Teaching

Based on my research experience and methodological training, I really look forward to teaching a variety of introductory and upper-level undergraduate general courses such as Introduction to International Relations, and region-specific courses such as China and the World, U.S. Foreign Policies, and East Asian Security. At the Ph.D. level, I am also capable of teaching introductory method courses on formal theory, statistics, automated text analysis, and data visualization with R.  

My TA experiences at BFSU and USC make it clear to me that there’s nothing more rewarding than informing, engaging, inspiring, and empowering students with knowledge about East Asia, especially when many of today’s pressing societal and security questions are from the region: the politics of the two Koreas, Japan, and China, the US-China relations, the South China Sea, and the environmental crises. There is clearly a major disconnect between the recognition that Asia is increasingly becoming important and the lack of expertise in Asia itself. It’s been incredibly rewarding to help the young generations understand not only how, but also why, the U.S. and the international system interact in their current ways as a teaching assistant previously, and I would be thrilled to have the chance to design my own courses in achieving these goals.

I embrace a student-centered teaching philosophy. I believe that we can foster active and interactive learning, in both large and small lecture settings. As my teaching evaluation shows, I regularly used real-time in-class polls, case studies, student-led discussions, and presentations to stimulate a fun environment, where students can apply abstract IR concepts to real-world issues by earnestly engaging in the process.

Moreover, I consciously seek to develop and maintain a relationship of trust and understanding with my students beyond just explaining lecture materials. As a graduate student leader at USC’s Security and Political Economy Lab, a lab that focuses particularly on recruiting and serving female, minority, and first-generation students, I worked closely with students who aspire to apply for graduate programs and offered them as much academic guidance as I can. These students were from a wide range of fields – International Relations, Economics – and of different ethnic backgrounds – Chinese, Korean, African American, and Hispanic.  At BFSU, I created the department’s first-ever Political Science Research Lab, where I mentor a highly diverse body of undergraduate and graduate students, offer computational methods training, and provide opportunities for students to work alongside faculty on cutting-edge research projects. I have consciously and actively participated in workshops that sharpened my teaching and mentoring skills at various institutions, and I am committed to doing so in the future.

(Offered in Fall 2022)


(Offered Fall 2021 & 2022, course evaluations here.)


(Offered Spring 2021,  course evaluations here.)


4. Teaching Assistant

‣ “POIR 611: Introduction to Regression Analysis,” Political Science and International Relations Program, USC, Spring 2017 (Instructor: Pablo Barberá)

‣ “POIR 610: Research Design,” Political Science and International Relations Program, USC, Fall 2016 (Instructor: James Lo)

‣ “IR 213: The Global Economy,” School of International Relations, USC, Spring 2016 (Instructor: Benjamin Graham)

‣ “IR 210: International Relations: Introductory Analysis,” School of International Relations, USC, Fall 2014 & 2015 (Instructor: Daniel C. Lynch)

‣ "IR 210: Introductory Theory and Analysis in International Relations," School of International Relations, Spring 2015 (Instructor: Steven Lamy)