CAPS Alumni

Class of 2023

Majors:

Alex Breitenbach |卞立德

Alex Breitenbach

Throughout my time at  Cornell, I have pursued two degrees in both CAPS and Government.  I have been a proud brother of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity since freshman year and have been a contributor to the Cornell Greek Life community serving as a member of the IFC Judicial Board. Furthermore, I have also been a Proud member of the Lynah faithful since I was a young Boy. I was honored when I was selected to carry on the tradition of ringing the cowbell at every big red hockey game and it has been a true privilege to pass the Lynah Faithful cheers and chants down to the next generation. I have also been heavily involved with my club the Big Red Sports Network, where I was the founder and proud co-host of the Big Red Hockey Cast for the Last two seasons. It has been a privilege to interview many prominent Big Red players, coaches, and alumni each week.  After graduation, I am currently exploring career paths in the National Security sector and am also looking into careers in management consulting. I hope that I will be able to use my language skills to help not only make the world a more peaceful place, but also bring others together as well.

Isaac Herzog | 曾智宁

Isaac Herzog

Isaac fell in love with Cornell because of the CAPS program. Though Ithaca’s beauty and Cornell’s academic prowess indeed attracted him to this school, it was really Professor Carlson, Professor Xu, and CAPS that brought him here. He’s been a CAPS major since day one of freshman year and has taken seemingly every class it has to offer since. Since the pandemic, Isaac has also been organizing events for all the students to get together, mostly over hotpot, to build up a sense of community.

Outside of classes, Isaac is a bass in the Cornell Glee Club, an avid reader, and a frequenter of the slope when the weather is nice. If he’s not singing, he’s with friends at IBC, learning a new language, or discussing premier league soccer with Professor Carlson.
 After Cornell, Isaac is continuing his studies at Oxford, where he’ll get an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies. His proposed Master’s thesis will be about China’s investment in Timor Leste and Papua New Guinea, a subject he is immensely excited to get started.

 In his final minutes as a CAPS student, Isaac would like to thank Professor Carlson and Xu, not only for their academic teaching and guidance (though what they have taught him cannot be understated), but also their deep kindness, fierce passion for education, and for being truly amazing people.   

Joshua Lehrman | 雷家华

Josh Lehrman

Unique. That is the word I would use to describe my experience at Cornell. I have been fortunate to be involved in many great organizations across Ithaca. Aside from CAPS, I worked at Student Agencies, joined a social fraternity, volunteered at Salvation Army, and played club lacrosse. I felt unique and proud of my CAPS major in each organization. Few people had ever met other CAPS majors before me, and I always felt privileged to be the first one they could meet. I spent almost two years at Student Agencies as the head of a moving company that generated $350k in annual revenue. This was the most formative experience I had during college. Not only did I gain an understanding of what it takes to run a business, but I also had the opportunity to work with a diverse group of people. The student employees I collaborated with came from different socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic backgrounds. In addition, the social fraternity and club lacrosse were fun ways for me to meet other students across campus and involve myself in activities I love. I also enjoyed volunteering at Salvation Army, where I had the chance to give back to the Ithaca community one meal at a time. Finally, CAPS, of course, has been the staple of my Cornell career. I am so grateful that I could take full advantage of the Mandarin course offerings at Cornell. I also greatly appreciate all the CAPS professors and loved each CAPS I took. Next year, I will work at a hedge fund in New York City and continue practicing my Mandarin in Flushing Chinatown. Thank you, CAPS!

Angela Pan | 潘若怡

Angela Pan

My name is Angela Pan (潘若怡) and I double majored in CAPS and Government. I am particularly interested the role of China in global politics and comparative environmental policy in the US and China. On campus, I was part of the Cornell Speech and Debate Union. I am a member of the advocacy and publicity team of the International Student Union. I also volunteered at college mentors for kids and participated as an undergrad scholar at the Institute of Politics and Global Affairs. I spend my sophomore year at Tsinghua study away program in Beijing where I also worked as a research fellow at China House. As a research fellow, I conducted research on Chinese foreign investment and poverty alleviation policies. In my junior year, I was a research assistant working with Dr. Lu at the Atkinson center for sustainability on Green BRI and Chinese foreign aid research. I also participated in the Cornell in Washington Program where I interned at the Wilson Center’s China Environment Forum and worked on climate and plastic policies. Moreover, I am a three-plus-three law student so I spent my senior year as a first-year law student at Cornell Law School. At Cornell Law, I am the incoming vice president for women of color coalition and the incoming co-president of the public interest law union. My post-graduate plan is to pursue a joint JD/LLM degree at Cornell Law and to explore comparative legal systems in Asia Pacific and environmental law.

Max Smith | 潘旭

Maxwell Smith

During my time at Cornell, I am so thankful to have met so many wonderful people on this campus, lived and studied in Washington D.C., and gained work and life experience to prepare me for my next steps in life. When I am not doing work, I love going hiking all the different trails in the area and trying all the different restaurants in Ithaca. I enjoy playing intramural soccer and am a student sports official for Cornell Recreational Services. I also enjoy working as a chef at the Statler Hotel. I am a member of the Cornell Poker Association and Mixed at Cornell. After I graduate and travel throughout China this summer I will be moving to New York City to work in Financial Services for a short period of time before returning to graduate school to pursue a Master's degree in East Asian regional studies and hopefully becoming a Foreign Service Officer.  

Qianyu Wu | 吴茜羽 

Qianyu Wu

I am majoring in Government, CAPS, and economics at Cornell. During my summer at Cornell I participated in Cornell Cooperative Extension research internship where my partner and I would analyze economic and health conditions of different districts in New York state and zone in on regions that need help to improve living conditions there. I learned a lot from Cornell, not just the academics and theories, but also how the knowledge and discussions we had in class applies to us in real life. After graduation I'll start at Bank of America as an operations analyst, and I'm looking forward to it.   

Minors:

John Ashbrook | 安坚

John Ashbrook

While at Cornell, John has worked as an undergraduate research assistant in the CAPS department, and written for several student publications.  Outside of class he is an active member of Cornell's boxing, muay thai, and barbell clubs, helps manage the school's mascot Touchdown the Bear, and works as a cook for the popular collegetown pop-up restaurant "Bool Street Noods."  After graduation, John will be moving to the National Capital Region where he will be working as an analyst for the Department of Defense.

 

Kenny Ip | 叶觉聪

Kenny Ip

Kenny is a graduating senior from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations with a Minor in China and Asian Pacific Studies. He has an interest in law and public service. During his time at Cornell, he has been the Secretary fraternity Delta Tau Delta, part of Cornell Speech and Debate Team, participated in the Chinese Language House, the Cornell Premier League Supporters Club, Cornell Chess Club, and Cornell in Washington where he interned at the National Academy of Public Administration. He was hoping to be able to participate in the Beijing semester as part of the Caps program, however, he hopes to have the opportunity in the future to travel to Beijing and throughout China. Post graduation, he plans to spend a couple of gap years working before attending Law school.

 

Fletcher Levin | 福来

Fletcher Levin

Fletcher enjoys running, soccer, chess, and reading. He has been a member of groups such as Cornell Roosevelt Institute, Cornell International Affairs Review, and Cornell Progressives. During his last semester at Cornell, he interned in the press office of the German Marshall Fund of the US- a think tank focusing on international relations. Since graduating in December he has been working as a project assistant on the Asia Team at the National Democratic institute in Washington DC- a nonprofit promoting democracy around the world. He is planning to return to the world of Asia policy research.

Marielle Zweig |  魏晓娴

Marielle Zweig

My name is Marielle Zweig and I am a graduating senior in the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management with minors in China and Asia Pacific Studies and Law and Society. Outside of my school work, I have engaged with several organizations on campus including Pi Sigma Epsilon Business Fraternity, 180 Degrees Consulting, International Business Consulting, Peer Review Board, and Kappa Kappa Gamma. After graduation I will be returning to New York City to start as a first-year analyst in investment banking. I have thoroughly enjoyed enrolling in classes in the CAPS curriculum. My Cornell career would not be the same without them as they have been some of the most enriching classes I have taken in my time here. I am also incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to learn from some exceptional CAPS teachers. This is a truly incredible program and I am so thankful I found it at Cornell!

 

Rachel (Sijia) Zhou | 周思嘉 

Rachel Zhou

I am a computer Science and I had a strong interest in embedded systems and robotics. I used to research at Collective Embodied Intelligence Lab and was an Engineerings Learning participant and was in the project team CUSail, an autonomous sailboat project team. Throughout other semesters, I was a TA for Embedded Operating Systems as well as Digital Logic. During my fall semester of senior year, I went abroad to Hong Kong and traveled solo through southeast Asia. During my free time, I am active in Cornell's service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega, and was on eboard for most of the semesters. I was also in the Cornell symphony as a first violinist. I am working as a software engineer at Amazon post-graduation. 

 

Class of 2022

Majors:

Forest-Amber Borealis | 薄安林

DC Internship: Congressional Staff Assistant & Legislative Correspondent
While at Cornell in Washington, Forest-Amber was hired as a congressional Staff Assistant, and later promoted to Legislative Correspondent. With the Beida semester canceled, Forest-Amber completed her final term at Queen Mary, University of London, where she joined the rowing team and focused on Art History. Forest-Amber plans to continue working for the government.

Jae Chang | 张宰镕

He will intern at the Korea Economic Institute in Washington, DC and look for a full-time position before going to graduate school (and also find time to finally visit Beijing).

Strauss Cooperstein | 孔史坦

“Over my past few summers, I have interned at UBS, Tencent, a cross border venture capital firm, and several non-profit organizations and tech start-ups based in the US, China, and HK. I am commencing with a financial advisory career at JP Morgan in Los Angeles upon graduation, working as an Analyst in Global Asset and Wealth Management.”

Arianna Dang | 邓安娜

This fall, Arianna will be returning to Washington, D.C. to pursue a Master’s degree in Asian Studies and a Certificate in Diplomatic Studies from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. Arianna hopes to one day pursue a diplomatic career in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

Maggie Zhang Grobowski | 章洋

Maggie has been selected as a Yenching Scholar at Peking University and a Clarendon Fund Scholarship recipient at the University of Oxford, where she will enroll next fall as a fully-funded MSc Candidate in Contemporary Chinese Studies.

