I was born and raised in South Korea, lived in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and have taken a non-linear path through academia, public service, and civic technology. As a first-generation college student from a working-class family, I’ve written several personal essays reflecting on my career, research, and life—often shaped by questions of purpose, identity, and belonging.

Professional Reflections

• The Ruth Collier Method: Teaching Scholarship with Courage and Clarity

• The Pipeline Is the Point: Making Civic Tech Work Globally

• I Didn’t Think I’d Return to Academia — Until I Saw What Was Missing

• Researching and Doing Policy Science as a Political Scientist

• Speaking of Speaking English

Personal Reflections

• Digging the Well: What I Learned from Haruki Murakami’s Everyday Discipline

• Raising a Good Trouble-Maker

• Paths Denied, Paths Created

• What Running Taught Me: How to Fail and How to Grow Old

Career Advice

• How Opportunities Travel: A Guide to Academic Networking

• Academic Job Talks as Storytelling: Why Character Matters as Much as Plot

• What I Wish I Knew Before the Academic Job Market

• Four Tips on How to Approach Job Interviews

• How to Build a Dissertation Committee

• How to Write a Statement of Purpose for Graduate School in Political Science

Korean essays

• 한국인 대학원생들을 위한 미국 아카데믹 커리어 조언 웹사이트

• 대학사용법 개정판 웹사이트