I am a doctoral student in Political Science at Cornell and a recipient of the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans.

I study comparative politics and international relations, specializing in revolution, movement, regime change, violence, political culture, democratic backsliding, authoritarianism, and rebel politics.

My research is deeply motivated by my personal experiences from a childhood in a rural-remote village and in a Charity Buddhist Monastery to access secondary education, navigating life as an undocumented migrant laborer in China, to working as a frontline journalist covering armed conflict, humanitarian crises under the world’s longest internet shutdown, the anti-coup movement and resistance in Myanmar.

At Cornell, I am an affiliate of the Center on Global Democracy, Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, and Southeast Asian Program (SEAP). I hold a BA in Asian Studies from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, which I earned following a seven-year hiatus from my studies that began at the University of Distance Education, Sittwe University.

I enjoy writing analysis of political development in Myanmar for Foreign Policy, The Diplomat and others.

To contact, kh827@cornell.edu.