Hallie Turner Riffkin | 任海心

After I graduate I plan to move back to New York City where I will pursue a job in Investment Banking focusing on Mergers and Acquisitions at Evercore. I do hope to one day get the chance to live in Asia — possibly Singapore— and put my CAPS skills to use! Prior to starting my job I will be traveling to Thailand, Vietnam and a few European countries to satiate my appetite for adventure and travel!

 

Minors

Gregory Brumberg | 白大龙

After graduation, Greg will be taking 14 months off to travel the world. He will be going to Central and Eastern Europe this summer, then spend 5 months in Israel taking intensive Hebrew classes. He will follow that up with three and a half months in South America and another 3 months in Asia, with a lot of that time spent in China. After his travels, he will be returning to his hometown of Boston to work for Chartwell, an engineering consultancy that helps factories run more efficiently by reducing waste.

Shruthi Krishnan | 柯舒笛

After graduation, Shruthi is going to work in consulting at Boston Consulting Group.

Henley Schulz |  徐莉

“After graduation, I will be working for McKinsey & Company in their Denver, Colorado office as a Solution Delivery Analyst on their defense and aerospace team.”

Stephen Andrew Kaiser | 安哲夫

Alexei Mentzer | 孟艺兴

"This fall, I am planning to continue my education and attend Columbia Law School."

Maya Voelkel | 方玫雅

“After graduation, I will be working at McKinsey & Company as a Business Analyst in the New York Metro Area, where I hope to put the cross-cultural and political understanding of China I learned through CAPS to work while collaborating with various clients.”

Dylan Young | 杨德岚

Econ/Govt double major

 

 

Class of 2021

Drake Avila |  安立捷

Drake Avila

When not in Chinese class, Drake's commiserated with his fellow CAPS students about Chinese class, often at De Tasty Hot Pot. His time at Cornell had been equally defined by time spent off-campus participating in Princeton in Beijing and the Southeast Asian Summer Studies Institute. Both language programs in Mandarin and Burmese respectively have firmly impressed upon him that he will remain a lifelong student.

After graduation, Drake will be interning with the Stimson Center’s Defense and Strategy Planning Propaganda. Long term, he hopes to research Chinese foreign policy in Myanmar.

Chuxuan “Victoria” Liu | 刘楚萱

Chuxuan Liu

Victoria triple-majored in China and Asia-Pacific Studies, Government, and Philosophy, with a minor in Law and Society. While at Cornell, Victoria became a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society in her junior year, worked as a writing center tutor since freshman year, and briefly joined Cornell’s Speech and Debate Society. Outside of class (not really, Victoria never really had a life outside of class), Victoria had TAed for introduction to oceanography and held a few RA-ships for Government professors.

During her exchange semester at Beida, Victoria was also involved in the Beida debate club. She organized, adjudicated, and participated in various local debate tournaments. Victoria also used her time at Beida for field research, which eventually led to a forthcoming paper on delivery workers in China, co-authored with Professor Eli Friedman. Victoria graduated with Distinction in All Subjects from the College of Arts & Sciences and Summa Cum Laude for her CAPS honor thesis on Sina Weibo data fraud. After graduation, she plans to continue her study at Stanford’s Political Science Ph.D. program.

Isaac McCurdy |  莫安杰

Isaac McCurdy

Isaac first heard about the CAPS major at Cornell during a NSLI-Y language immersion gap year program in Beijing, and he was drawn to it by his love for Mandarin. At Cornell his studies have taken him everywhere from revolutionary Maoist China, to neo-Confucian Chosŏn Korea, to the mystical Song Empire, and beyond.

One of Isaac’s passions is “collecting” languages. He began with Spanish in middle school, branched out to French and Mandarin in high school, and has been working hard over the past two years to add Korean to his arsenal. Sometime in the future, he hopes to complete the East Asian trifecta by learning Japanese and connect with his heritage by learning Scottish Gaelic.

Outside the classroom, Isaac has loved training with Cornell Army ROTC, and he’ll miss all the early morning workouts at Barton Hall and freezing weekends at Mt. Pleasant. He has also been an active member of Cru Cornell, has served as the captain of Cornell Men’s Rugby, and has worked as a north campus Resident Advisor in HILC. One of his favorite memories of his time at Cornell is his annual Mandarin 相声 (crosstalk standup comedy) performance with his freshman year roommate Greg Brumberg (白大龙) at the CSSA’s Lunar New Year’s Eve Gala.

Upon graduating, Isaac will commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Army Infantry and will then spend a few months living at home with his family and traveling to visit friends (and hopefully back to China and Korea once borders become more open) before reporting for US Army Infantry Basic Officer Leader Course in November 2021. After completing his training, he hopes to use his Korean and Mandarin skills as a rifle platoon leader in South Korea.

Isabella Paternostro | 苏雪灵

Isabella Paternostro

Outside of academics, Isabella enjoyed working for Cornell Fitness Centers as a Zumba® Instructor during her junior and senior year and for the CAPS office during her first two years, and was involved with the Cornell International Affairs Society.  She participated in the Cornell in Washington program during the Fall 2019 semester and, while the COVID-19 pandemic prevented her from going to China, she looks forward to going to China in the future. 

After graduation, Isabella will pursue a Master of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School as a 2021 Pickering Fellow after which she will become a U.S. Foreign Service Officer.

Kyler Phillips | 裴凯乐

Kyler Phillips

On Cornell's campus, Kyler had the opportunity to participate in the Cornell Filipino Association and work at the Cornell Cinema. After his freshman year, he spent a summer studying Mandarin intensively at Beijing Normal University under the Princeton in Beijing program. Kyler's sophomore year, he spent a semester in Washington D.C., where he interned at a small Tibetan non-profit called Machik, helping them organize and produce videos for their large annual organizational gathering in New York City. The following summer, he spent a couple months living in Guangzhou where he interned at the U.S. Consulate General. Then Kyler's senior year, he did an internship with the U.S. Embassy in Beijing where he produced Chinese-language videos about aspects of American culture and college life to post on their social media accounts and also completed a research assistantship where he collected data and information about Chinese military assistance, the Hong Kong Police Force, and protests/rallies in Hong Kong.

This summer Kyler is planning to study Mandarin under the Critical Language Scholarship program and then head to Washington, D.C., where he hopes to find a job on Capitol Hill on the staff of a congressional member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Phillip Vianna |

Phillip Vianna

Phillip majored in China & Asia-Pacific Studies and minored in Business. Phillip spent two summers in China during his time at Cornell. In the summer of 2018, he attended the Experiencing China Program at Tsinghua University, and during the summer of 2019, he engaged in intensive Mandarin study at the Princeton in Beijing Program hosted by Beijing Normal University. During his time at Cornell, Phillip was the VP of Operations of the Cornell Investment Banking Club and was further involved with the Cornell Real Estate Club. Phillip interned in several finance roles throughout his undergraduate career. Beginning in his Junior year, he worked part-time in finance at a high-tech company that sources and manufactures products in China. His success in this position relied upon his language skills and cultural familiarity. He will be returning in a full-time position after graduation. After consolidating his practical work experience, Phillip plans to pursue a career in International Law.

Class of 2020

Ryan Dutta | 董立衍

https://caps.cornell.edu/sites/caps/files/styles/media_thumbnail/public/Ryan%20Dutta%20Photo.png?itok=wSOMGKUb

Double major with CAPS Major with a Business Minor. On campus at Cornell, he was a member of the Absolute Zero Breakdancing Crew. As Cornell's only student group dedicated purely to breakdancing, AZero routinely practiced together to help each other and grow their skills and appreciation of Hip Hop culture. Ryan's favorite semester at Cornell, ironically, did not take place at Cornell. The CAPS Beijing semester was an amazing experience that he would recommend to anyone with a passion for Chinese language and culture. Not only was Ryan given plenty of opportunities to develop his language skills, but he was also able to build some great friendships during his time in Northeast China. Ryan will forever look back on this experience as one of the most memorable and enjoyable experiences in his life. During his undergraduate studies, Ryan took on internships at MAXIMUS Federal, the American Chamber of Commerce in China, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

After graduating in May, Ryan returned home to the DC area to begin his journey into the working world with a consulting position at Booz Allen Hamilton, where he plans to focus on business development and process improvement. Ryan is still trying to maintain and increase his knowledge of the Chinese language, which will surely be a valuable and necessary skill in his future.

Austin Rae Haycox | 何佳

https://caps.cornell.edu/sites/caps/files/Austin%20Haycox%20Resized1.jpg

  The at Cornell has enabled Austin to think analytically and critically from a variety of different perspectives while also allowing her to enhance her intellectual curiosity. From Ithaca to Beijing to Guangzhou, Austin pushed herself outside of her comfort zone by diving deep into unfamiliar territories. On campus, She was the co-president of the College of Arts & Sciences' Ambassadors and Advising Program, co-founder of the Tsinghua-Cornell Women's Leadership Association, executive vice chair of the Senior Class Campaign, business operations and programming analyst at Anabel's Grocery, member of Kappa Kappa Gamma's standards board, and the alumni chair and campus representative at Forte Campus at Cornell.

Austin’s China journey began in 2014, when she was confused why she was assigned Zhengzhou, China, for her first medical mission with Operation Smile at only 15 years old. Austin underestimated China’s dire healthcare needs. However, after connecting with and composing compelling stories of 364 orofacial cleft patients without access to safe and timely healthcare, she witnessed firsthand China’s positioning, both as the world’s rising superpower and the largest developing country. Austin’s "China story" came full circle during her CAPS semester abroad as she was able to join Operation Smile's team in Liuan in April 2019, to work alongside medical professionals, write patient stories after conducting interviews in Chinese, and assist in pre and post-operative care.

Six years ago, Austin began her quest for knowledge to negotiate the complexities of U.S.-China relations, and she is eager to continue on this transformative and exciting journey. Austin will launch her career in Chicago working for SC Johnson on their Amazon/E-commerce team.

