Jon graduated with Distinction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts in History and Asian Studies with Certificates in Chinese Professional Communication, European Studies, and German. As an undergraduate student, Jon studied abroad in China and was active in campus interfaith dialogue as a fellow for the Lubar Institute for the Study of the Abrahamic Religions. Jon’s undergraduate work titled “Exhumed Memories: Ho Chi Minh, Pol Pot, and the Struggle for Nationalism in Indochina” was published in the West Point Undergraduate Historical Review. Following graduation, Jon lived in Taiwan for two years as an English Teaching Assistant for the Fulbright Program and studying Chinese at the International Chinese Language Program at National Taiwan University.
Before beginning graduate studies at Columbia, Jon interned for a summer at the NYU U.S.-Asia Law Institute where he completed translation and historical research to contribute to the institute’s mission of promoting international dialogue on the rule of law. As an MA/MSc student at Columbia University and the London School of Economics, Jon’s research focused on the Sino-Vietnamese relationship during the American Vietnam War and the Chinese Cultural Revolution. He also served as Speaker Manager for the LSE Chinese Development Society while in London.
Following graduation, Jon worked as a research assistant at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and analyzed South Korean investment trends in Vietnam. Building upon his Vietnamese language training at Columbia and the LSE, Jon is currently a Blakemore Freeman Fellow for Advanced Vietnamese Language Studies based in Hanoi, Vietnam. Academically and professionally, Jon enjoys applying the study of foreign languages to explore diverse perspectives on the history and international relations of the Indo-Pacific Region.
Jon is also an avid reader, long distance runner, weightlifter, and tea collector.
