Mingalaba, Welcome to my website!

I am a PhD student in Political Science at University of Michigan – Ann Arbor. My research interests are in state building, distributive politics, and research methodology. Despite a regional focus on Southeast Asia, I actively follow the studies in Sub-Saharan Africa.

My research interest has been significantly shaped by my personal experience. The death of my grandfather, a Tatmadaw soldier, during an ambush by Kachin Independence Army, is a watershed moment in our family history. Growing up in Burma (Myanmar) under the military regime and subsequent reforms inspired me to ask a number of questions: What is the role of public goods and services, particularly education, in state formation? What factors influence ethnic groups in their response to social inequalities? What changes should be made in social policies in post-conflict societies to ensure that public resources are equitably distributed among ethnic groups? I plan to answer these questions through comparative, experimental, and quantitative studies.

I received my undergraduate degree in Global Economics and Finance at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Before my graduate studies, I worked for one year as a researcher at CUHK and contributed to academic research and policy projects in Iraq, Indonesia, Burma, and Syria.