Emily Ortwein| (爱莲)

Emily Ortwein

While at Cornell, Emily was a member of the university’s Naval ROTC unit, and held multiple leadership positions during her time here, eventually taking charge of on-campus recruiting efforts for the unit during my senior year. She played for Cornell’s Club Volleyball team through all four years at Cornell, she is a member of Alpha Xi Delta, and also worked at the Cornell Campus Store. Emily spent her junior spring semester abroad in Beijing with other CAPS classmates, and during that time translated now-published academic research from Mandarin to English. She also led the Patient Imaging Team on an Operation Smile mission to Lu’An while in China.

Emily’s best memories from her time in the CAPS program definitely took place abroad, from trying out new foods (like chicken feet) at local Chinese restaurants to interacting and sharing ideas with Chinese students her age at prestigious schools such as Beijing University and Wuhan University. Being a CAPS major provided her with great experiences and useful knowledge that she will take with her into future professional environments.   In October of 2020, Emily will be heading down to Pensacola, Florida, to start her training as a Navy Pilot.

Katherine Selley

Katherine Selley

Kate chose Cornell for three reasons: the China & Asia-Pacific Studies Program in Arts & Sciences, the climate change minor in CALS, and the opportunity to join an up-and-coming sailing team. Her freshman and sophomore year she was on the Varsity Sailing Team, which taught her teamwork and patience. Junior year Kate interned in the fall at the Atlantic Council, a prominent think tank in Washington D.C., then in the spring at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. These experiences abroad taught her resilience, professionalism and independence. Kate spent her senior year learning leadership by working as the student program assistant for her major.

Cornell has taught Kate that she can't do everything, but she can choose to do anything. It's never too late to make a career change or learn something new.  Kate will start her career at USTDA as a Research Analyst working to solve IndoPac and climate issues.

Class of 2019

Wendy Chen | | 陈宇莉

A woman riding a camel


Wendy is involved with the Asian American community on campus as an intern at the Asian American Studies Resource Center in Rockefeller Hall. She helps with the logistics of running the Asian American Studies Program, from organizing the library to staffing events to creating posters. On campus, Wendy was also an active brother of the service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega. Through the fraternity, she has volunteered on Cornell campus and also experienced organizations and events in the greater Ithaca area. Additionally, Wendy also worked at the Cornell Store and performanced with the dance group E.motion.  Upon graduation, Wendy will be a member of the 2019 corps of Teach for America. 

Katie Chow | 周乐颖

Katie Chow


Katie was an intern at the Asian and Asian-American Center (A3C) during her four years at Cornell. Because of her interest in diversity affairs, she participated as a mentor and mentee during her freshman and sophomore years in CAPSU’s First Year Initiative program. At Cornell, Katie was also the treasurer of Alpha Eta Rho (aviation business fraternity) during her junior and senior year and a volunteer for the Translator Interpreter Program in Spanish, Cantonese, and Mandarin. In addition to extracurricular activities, Katie was an undergraduate researcher for Professor Jeremy Wallace during her sophomore year. During the summer of freshman year, Katie participated in Princeton in Beijing to accelerate her Mandarin skills, and during the summer of sophomore year, Katie interned at Voice of America in D.C. and CNN in Beijing, which she continued during her semester abroad. Katie wanted to learn more about international affairs in the core cities of US-China relations, and both media-focused internships served this purpose. During the summer of her junior year, Katie was a business analyst intern at Prudential Financial in San Francisco where she learned more about different factors of the business world. After graduation, Katie will be working for Walmart eCommerce (Jet.com) in Hoboken. She hopes to get an MBA or a master’s degree in international affairs in the near future where she can learn more and work on the cross-border relations among US, China, and Puerto Rico, her hometown.

James Cooper | 柯俊敏

James Cooper


James was a double major in both CAPS and Economics who was born in Valley Forge, Southeastern Pennsylvania. He was involved with the Cornell Hedge Fund Club, the Cornell Track and Field Club, and the Phi Delta Theta Social Fraternity in addition to his studies during his time here on campus. He interned with several organizations including the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars while participating in Cornell in Washington and conducted public health research during his spring semester in Beijing, China. He plans to work in either government or international trade doing economic analysis after graduation but would also like to attend a graduate school program for either economics or international relations at some point in the future. He also aspires to continue his work towards language fluency and fulfill his passion for Chinese history and culture wherever his path takes him. He would like to thank his fellow CAPS students, who were never hesitant to lend him a helping hand as well as his CAPS instructors, who opened him to a vast world of new ideas and possibilities. He would like to thank his family above all else, without whom none of the wonderful moments he’s shared at Cornell University would be possible. 

Shane Eccleston |肖盛恩 

Shane Eccelston


When not studying Chinese or writing papers Shane has spent much of his time exploring upstate New York and beyond! From case competitions in Albany, semesterly Orchid sales in Rochester, and Amish Craft shows in Penn Yan, his most beloved memories are those where he got away from Cornell, and explored the hidden gems upstate New York had to offer. When not out exploring and actually on campus, Shane spent much of his time hanging out with friends and acting as an active member of the community at Von Cramm Cooperative where he served as President for one semester. After graduation, Shane will be moving to Hoboken, NJ to work as a Category Specialist at Jet.com with a fellow CAPS graduate. 

Shauna Hwang | 黃湘嫒

Shauna Hwang


Shauna is from Austin, TX and received her three Bachelors of Arts degrees in China and Asia-Pacific Studies, Government, and Asian Studies from the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University. Born into a family of Chinese and Taiwanese descent, Shauna has always been interested in China and Chinese. While at Cornell, Shauna became a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society, the Phi Alpha Delta Pre-Law Fraternity and Arnold Air Society. She has also maintained an on-campus job at Cafe Jennie while earning her undergraduate degrees. Having completed four years of Air Force ROTC training concurrently with her academic studies, during which she served as the Cadet Brigade Commander overseeing the Army, Navy and Air Force ROTC programs her senior year, Shauna has been selected to serve as an Intelligence Officer and will report to Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, TX within the year for Intelligence School. Following the completion of Intelligence School, Shauna hopes to be stationed in an overseas Air Force Base to explore new cultures and further broaden her experience. Shauna would like to thank her family and friends for the consistent support and encouragement they provided throughout her time at Cornell and remains steadfastly committed to making them proud.

John Payne | 潘强

John Payne

John wrote for some magazines--The Thread and the Business Asia Journal--and decided not to write for some others. John and his freshman roommate, Yuji, developed a weird, new language and indulged in the fattening art form known as pizza delivery. He joined a fraternity, Phi Delta Theta, where others call me “J.P.” and he called his room “the hole.” My brothers are kind, whip-smart, and have always supported me, as they support each other. On a whim, John joined the Language House and downed many gallons of coffee to sustain his Chinese over four weekly dinners. He made many fast friends without whom he would never have come to see this place as his home. He will be returning to Beijing to join a consulting company, spend his weekends in the library (proof you can never take the Cornell out of the student) and prepare for a career--someday, if that day ever comes--doing what he loves most: learning from others, and sharing what he knows. He will always hold his  memories of Cornell close; he wishes the whole world was like this impossible place, his home. 

Chasen Richards | 潘强

Chasen Richards


Chasen Richards transferred to Cornell in Spring of 2016 from the United States Military Academy at West Point. Outside of academics, he is a Director at Cornell Consulting, President of the Business Asia Journal, a member of the Cornell Political Union and an Active Citizen in William Keeton House. The experiences and opportunities afforded to him in these organizations and through the CAPS major have helped to shape his career goals, and after graduation he will be starting out as a Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company's New York Office. Cornell has deeply shaped Chasen's worldview and goals, and much of these experiences were gained through the CAPS program. 

Andrew Wilson | 魏文卓

Andrew Wilson


Andrew had a difficult time choosing highlights from his time at Cornell because it almost seems like one long highlight of his life, but if he had to choose he would definitely include his four months in China. He says China rather than Beijing because he truly got to travel all over the country. From Guiyang to Tianjin, from Xian to Taishan, he feel so lucky to have had the chance to get to see so much of the country that we otherwise only learn about from second-hand sources. He remembers some days, the important ones usually, better than others. He knows he will remember every day he spent in China for his whole life and is grateful for the fellow students that he shared the experience with.  

Another highlight for Andrew was learning Chinese. And he can use this as a highlight because as we all know it goes beyond the classroom. Learning a language is unique, and unlike most other things taught in school in that it's more of a skill than a type of knowledge. We have to keep practicing,  His own attempt to master one of the most challenging languages even lead him to an intensive 8 week course at Beijing Normal University last summer, where he worked harder than he ever had before. Still, he believes learning any language, Chinese in particular, is one of the most valuable things we can get out of an education. As far as the future goes, his only plans as of right now are going back home. 

Class of 2018

Niall Chithelen | 齐力垚

Picture of a smiling person

Double major with History.  Niall is currently a Princeton in Asia Fellow at China Foreign Affairs University, where he teaches 5 English classes.  He will start a Ph.D. program in modern Chinese history at the University of California, San Diego, in Fall of 2019.  Niall wrote an honors thesis in the history department. Outside of class, he was an undergraduate editor and then editor-in-chief of the Cornell International Affairs Review, and then a founding editor of Taxis Magazine. With fellow CAPS senior Robin Zhang, Niall restarted the CAPS peer mentorship program. Niall was also a part of various reading groups.  The summer after graduation, Niall worked with The Point magazine. 

  Sung Min (Clara) Lee | 李省旼 

Picture of a smiling person

 Double major with Government.  Clara is pursuing a Master of Arts degree in China Studies at Johns Hopkins University, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.  During her time at Cornell, she volunteered at a local Korean School, teaching Korean to Korean-American children. Clara also participated in the International Teaching Assistant Program where she taught English to international teaching assistants. Becoming a CAPS student was one of the best decisions Clara made at Cornell, she thoroughly enjoyed her year abroad in Washington, D.C., and Beijing. Clara owes much to the connections that she made through the CAPS program, whether that would be her fellow students or her professors, and she is grateful that they have been able to be a part of her self-discovery journey in college.  

