MARSEA Class of 2016

Welcome MARSEA Class of 2016! Meet the new MARSEA students by reading their profiles below. The institute is excited to work with this year’s class with students coming from China, Korea, Singapore, and United States.

Eun Young Choi
Undergraduate School of Study: Yonsei University
Undergraduate Major: Political Science and Diplomacy
Concentration in the MARSEA Program: Korea
Academic Interests at Columbia: Modern and contemporary history of East Asia, Power politics, Security issues on the Korean Peninsula
Other fun facts: I’m looking for an English name which is similar to my Korean name “Eun Young.”  I’m open to any suggestions!

Sylvie Lamah
Undergraduate School of Study: John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Undergraduate Major: Global History
Concentration in the MARSEA Program: China
Academic Interests at Columbia:US-China Foreign Policy, Ethno-Politics in China, the New Qing History, the CCP and Contemporary Chinese Nationalism
Other fun facts: I am of Chinese and black-African descent, and I was once fluent in French, Mandarin, and a few local Guinean dialects. But Mandarin eventually took over and became the sole mother-tongue I know of, mostly a result of my decade-long living experience in China.

Jia Rong Lee
Undergraduate School of Study: King’s College London
Undergraduate Major: Law
Concentration in the MARSEA Program: China
Academic Interests at Columbia: China Foreign Policy and Economic Relations, East Asian Security, History
Other fun facts: My interests are crossfit, rock climbing, and scuba diving.

Yichen Ma
Undergraduate School of Study: Minzu University of China
Undergraduate Major: Korean Language and Literature
Concentration in the MARSEA Program: China, Korea
Academic Interests at Columbia:Women’s Studies
Other fun facts: I’m a big foodie and enjoy cooking for friends. I love traveling and always find good food without a guide book or TripAdvisor, even with my terrible sense of direction. I was in a band for three years due to my passion for singing.

Jessica Park
Undergraduate School of Study: University of Missouri – Columbia (BA) Stanford University (MA)
Undergraduate Major: Broadcast Journalism, Political Science
Concentration in the MARSEA Program: China
Academic Interests at Columbia: Journalism, Broadcast Reporting
Other fun facts: In my spare time I love to travel back to Korea to spend time with my family, obsess over teacup pig pictures, and watch Netflix in bed while eating gummy bears or sour patch watermelon.

Alvin Quan
Undergraduate School of Study: University of Victoria
Undergraduate Major: Sociology, Pacific & Asian Studies
Concentration in the MARSEA Program: China
Academic Interests at Columbia: Identity Crisis of Young Korean Chinese in Contemporary China, Korean immigration to China, Political reform and identity crisis of young Chinese in contemporary China
Other fun facts: I am passionate about music, writing, reading and education industry. In addition, I am the founder of a startup company providing supplementary educational service to current international school students in China called Avant Elite Education & Technology.

Jessica Wang
Undergraduate School of Study: College of William and Mary
Undergraduate Major: East Asian Studies, Economics
Concentration in the MARSEA Program: Japan
Academic Interests at Columbia: Modern Japan, specifically Socio-political repercussions that followed Japan’s economic recession in the early-1990s
Other fun facts: In 2008 I taught English in Japan and after 2 years of passing on my love of gerunds to junior high students I went to Taiwan to study Mandarin Chinese

MARSEA Class of 2015

Josh Gottesman
Undergraduate School of Study: Connecticut College
Undergraduate Major: Chinese Language & Literature; Government
Concentration in the MARSEA Program: China
Academic Interests at Columbia: Chinese food security, Chinese agricultural technology and history, Ming-Qing history and cartography.
Other fun facts: I am a musician!

Xinyu Li
Undergraduate School of Study: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Undergraduate Major: Mathematics
Concentration in the MARSEA Program: China
Academic Interests at Columbia: Chinese Economic Development, Financial Markets in China and Chinese Monetary Policy, Chinese Politics
Other fun facts: I like skiing.

Luke Walker
Undergraduate School of Study: Duke University
Undergraduate Major: English
Concentration in the MARSEA Program: Japan
Academic Interests at Columbia: Post-bubble Japanese economics, politics, and social issues.
Other fun facts: Taught English from 2010 to 2012 at Eko-In, a Jōdo-shū Buddhist temple in Tokyo, as a Princeton-in-Asia Fellow.

Qian Wu
Undergraduate School of Study: New York University
Undergraduate Major: Social and Cultural Analysis
Concentration in the MARSEA Program: China
Academic Interests at Columbia: East Asian philosophy and religion
Other fun facts: I don’t drink coffee, I like traveling and painting.

Qin (Jane) Yi
Undergraduate School of Study: Peking University and Waseda University
Undergraduate Major: International Politics and International Liberal Studies
Concentration in the MARSEA Program: China
Academic Interests at Columbia: Sino- Japan Relations, Cross- Strait Repations, Ethic Issues, Southeast Asian Chinese, South- South Cooperation and Development, Political Communication
Other fun facts: Guitar, singing, writing, piano, cooking, traveling, and sign language.

Jialing Zhang
Undergraduate School of Study: Shenzhen University; Fordham University: Master of Science in Global Finance
Undergraduate Major: Finance
Concentration in the MARSEA Program: China
Academic Interests at Columbia: International Affairs