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I am Assistant Professor of Sociology at National Chengchi University, affiliated with Stanford’s Next Asia Policy Lab, and Pathways Network in Education at Stanford University. Using Taiwan’s rapid shift from exam-centered to holistic admissions as a strategic case, particularly as college, my research examines how social classes mobilize resources to secure advantages amid uncertainty, how they seek help, and how each request is coordinated in the process. My work has appeared in International Studies in Sociology of Education, Ethnography, and The Journal of Asian Studies.
Using ethnographic fieldwork, archives, and mixed methods, I trace youths’ life courses to observe interventions from their parents and teachers, as well as their digital footprints in offline and online settings—a process I term “hybrid ethnography” in my methodological paper. Currently, I am turning my ethnographic thesis, When Ladders Move, into a book manuscript.
I am involved in three collaborative research projects across Taiwan and the United States. At Stanford, I lead a transnational research project that examines how Taiwan and Korea mobilize state power beyond their borders to facilitate institutional and scholarly connections between home and host societies. In another project, I collaborate with scholars studying first-generation students’ college-to-workforce transitions in the United States to understand why the advantages associated with elite college attendance do not always carry over into later life-course stages. I also collaborate with an interdisciplinary research team on organizational competition, examining how institutions position themselves and respond to shifting rules in higher education markets. Check out my Stanford Interview for further detail.
I earned my B.A. from National Taiwan University and my Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. My work is funded by the Fulbright Foundation, the Association of Asian Studies, Taiwan’s National Science Foundation, the Midwest Sociology Society, and the Institute for Regional and International Studies at UW-Madison.