Kathy Wang | 王凯西 

Picture of a smiling person

Kathy is pursuing her Masters of Professional Studies in Information Science at Cornell. She will be focusing on User Experience Design. Upon completion of her Masters, she sees herself living on the west coast and pursuing her passion for product design. Throughout her undergraduate years, Kathy has been an advertising associate at The Cornell Daily Sun, a sister of Kappa Phi Lambda, a designer for Cornell Design and Tech Initiative Blueprint, a member of Club Swim, and the branding manager for the Multi-Cultural Greek Letter Council. In the fall of 2016, Kathy interned in DC at The Hudson Institute, as part of the Kleptocracy Initiative. She conducted research on the activities of Chinese government officials. Moreover, she conducted a semester-long research study on Chinese and American perspectives on the sweatshop issue in transnational companies. In the fall of 2017, she studied in Beijing and interned at the US Information Technology Office. Here, she performed research on information technology issues affecting US companies operating in China. She got the opportunity to attend meetings with telecommunications industry heads and Chinese government officials. She even got to personally meet Terry Branstad, the US Ambassador to China.  Eventually, she plans on entering the field of entrepreneurship and starting her own business.  

Robin Zhang | 张若冰 

Picture of a smiling person

Double major with Economics.  Robin is working in D.C. as an Associate in the China Practice of the Albright Stonebridge Group, a consulting company founded by former Secretary of State Madeline Albright. Outside of academics, Robin has dedicated her time to various extracurriculars, serving in leadership roles for Delta Delta Delta sorority, Rise Dance Group, and above all-- the Cornell International Affairs Society (CIAS “kai-us”). Robin is incredibly grateful for CIAS, through which she met many of her closest friends and helped organize conferences for thousands of other students, including Cornell’s first overseas Model UN conference in Chengdu, China. She is also very happy to feel at home in the CAPS community and is pleased to have seen it grow and develop. She hopes to stay connected and see it further strengthen. Robin’s favorite classes outside of CAPS were French Stylistics, Behavioral Public Policy, Social Psychology, and all 8 PE classes. Overall, Robin is thankful for all the opportunities she’s had to expand her knowledge and step outside of her comfort zone. She hopes to have left a positive impact on the people she’s met.

 

Class of 2017

Maximiliano Alaghband | 艾立德

Picture of a smiling person

Max is currently living in Taiwan and has spent the past year traveling across Asia, specifically seeing Zen monasteries in Japan.  At Cornell, Max split his time between numerous commitments, planning Persian New Year celebrations with the Persian Students Organization, belting edgy songs with the Key Elements a Cappella Group, advocating for undocumented students on campus with the Cornell DREAM Team, and helping design and run logistics for building a sustainable school for girls in rural Ghana through Cornell University Sustainable Design, among other activities. He is confident that, with the strong foundations provided by his studies in CAPS and Economics, he will go on to find an interesting and fulfilling employment opportunity (that will hopefully also pay the bills).

Cole DeVoy | 狄凯乐 

Double major with Government.  Cole is currently in Kaohsiung, Taiwan teaching English as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar, a grant which has recently been extended from one year to two years  In Fall of 2019, he will start a Master's in Global Affairs program at Yale University.  When he wasn't cramming anxiously the night before a Chinese test, Cole competed as a witness with the Cornell University Mock Traill Program.  Cole graduated with Distinction in All Subjects from the College of Arts & Sciences and summa cum laude for his CAPS honors thesis "Crossing the Strait:  Taiwanese Students at Mainland Chinese Universities."

Sarah Harris | 韩小霞

When Sarah Harris came from Lithia Springs, Georgia, all the way to Ithaca, she wasn’t sure what would be in store. She had a vague idea of what lay ahead, from conversations with her mother growing up: things like “adventure,” “self-discovery,” and a community of scholars as dedicated as she was to learning and growing as a person. But she had no idea she would end up studying Mandarin Chinese, traveling to China—twice—and exploring life in Washington, D.C. Sarah didn’t realize she would make true, lasting friends and have a place away from home where she truly belonged. From playing on the Cornell Women’s Rugby team and singing with Jazz Voices and Exploosh—the university’s only improvisation acapella group—to participate in the Princeton in Beijing intensive language-study program and later interning at the Beijing Review in China, she filled her four years with experiences that she’ll treasure for a lifetime.

After graduation, she plans to return home and work as a paralegal at an Atlanta law firm and to later apply to law school. She is unsure of what, exactly, the future holds, but she has faith and confidence that experiences even more beautiful and exciting than those behind her lie ahead.

Hee Kyung (Anna) Kook | 鞠希京  

Double major with Government.  Anna is a journalist in the Washington, D.C. Metro Area at organizations such as Voice of America, ABC WJLA-TV NewsChannel 8, and Medill News Service.  After graduation, she earned an M.S. in Broadcast Journalism at Northwestern University's Medill School in Chicago.  During the 2018 Winter Olympics, Anna returned to South Korea as a freelance journalist with both AJ+ and the Pyeongchang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.  She even did a field report in Singapore with WJLA-TV for the Trump-Kim Summit.  In Ithaca, Anna served as a student journalist for the Cornell Daily Sun, and as president of NK Focus, a student group that advocates for human rights in North Korea.  Anna Kook was born in Seoul, but she spent most of her growing-up years in Singapore. 

Derek Maseloff | 马德杰

Derek recently accepted a job with the National Youth Orchestra (NYO) or China as the Director of Artist Partnerships!  The first assignment of his new career will be to accompany NYO's 2019 European Tour, after which he will move to NYO-China's headquarters in New York City.  Derek is pursuing a master's degree at the University of Maryland, College Park as a member of the graduate fellowship wind quintet, Wavelength Winds.  This musical group collaborates with other groups that put classical music in a culturally relevant context.  Projects include a classical music video based on the tale of Sleeping Beauty and various showcases.  After graduation, he spent a summer as a resident advisor for the National Youth Orchestra's inaugural concert tour of China.  At Cornell, he was a four-year member of the Cornell Symphony and performed across three continents, including at the world's southernmost performance of Mahler's Sixth Symphony in Neuquén, Argentina!  During his semester in Washington, D.C., Derek focused his personal research on the evolving U.S.-China cultural relationship in the 1990s, with a special interest in the role of Western classical music.  

Matthew McGee | 麦子修 

Double major with Government.  Matt is currently reporting for active duty in the Air Force at Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, Texas as of May 2018.  Matt graduated with Distinction in All Subjects from the College of Arts & Sciences, was the recipient of the 2017 Sherman Cochran Prize for his outstanding work in China studies, and was chosen by his classmates to give the Commencement student address.  After graduation, Matt participated in the War Studies Program at the American Enterprise Institute and the Chinese Grand Strategy program at the Hertog Foundation.  Most recently before reporting for duty, he studied counterproliferation in Northeast Asian special economic zones at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.  At Cornell, he was heavily involved with the Cornell International Affairs Society, Air Force ROTC, and the Chinese Language House. He served as the Director-General of the Cornell Model United Nations Conference, which brought over 900 high-school students and advisors from around the world to Cornell this year. Matt also held a variety of leadership positions in ROTC, creating a number of initiatives such as a cadet exchange program for Air Force ROTC detachments in Upstate New York, and an improved accountability system for cadets. In addition, Matt interned with the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and with Cadence, a translating startup in Beijing. 

Amanda Williams | 韦曼笛 

Amanda is currently an admissions counselor at Cornell's very own SC Johnson College of Business.  She combined her combined a CAPS major with a Communication minor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Amanda interned with the communication department at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington, D.C. and kept a CAPS tradition alive by interning with the Commercial Service at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.  She was involved with the Society of Women in Politics, the women of Color Coalition, and Mixed at Cornell.  Amanda worked a tutored at the Learning Strategies Center, Cornell's main tutoring and academic services center.  She also worked as a teaching assistant for Cornell's School of Continuing Education, for which she created a curriculum for the Cornell-China online program.  

 

Class of 2016

Lee-Jay Chang | 张立杰
Lee-jay is currently an education consultant at App-Ark Education, a Shanghai-based consulting firm for Chinese students seeking to attend American schools.  After graduation, he moved to Kaihua in Zhejiang, China to work as an English teacher for the Ameson Year in China Program, for which he was also a cultural ambassador.  Most recently before returning to China, Lee-Jay worked as a tutor at C2 Education private tutoring program in Commack, New York.  During his time at Cornell, he held many internships including the U.S.-Asia Institute in Washington, D.C., SeekPanda in Beijing, China, and a research assistant for Cornell Arts & Sciences' Department of Economics.   

Savannah Dowling | 邓希雯

Double major with Near Eastern Studies.  Savannah is currently a reporter for Crunchbase News in San Fransisco, where she reports on international startups and their relationships with the U.S.  Prior to that, she was awarded the U.S. Fulbright Teaching Assistantship to Jordan.  In addition to teaching, Savannah has continued to work as a globalization intern for Endless Mobile Inc., a software company based in San Fransisco that offers affordable software to communities around the world that do not have reliable access to the internet, by helping facilitate Endless' philanthropic mission in the country.  Savannah also interned the Tamkeen, an agency in Bahrain providing legal representation and advocacy to victims of human trafficking and abuses in the workplace.  In D.C. and at Cornell, she researched the Hui Muslim minority in China and explored the relationship between religious and nationalist identities, as well as international religious economic linkages.  She interned with Voice of America and led an effort in the Language Programming Directorate to increase VOA' domestic exposure.  She traveled to Cambodia with Professor Mertha's "Chinese Empire and the Cambodian Experience" program, learning about the country's history while contextualizing and humanizing her study of war and human rights.  In Beijing, she was an intern at the U.S. Embassy.  

