges between The United States and East and Southeast Asia during the twentieth century, particularly those that created ongoing structures of state power, economic inequality, and elements of American hegemony in the region.