Xenia Fuller | 傅欣婷

Christopher Hamlin | 韩美林

Christopher is currently a graduate student at Georgetown University to earn an M.S. in Foreign Service, Global Business and Finance as well as a certificate in International Business Diplomacy.  He is also currently a summer associate at Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the United States' development finance institution, where he supports the financing of renewable energy projects.  After graduation, Chris worked for a few months at an education consulting firm in Beijing.  He returned the U.S. and he worked for a few months at PEN America, a non-profit in New York City which focuses on U.S. and Chinese freedom expression issues.  Over the course of his Cornell career, Chris cultivated his competing passions for grassroots political activism and policy research.  His academic research at Cornell focused on strategic theory, participatory decision-making, and international law. 

Charles Austin Jordan | 乔伯宏

Austin is currently a Ph.D. student in Political Science and Government at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.  At Cornell, he worked as an assistant to Professor Jeremy Wallace, an instructor at Cornell Outdoor Education, and as a consultant in the Department of Computer Science.  Through the CAPS program, he interned at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C. and at the American Embassy in Beijing.  He also was selected as a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship and was selected to Cornell's Theta chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.  After graduation, Austin earned a Princeton in Asia Fellowship and moved to Tokyo to work for Ashinaga, an NGO that provides funding and support to children and college students who have lost one or both guardians.  

Fredrick Jordan | 乔仲康
Double major with Government and minor with Ecological Biology.  Dallas is currently a freelance ecological field researcher and photographer.  While he has traveled all over the world, including Argentina, the United Kingdom, and all over the U.S., his primary interest is in population demography of seabirds.  Most recently, he was a Tern Colony Manager with Massachusetts Fish and Wildlife.  At Cornell, he won the Sherman Cochran Prize as well as several scholarships to work at the Shoals Marine Laboratory in Maine.  Immediately after graduation, he worked for the US Fish and Wildlife Services in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.  One of Fredrick’s best experiences at Cornell was his year studying off-campus through the CAPS program, spending a semester working for the US Congress and in an air-pollution lab at Peking University. He helped found the Pan-Pacific Review, a CAPS senior-led journal for undergraduate op-ed pieces related to Asia, and joined the Chinese Language House community. 

Jin Han Kim | 金真汉
Triple major with Economics and Psychology.  Jin is currently an associate advisor at the Behavioural Insights Team, a UK government consulting firm, in New York City and works with city government to design and analyze behaviorally informed public policies. At Cornell, he was active in several professional Greek life organizations, the Cornell Economics Society, and was a Cornell Tradition Fellow.  Through CAPS, he interned at the Council of Economic Advisors in Washington, D.C. and the Peking University China Center for Health Economics Research in Beijing.  Jin also worked as a research assistant at Columbia Business Schoool for one summer and at Cornell's Department of Psychology for a year.  After graduation, he worked as a behavioral economics data analyst at Bell Labs in New York City.  

Daniel Krueger | 古大年

Daniel Krueger headshot

Daniel is currently a senior analyst in client solutions at Kepler Group, a marketing company based in San Francisco. At Cornell, Dan was a part of the Chinese Students Association, Outreach, Q&A, Language Corner, Hortus Forum, and Alternative Breaks. He was a Cornell Student Ambassador and an Undergraduate Consultant for the International Teaching Assistants Program. During his semester in D.C. he interned at the U.S.-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange (CULCON), and during his semester in Beijing, he interned at the U.S. Embassy with the Foreign Commercial Service and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control HIV Program in China. After graduation, Dan worked as a research associate at the education consulting firm EAB's headquarters in Washington, D.C.

William Snyder | 赛 威
William is an associate at Keybridge Communications, a public relations firm in Washington, D.C.  There, he writes op-eds, conducts media campaigns, and implements social media projects for various high-profile clients.  At Cornell, he was a reporter and news editor for the Cornell Review.  During his time as a CAPS student, he interned at the Heritage Foundation's Asian Studies Center in Washington, D.C. and Zhicheng Public Interest Law in Beijing.  After graduation, William briefly interned at Powell Tate in public affairs before his current occupation. 

 

Class of 2015

Lauren Avery | 罗 兰

Lauren Avery

Lauren is currently a senior data associate at Amazon's Alexa Data Services in Boston, MA.  After graduation, she earned a Master's Degre in East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania.  Lauren pursued minors in History and Near Eastern Studies. She interned at Sohu.com in Beijing and at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.

 

Jonathan Dawson | 杜威仁
Jonathan is currently a technician analyst for Mastercard in Kansas City, Missouri, where she works on interactions between banks.  He is also a teaching fellow at LaunchCode to teach programming, where she has worked since graduation.  During his time at Cornell, he was a technician for Cornell Productions and a News Staff Writer for the Cornell Daily Sun.  During his Beijing semester, he worked as a research fellow at the China Center for Health Economics Research.  

Roslyn Jin | 金 龄

Roslyn Jin

Roslyn is currently an account executive for WeWork's Enterprise Solutions division in New York City, was a CAPS major and double minor in Business and English.  While studying in D.C., she was a policy intern in the Executive Office of the President at the U.S. Trade Representative.  In previous years, she has held internships at the Agricultural Development Bank of China and the M&A Advisor.  On campus, she served as VP of Project Hope and on the Executive Council for the American Enterprise Institute, and she was a University Representative for the Cornell Annual Fund.  After graduation, she worked in Equity Derivatives at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch. 

Sarah Russo | 路 霞

Sarah Russo

Double major with Asian Studies, and graduated with cum laude.  Sarah is currently a business development manager at Wicresoft, a high-tech, finance, and telecommunication company in Shanghai city, China.  After graduation, she was a marketing trainee for Intertrust Group in Hong Kong and an intern at Gaotime in Shanghai.  In her semester abroad, Sarah worked for the semester at the U.S. Department of Commerce in Beijing and the U.S. Department of State consulate in Shanghai.  She spent one summer completing Tsinghua University's Intensive Mandarin Program.  At Cornell, she was an active member of Pi Alpha Omega.

David Sternau | 石大伟
Double major with Economics.  David is currently a Leveraged & Acquisition Finance Analyst at HSBC Securities in New York City.  He has interned at the International Finance Forum in Beijing and the Office of NY Governor Andrew Cuomo in Washington, D.C. At Cornell, he was on the Men's Sailing Team and a member of Phi Kappa Tau.  

Conna Walsh | 王康娜

Conna Walsh

Conna is a senior marketing manager at Best Delegate in Boston, MA, an organization that teaches and promotes Model United Nations for high school and college students.  After graduation, she worked at the Plum Society and then as an international program manager at Knowledgelink Group Inc.  Conna was an active member of the Cornell International Affairs Society, served as the Chair of Public Relations for Alpha Epsilon Phi, wrote for the student-run international relations blog the Diplomacist, worked at the Cornell campus store, and worked as a writing tutor on campus.  

Qi Wang | 汪 祺
Triple major with Economics and Statistics.  Qi Wang is currently a data scientist at QuaEra Insights in New York City.  Her focus here is machine learning, Bayesian statistics, and knows nine computer languages.  After graduation, Qi earned her M.S. in Statistical Science at Duke University.  She has also worked at Munich Re-Trading Ltd in Houston, TX as an analytics intern.  During her semesters abroad with CAPS, she interned at the Chinese People's Association of Friendship with Foreign Countries in Beijing and the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C.  Qi also knows Korean, Cantonese, and Spanish in addition to Mandarin Chinese and English.  

Linyihui Xu | 徐林奕晖
Double major with Economics.  Eva is a strategic investment manager at Lenovo, a Chinese multinational company in Beijing, China.  After graduation, she earned a Master's Degree in Data Science at Columbia University in New York City.  Places she has interned include Ikove Capital in Columbus, Ohio, the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. and the Peking University China Center for Health Economics Research in Beijing.  At Cornell, she was involved in the Cornell China Conference and AIESEC Cornell. 

Melina Zhou | 周馨怡

Melina Zhou headshot

Melina is currently a manager at a global media communications agency, specializing in integrated digital marketing. She has experience working with auto, CPG, and telecommunication clients. At Cornell, she earned a Minor in Business alongside her major in CAPS. Through CAPS, she interned at the Public Defender Service in their Criminal Law Internship Program in D.C. and at the U.S. Embassy with the Foreign Commercial Service in Beijing.

 

Class of 2014

John Z. Buckley | 田海辰

Double major with Government.  John is currently a Political and Military Analyst at the U.S. Department of Defense, posted in the United Kingdom.  He credits the CAPS major with a number of exciting internship opportunities and professional experiences, including stints at the American Enterprise Institute, CNN, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of State's Critical Language Scholarship Program.  In addition to his policies studies, John was involved in cultural programming and social justice groups on campus, having worked with the Cornell Asian Pacific Islander Students Union (CAPSU), the Asian and Asian American Center (A3C), Rice Magazine, and SilkRoad Cornell. 

Andrew Huang | 黄伟伦 

Andrew is currently a health data analyst at the Blue Shield of California.  After graduation, he continued his education at Cornell's Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences and earned an M.S. in Health Policy and Economics.  He worked at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene while earning his M.S. Afterward, he moved to Oakland and worked as a research analyst at Mathematica Policy research before working at Blue Shield.  While in Beijing, Andrew interned at the Peking University China Center for Health Economic Research, where he helped an international research team analyze the management and reform of the Chinese public hospital system.  Andrew is also an advocate for Asian American issues, including health disparities such as hepatitis B, and worked on the Affordable Care Act while interning for the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Washington, D.C.  

Hyangmi Kwak | 郭香美

Hyangmi Kwak

Mia is a Masters of Public Administration candidate at the University of Washington in Seattle's Evans School of Public Policy, which she is set to complete in 2020.  She interned for the summer at AmCham China magazine in Beijing, then she moved to the Washington state area.  There, she worked both as a Graduate school office assistant at Western Washington University and as a content development assistant at Global Peace Women International Headquarters.  Mia was a research assistant at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in DC, and during her semester in Beijing, she spent a brief period of time as an editorial intern with Time Out Beijing before pursuing her passion of volunteering.  In addition to her academic and professional orientation, she is happy to share her thoughts on Cornell Chimes, the co-op housing system, life, music, coffee, and books books books. 

Chuenhong Lau | 刘传康

Triple major with History and Music.  Jeffrey is currently a Trainee Solicitor at Morrison & Foerster LLP's Hong Kong office, one of the world's top international law firms.  A Hong Kong native, he returned after graduation to earn both a J.D. and a Postgraduate Certificate in Laws at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.  In D.C., he interned with the National Endowment for the Arts.  In Beijing, he worked with the International Economic Law Institute at the PKU law school.  Back home, he also spent a summer interning with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta and did a mini-pupillage with the Parkside Chambers. 

Xu Yang | 杨旭
Dual degree in CAPS and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning.  Xu is currently a J.D. Law Candidate at Harvard Law School, which he is set to complete in 2020.  After graduation, he worked as a legal assistant-corporate at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, one of the world's most prestigious law firms.  Xu was also briefly an actor at Matthew Corozine Studio Theater, Inc. and a legal intern at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund in New York City.  At Cornell, he was a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, the Golden Key Honor Society, the Cornell Shakespeare Troupe, Cornell Quizbowl team, and actively participated in Schwartz Performing Arts Center.  During his semester in Beijing, Xu was an actor at the PKU Institute of World Theater and Film and interned at the Yuafen Flow Group. Some of his performances included Two Gentlemen of Verona, Proof, Our Town, The Tempest, Learned Ladies, and in Melancholy Play

Jonathan Yuan | 袁 欢

Double major with Government and a minor in Business.  Jonathan is currently a Masters of Public Policy Candidate at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, which hs is set to complete in 2020.  After graduation, he worked as a communications assistant at the Bipartisan Policy Center and as a senior media coordinator at Politico in Washington, D.C.  He was born in Montreal, Canada, grew up in Allentown, PA, and had wonderful experiences with CAPS in both Washington, D.C., and Beijing at Peking University.  On campus, he worked in the A&S Career Services office and was a contributing writer to the Cornell Progressive.  Professionally, he's held internships at the Bipartisan Policy Center, Voice of America, and the American Foreign Service Association.   

 

Class of 2013

Rebekah Alexander | 艾丽蕊 
Rebekah started off as a CAPS major with a Human Resource concentration, Rebekah is now an HR Operations Manager for Navigant Consulting at their Chicago, Illinois headquarters.  Immediately after graduation, she began working at Heitman as a senior analyst in their human resources department.  At Cornell, she interned at GIC Group in Alexandria, VA, and Dezan Shira & Associates in Beijing, China.  She also recently earned Global Remuneration Professional and Certified Compensation Professional certificates.

Andrea Cheung | 张皓怡 
Andrea is currently with the FTI consulting, Global Risk and Investigative Practices team based in Hong Kong.

Doretha Dawkins | 董瑞娴 
Double major with History. Doreth is currently a Program Director at STEM From Dance, a program in New York City which uses dance to motivate and prepare under-represented minority girls to study STEM fields.  Immediately after graduation, she earned an M.S. in Special Education and Teaching at the City University of New York-Brooklyn College.  Prior to her current occupation, Doretha worked as a Special Education teacher and Grade Team Lead at the Neighborhood Charter School of Harlem.  She also was a corps member for Teach for America.  During her time at Cornell, she worked in Ithaca's Southside Community Center as an Afterschool Coordinator for 4 years.  She also interned at Chihaner Adventures in Beijing and the New York Public Service Corps. 

Seung-Hyun (Sheryl) Kang | 姜承贤
Sheryl is currently a J.D. candidate at Boston College Law School, which she is set to complete by the end of this year.  After graduating from Cornell, she took a gap year and then worked in Seoul, Korea at Bai, Kim & Lee LLC and Shin & Kim, both of which involved corporate law.  Afterward, she worked as a judicial intern for a judge at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts.  Last summer, she interned at Allen & Gledhill LLP in Singapore.  

Daniel J. Krasnow | 邝丹 
Double major with Government. Daniel is currently a senior associate at Aterian Investment Partners in New York City.  Prior to that, he worked as an investment banking analyst at Wells Fargo Securities.  During his semester in Beijing, Daniel interned at Columbia Global Centers (CGC), an internationally focused think tank. 

Nancy Lin | 林雅诗 
Double majored with Economics. Nancy is currently a senior analyst at the NYC Office of Management and Budget.  Prior to this, she earned a Masters in Public Administration at the University of Connecticut while she worked in the Office of Fiscal Analysis at the Connecticut General Assembly.  After graduation, she worked as a Graduate Assitant at the University of Connecticut's Department of Public Policy. 

Zachary Montague | 孟何谦 
Double major with Government.  Zachary is currently a News Assitant at the New York Times with the production of breaking stories and fact-checking. Before this, he briefly returned to Cornel to assist in statistical analyst and Chinese-language research for a book with Associate Professor Jeremy Wallace.  After graduation, Zachary worked a research analyst at the Delma Institute in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, specializing in the area of security developments in the East Asia region.  He interned in Beijing and Shaanxi during his time at Cornell.  

James (Ryder) Stroud | 史瑞德 
Double major with Government.  Ryder is currently the founder of Itinerant Climbers Collective, a company that advertises climbing resources and guidebooks about China, and is a rock climbing and mountaineering instructor at Climb Dali Keystone Adventures in Dali City, Yunnan, China.  Prior to moving to China, he was a Contract Photographer for the Harvard Asia Center and a marketing director for Center Street Studio in Cambridge, MA.  The summer after graduation, he interned at ChinaSF in the San Fransisco Bay Area  During his time at Cornell, he interned at the U.S.-Asia Institute in Washington, D.C. and at the Peking Fine Arts Gallery in China.  Ryder was also a teaching instructor for Cornell Outdoor Education and was a student assistant at the Fine Arts Library.  

Amelia Tsui | 徐晓梦 
Double major with History.  Amelia is currently a Human Resource Development Program Associate at McKesson healthcare company.  After graduation, she worked at Dezan Shira & Associates and then 3ACredit, both of which are in Shanghai City, China.  She later returned to Cornell to earn a Masters  Industrial Labor Relations and worked as a research assistant in the ILR School. 

Miriam Wishnick | 王玫艳 
Double major with Government. Miriam is currently an M.B.A. Candidate at Columbia Business School, which she is set to complete in 2020.  After graduation, she interned at Wikistrat for the summer before working as a research analyst at Control Risks' Los Angeles and Houston offices.  Prior to starting her MBA, Miriam spent the past two years working at Coporate Resolution Inc. as a senior investigative analyst in New York City.  As an undergraduate, she worked as a Cornell Outdoor Education instructor for almost 4 years. 

Jason Wong | 黄家麟 
He planned to apply to medical schools.

Yi-Ran Xin | 辛怡然 
Double major with Economics and a Distinction in All Subjects.  Erin is currently an economist at the Bureau of Economic Analyst in Washington, D.C., specializing in International Trade with the United States.  After graduation, she moved to Shanghai City, China and was an English Teacher at Stepping Stones China, an organization which focuses on high school aged children of migrant workers.  She received a Certificate of Appreciation for her work there and simultaneously studied Chinese Economics and Business Chinese at Fudan University.  Erin earned an M.A. in International Economics and Finance at Johns Hopkins University SAIS.  Other work experiences after graduation include being a co-founder of VC-Backed Startup and a consultant at World Bank Group.  

 

Class of 2012

Chelsea Dengel | 邓宁 
Chelsea is Chief Compliance Officer of the North America payments division of StoneX Group Inc., a Fortune 100 finance company with a global payments arm specializing in remittance to the developing world. She also held various roles in multinational crypto and payments firms, including Ripple and Veem. After graduation, she worked at ELM Education in Beijing and the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs in Washington, D.C. She earned her M.A. in international economics and emerging markets from Johns Hopkins University SAIS.

Jade Han | 韩家欣 
Double major with Government. After graduation, Jade worked at Village Care of New York.

Kevin Jiang | 蒋明明 
Kevin is currently a Foreign Service Officer at the State Department. He was a Presidential Management Fellow at the National Protection and Programs Directorate at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  After graduation, he earned an M.A. in International Economics at Johns Hopkins University's SAIS. Kevin previously worked at private consulting firms such as Asia Society, GIC Group, Sicuro Gruops LLC and Neptune ASC. At Cornell, he was a member of Operations DEEP (Developing Elementary Education Possibilities), which focuses on fundraising for rural schools in China. 

Audrey Keranen | 韩俐 
Double major with Government.  In 2018, Audrey was nominated and confirmed to become a Foreign Service Officer for the United States Department of State. Previously, she was a Vice Consul for the Consulate General of the U.S. in Shanghai, where she participated in many outreach programs. She earned her Masters at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and is a Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellow at the State Department. The summer after graduation, Audrey worked at the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs in Washington, D.C.

Cindy Hui Xin Khor | 柯慧欣 
Double major with Economics. She is currently a senior consultant in Data & Analytics at Accenture, a management consulting company. After graduation, she became an Analytics Consultant at IBM in Performance and Marketing. 

Lisa Seo Kyong Kim | 金瑞庆 
Double major with Economics.  Worked as an analyst at PSL Research.

Kevin Han Lee | 李健文 
Kevin is currently a student at Cornell Law School.

Tiffany Yige Li | 李一格 
Double major with Biological Sciences.  Tiffany is currently an accountant director at Healthfirst Insurance company in New York City, where she specializes in delivery systems management.  After graduation, Tiffany continued her education at Cornell's Sloan program and earned a Masters's in Health Care Administration.  Afterward, she worked as an administrative fellow at Jersey City Medical Center and as an ACO Accountant manager at UnitedHealth Group.

Joey Liu | 刘柏伟 
Joey is a manager of Strategy and Special Projects in South China Morning Post's office of the CEO.  He earned an MBA at Columbia University's Business School in 2017 while working at agencies such as Insite, Future Angel, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.  After graduation, Joey lived in Taipei City, Taiwan for a few years consulting at McKinsey & Company and worked one summer in Uber's business division. 

Christopher Louney | 卢科瑞 
Double major with Economics. He is a Vice President Commodity Strategist at RBC Capital Markets in New York, responsible for gold, natural gas, and cross-commodity investor flows coverage.  After graduation, he worked as Commodities Analyst at Barclays, where he interned the summer before his senior year.  During his time at Cornell, Christopher was contributing writer at City Weekend in Beijing and a Teaching intern at New Oriental Education & Technology Group in Wuhan, China. 

Elliott James Moreno | 毛泽西 
Double major with Economics.  In addition to earning a CFA, he is currently attending Yale University's School of Management to complete an MBA. After graduation, Elliott was an analyst in the Greater New York City Area at UBS Wealth Management and market analyst at CME Group.  He was a project manager and business analyst in Voya Investment Management's New York office for 4 years prior to attending Yale.  

Melva Quintanilla | 秦美华 
Double major with Art History.  After graduating, Melva worked at various places including LaFollette, Johnson, DeHaas, Fesler, & Ames as well as SinoTech Group.

Joann Saridakis | 塞瑞恩 
Joann is currently a Development Officer at Tulane University Law School's Office of Development and Alumni Relations.  After graduation, she worked in Philidelphia at Organizing for America Pennsylvania and was a finance assistant on the Committee to Elect Brett Mandel.  She subsequently worked at the Nevada Assembly Democratic Caucus as a Finance Director and at the Nevada State Assembly.  Most recently before moving to New Orleans, Joann worked on Catherine Cortez Masto's Senate campaign to represent Nevada.  Currently a Finance Director at the Nevada Assembly Democratic Caucus.

Randy Liushuo Wan | 万柳朔  
Double major with Economics. Randy is the Founder and CEO of Woo Space/Wujie Space, a Beijing-based company that designs office space.  After graduation, he moved to Beijing and worked as an associate at the Boston Consulting Group.  At Cornell, he was the Vice President of External Affairs for the Global China Connection. 

 

Class of 2011

Peter Robert Chatigny | 尚松 
Peter is currently an associate in the corporate department of Ropes & Gray LLP in Boston, MA.  He recently earned a J.D. from Duke University School of Law.  Prior to that, he worked at Fox News Channel in New York, the same company at which he interned during his semester in Washington, D.C. He undertook two internships in Washington DC in fall 2009: one with Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd, and the other with "On the Record with Greta Van Susteren," a Fox News show that airs every night at 10 pm. While in Beijing in fall 2010, he interned for CNN Beijing Bureau. 

Charles Gilbert | 葛汉杰 
Double major with Economics.  Charles is a senior economic analyst at Baker McKenzie, working in the field of international tax with a focus on technology, retail, financial institutions, and FMCG sectors.  He earned an M.A. at Johns Hopkins University SAIS in International Economics/Finance and Southeast Asia Studies.  After finishing his degree, he worked in the Transfer Pricing & Economics Consulting division of EY as an associate for several years,  After graduation, he worked at Ithaca's Miler Mayer LLP as an immigration paralegal.  Afterward, he decided to expand his knowledge of Asia by working in Indonesia and becoming proficient in Bahasa Indonesia.  During his tenure as a CAPS student, he interned at the KORUS House of the Korean Embassy in the US and at the Lotus Educational Foundation in Beijing. 

Scott Grow | 葛星光 
Scott is currently a clerk for the Farmers Union Trading Company.  He served 4 years in the US Marine Corps before coming to Cornell. While at Cornell, he studied Japanese before declaring CAPS as his major. He was a devoted member of Ordinary People, Cornell’s own anti-oppression theater troupe. Scott interned at Yuanfen(缘分)New Media Art Space in 798 Art Zone, Beijing, in 2010, and was awarded a Chinese Government Scholarship for 2010-2011. He previously worked as a Field Technician at Economy Polymers & Chemicals in Glendive, Montana.

Mirjam Jasiak | 贾文萱 
Double major with Economics.  Mirjam is currently a Global Product Commercialization Manager at Indeed.com in the Greater New York City Area.  She earned an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management in 2016 and then became a consultant for Bain & Company.  After graduation, Mirjam was a consultant at Edgeworth Economics LLC, a boutique economic consulting firm in Washington, D.C., and Accenture in Chicago. 

Alexandra Mouche | 艾琳 
Alexandra recently earned an MBA from the University of Illinois and Urbana-Champaign and is working in global information systems at Whirlpool Corporation.  A Fulbright-Nehru Scholar (2011-2012), she conducted research about groundwater management and rainwater harvesting in Gujarati, India.  Afterward, she became a Sales Coordinator at PQF Global and a manager at Gabbro Global.  Before starting her MBA, Allie worked at the Cambridge Institute of International Education.

Michael Schulman | 舒万科 
Michael is currently a consultant for the Alexander Group, a management consulting firm in the San Fransisco Bay area.  Prior to that, he earned an MBA both from Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management and Thailand's Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration of Chulalongkorn University.  After graduation, Michael worked for 2 years as a legal consultant for Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP in Beijing, China. He then moved to the Los Angeles area to work as a digital marketing consultant for the Animal Medical Center of Southern California before returning to Cornell for his MBA in 2015.

Geoffrey William Squire | 宋杰 
Triple major with government and a degree from the College Scholar Program.  Geoff is currently a Director of Communications at Prescient, a global investigations, intelligence, and cyber services firm in Chicago.  After graduation, he worked in New York City for about a year after which he moved to Beijing.  There, Geoff worked as a sales associate at WildChina Travel, a political science instructor at Jingwen International TopU Education, and an English language admissions reviewer at Vericant. 

Ian Taylor | 田立永 
Ian is currently a part-time graduate student at Temple University and a software engineer at Syapse in the Great Philadelphia Area.  After graduation, he worked at Philadelphia Distilling as an office manager and marketing coordinator and then a private tutor at Varsity Tutors.  He then began an online Bachelor's Degree in computer science at Oregan State University while complementing those studies part-time at Temple University.  He was also a web application developer at Bank of America in Newark, Delaware, and at University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine.

 

Class of 2010

Jonathan Delikat | 狄家盛 
Jon is currently working at Electronic Arts (EA) in Analytics Strategy, where he tries to tailor EA's video games to the players' needs.  As a recipient of the Princeton in Asia teaching fellowship, Jon taught English at Zhejiang University (浙大) in Hangzhou, China upon graduation.  He simultaneously received an MA and MBA at the University of Pennsylvania from the Lauder Institute and The Wharton School, respectively.  Before completing his degrees, he spent four years in Shanghai and Hong Kong with the risk management firm FTI Consulting and as a Senior Consultant for Global Risk.  Jon was awarded magna cum laude for his honors thesis and a Sherman Cochran Prize in the major for his outstanding performance that best exemplifies Professor Sherman Cochran's dedication to the study of China.

Nicholas Elser | 欧阳易 
Nick is currently working at a new engineering organization in Instacart's Toronto office, which he runs as the Head of Engineering.  He has worked at Instacart for almost six years.  After graduation, Nick worked at software companies Efficient Frontier and Adobe in the San Fransisco Bay Area.  At Adobe, Nick trained teams in India, Beijing, and Utah on testing and developing for Adobe Social.  he graduated with Distinction in All Subjects.  Besides being an enthusiastic CAPS major, Nick is proud of his time on the Cornell Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Team, for which he co-led the software team for four years and helped lead the team to victory in his last year. He was also a member of Cornell’s performance juggling team and juggling remains one of his favorite hobbies.

Renee Heyman | 王莉玲 
Double major with Economics.  Renee is currently an Associate at Latham & Watkins, the world's second highest grossing law firm. She earned her J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law in 2014 and worked as a project assistant for Kirkland and Ellis, LLP in intellectual property litigation prior to that.  The CAPS program is still something that she brags about when she meets interviewers, coworkers, and friends.  As she said, “Nowhere have I met a group so driven, so animated, and so inspirational.”  She still lives in the Greater Chicago area.

Minerva Wakabayashi Ho | 何弥菜羽  
Double major with History and a minor in Music.  Minerva currently works as an Associate at Traxys LLC, Base Metals and concentrates.  She has worked at Traxys since graduation both at their Beijing and New York City offices.  Additionally, she is a violinist for the Chelsea Symphony and an Alumni Volunteer for the Cornell Ambassadors Alumni Network.  While a CAPS student, Minerva interned at Morgan Stanley.

Hai Jack Huang | 黄海 
Double major with Economics.  Jack is currently the founder of One Block Capital in Hong Kong, a blockchain investment and advisory company that believes in the transformative nature of cryptocurrencies.  After graduation, he worked as a representative for Rothschild & Co Limited in Hong Kong and, most recently, RBC Capital Markets.  There, he advised in both securities and corporate finance.  Prior to founding One Block Capital, Jack was an investment manager at both the International Finance Corporation and Meridian Capital.  Throughout his entire career, he has lived in Hong Kong and focused on banking with the Asia-Pacific region. Jack graduated with Distinction in All Subjects. He worked at Rothschild in Hong Kong after graduation and looks forward to applying his CAPS experience to a future involving Asia.

Andrew Kang | 康震东 
Andrew is currently a corporate associate in the Chicago office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, the world's highest grossing law firm.  He recently earned a J.D. from University of Michigan School of Law.  After graduation, he worked as a legal assistant for Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP in Beijing and interned at the Security & Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. 

Christine Seo Hyun Kim | 金瑞贤 
Christine is currently a master's candidate at the Berklee College of Music in Valencia, Spain, studying global entertainment and the music business.  Prior to that, she was a manager of international sales at JTBC Broadcasting company.  After graduation, Christine worked in the international business sectors of LINE Corp and Dong-A Pharmaceutical Company, Ltd.  At graduation, Christine wrote, "Cornell has taught me how to be humble and also how to mingle with people completely different from myself." Christine has worked at Reuters in Korea, covering stories about China and the Asia-Pacific region, and Jirani Cultural Organization in Korea. She currently works as Assistant Manager for Dong-A Pharmaceutical Co.

Caitlin McCulloch | 麦凯琳 
Double major with Government.  Caitlin is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Government and Politics at the University of Maryland, College Park.  Her research focuses on domestic contexts for foreign policy.  She earned a Masters from the University of Maryland in International Relations and Comparative Politics in 2015 and has won numerous grants for her research there.  Caitlin spent a few years with the Peace Corps as a Fulbright Scholar at Ilia State University in Tbilisi, Georgia. She graduated cum laude for her CAPS honors thesis and took the Foreign Service Officer test (FSO).  

Katherine Qu | 瞿天悦 
Double major with Government.  Katherine works at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office in Washington, D.C. as an asylum officer.  There, she interviews and screens refugees seeking asylum into the U.S.  Prior to that, she was an immigration attorney and legal fellow at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.  Katherine earned a J.D. and a certificate in refugees and humanitarian emergencies from Georgetown University's Law Center.  After graduation, she interned at the New York State Supreme Court for a few months. Katherine was a CAPS/Government double major.  After graduation, she attended Georgetown Law School and currently works as an Immigration Attorney for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington D.C.

Adi Robertson | 罗婉仪 
Adi is a senior reporter at The Verge in New York City, writing most frequently about technology.  After graduation, she worked in Online Solutions at Infosnap in Bethesda, Maryland before moving to New York City.  Adi graduated with Distinction in All Subjects and was awarded a Sherman Cochran Prize for her outstanding academic performance in the major. 

Tatiana Ashanti Robinson | 谭那
Tasha spent four years at Cornell as a CAPS major, while also enjoying classes in film and philosophy. She wrote editorial articles for the Cornell Daily Sun with topics that spanned Chinese political and cultural issues. She enjoyed attending concerts at Sage Chapel and seeing films at Cornell Cinema. After four years at Cornell, Tasha decided to pursue teaching options in Spain. She plans on furthering her involvement with her Beijing internship firm, which develops clean technology initiatives.

Eli Isaac Silverstein | 石乐乐 
Eli is the founder of Bamboo Bridge Advisors, an organization which advises financial investments and transactions between the East and the West.  A J.D. Candidate at Fordham University School of law, he has studied 5 different languages and has worked in both the Constitutional Court of Korea as well as the Commercial Division of the New York Supreme Court.  After graduation, Eli earned an MPhil from Cambridge University and an LLM degree from the Peking University School of Law.  He worked in the Beijing offices of Hogan Lovells International LLP and returned to New York City to found BBA.  Additionally, he is designing and teaching the course "The Great Law of China:  A Step-by-Step Introduction to the Chinese Legal System" at Fordham University.  To his fellow graduates, Eli wishes to remind the CAPS class of 2010 of the Daoist principle of 无为. While this principle is often misconstrued as simply “nonaction,” he wrote, "Let us recall the dual tonal function of 为 and strive to realize our dreams through acts unmotivated by a ‘because of,’ not driven by a ‘for,’ and not completed in order ‘to.’" 

Matthew Isaac Silverstein | 史明修 
Matthew is currently the director of operations for Mr. Bing, a famous Beijing Street Foods restaurant in the heart of New York City.  Shortly after graduating, he worked at the American Jewish committee's Asia Pacific Institute as a fellow, then he moved to Beijing, China.  In Beijing, Matt worked for the Korean conglomerate SK in its research and consulting branch.  While living in Beijing for 3 years, Matt fell in love with Chinese cuisine, especially "jianbing" 煎饼. After returning to New York, Matt joined the Shake Shack team where he worked for 4 years.  Initially hired as a store manager to open the first Shake Shack location in JFK airport, Matt was quickly promoted and became General Manager of both locations in Terminal 4.  Matt left the airport to open its location in Forest Hills, Queens.  During his tenure at Shake Shack, Matt assisted with numerous high profile openings and events in Austin, Chicago, and Tokyo.  Matt was awarded cum laude in the major for his honors thesis.

Eric Tao | 陶晨
Double major with Economics and minor in Real Estate.  He is currently an Assitant Vice President and Equity Analyst for NIppon Life Global INnvestors Americas, Inc in New York City.  After graduation, Eric worked as a Senior Equality Research Associate at Manning & Napier Advisors, an asset management company.   Outside of classes, Eric was a research assistant in the Department of Applied Economics and Management conducting research in behavioral finance under Professor Vicki Bogan.

Pwin Tuntasood | 唐文朴
Double major with Economics.  Pwin is currently the Vice President and CFA Charterholder of BlackRock Investment Management's Fixed Income Strategist division.  Prior to that, he worked at Deutsche Asset Management as a Strategy Analyst.  In New York City, Pwin is frequently a guest speaker and a panelist for many financial events.

 

Class of 2009

Jessie Louise Bruce | 白雪 
Louise is a senior program manager at the NYC Department of Sanitation's "NYC Organics" division.  There, she also founded a small, volunteer organization in Brooklyn called Compost for Brooklyn.  Her work focuses on reforming NYC's composting system such that every resident has access to a curbside compost pile.  She has worked in the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation and with a training program called Green Apply Corps.  She recently earned a Masters or Urban Planning of NYU's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. She volunteered for the Beijing Olympic Games! She has devoted her studies primarily to environmental issues. 

Scot Fang | 方自然 
Scot is a senior machine learning engineer at Google, where he produces semantic signals from texting and mobile apps for ad-targeting.  Prior to that, he earned an M.S. in Computer Science with a Machine Learning concentration at UCLA.  After graduating, Scot worked at China First Capital in Shenzhen, China,  then returned to California as a software engineer for Fastsoft.  Scot's interests and studies include energy, sustainability, innovation consulting, social research, start-up opportunities, and networking.

Mark Yun Seok Jeong | 郑允硕 
Mark is in a management-level position at the New Teacher Project, an organization that works with public schools at the state and local level to improve the conditions of education.  He recently completed a Global Mission Fellowship with the Westminster Theological Seminary, where he earned a Master of Divinity (M.Div.).  Prior to that, he worked at Teach for America in Houston, TX and was a marketing intern for Lenovo in Beijing.  During his CAPS semester in Beijing, Mark even volunteered for the 2008 Olympic Games!

McAllister Jimbo | 莫小楠 
McAllister is an associate at O'Melveny & Myers LLP's Washington, D.C. office and a member of their Litigation Department.  Her practice focuses on compliance with U.S. economic sanctions, anti-corruption laws, and export controls, as well as other white collar defense and corporate investigations.  She also advises companies and private funds on disclosure and compliance obligations under federal securities law.  McAllister also maintains an active pro bono practice that represents victims of human trafficking in immigration proceedings.  She also is a part of a team representing a coalition of school districts and students challenging the constitutionality of state funding for public education and a coalition that represents death row inmates in federal and state habeas proceedings.  She previously earned a J.D. at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, where she won the International Summer Human Rights Fellowship for a summer in Hong Kong.  Some of her previous internships with CAPS include working for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Atlantic.com's National Page.  Mackie is a Los Angeles native whose interests include cooking, journalism, and traveling. She graduated as a CAPS major with distinction in all subjects.

Christine Lai | 赖伊琪. 
Christine is a senior technology consultant at IBM iX in New York City and has been extremely successful in product management and information visualization.  Prior to that, Christine was a Fulbright Scholar and earned an MBA IN business administration at the IE business school of Spain.  After graduation, Christine worked experience for several years at technology companies in Washington, D.C. area and earned a Master of Professional Studies at Georgetown University in Technology Management.  Christine is a native of New York City with a wide range of interests that include wine, food, traveling, a well as culture and languages like Chines and Spanish.  

Saerom Lee | 李赛龙
Saerom, a student from South Korea, interned at the KORUS house at the embassy of the Republic of Korea while in DC. During her Beijing semester, she interned at Samsung Opentide China, a consulting firm in the city. She also had the great opportunity to volunteer for the Olympics! She is primarily interested in learning foreign languages and studying cultural differences and exchanges between countries. Her current plans for the coming year are either working or traveling for a year before going to grad school. 

Tanger Li | 李唐儿
Double major with Government and a minor in Music.  Tanya is currently a translator for ProObject in the Baltimore-Washington area.  She received her Master's degree in Theory and History of International Relations from the London School of Economics, where she focused on International Law, Chinese foreign policy, and Political Islam.  After graduation, she worked as an analyst for several big firms and interned at the National Endowment for the Arts.  While in D.C., she interned for Voice of America to address media programming issues in various developing countries around the world and researched U.S. foreign policy proposals for the Hudson Institute concerning U.S.-China military strategic interests. In Beijing, Tanya researched a variety of Chinese public policies while interning for the Brookings Institution's Tsinghua Center. 

Troy Mullins | 林若怡
Troy is an up-and-coming professional golfer.  After graduating, Troy spent some time in Beijing and worked at various China-related organizations.  In the midst of a break from school and work, her father took her to a driving range and she fell in love with golf.  Troy then taught herself how to play professional golf.  To fund her golf dreams, she started her own homeschooling and tutoring business with 15 students.  Troy won the 2017 World Long Drive Mile High Showdown and won second place at the RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship in 2012.  Before mastering golf, she also was a researcher at Millimeter Films and assisted in marketing the Bridge Café. In Beijing, she held a variety of internships, including the Public Relations department of Beijing’s Grand Hyatt Hotel. 

Jonathan S. Ray | 张志超. 
Jonathan is currently the Chief of Analysis for the Special Programs Division of SOS International, LLC.  Upon graduation, Jonathan completed a Chinese Flagship Certification Program in Mandarin at the Institute of International Education at Brigham Young University and studied at Nanjing University from 2009-2011.  He received a Master's degree in Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies at Monterey Institute of International Studies in California.  After completing these two degrees, he worked as a graduate research assistant in Monterey, CA, continuing to focus on nonproliferation and nontraditional security concepts.  He then returned to the United States after his studies in Nanjing and worked at various Defense consulting organizations.  Jonathon's research and language studies have revolved around issues of nuclear nonproliferation and nontraditional security topics. He has published on security topics, most recently on China's neutron bomb program, and co-authored two book chapters on PLA issues for publication in 2016.

Elizabeth Skovira | 上官丽云 
Elizabeth graduated from Cornell in January 2009.  She is an associate partner at McKinsey & Company in the Private Equity and Principal Investing Practice in the Greater Boston Area.  She is experienced in advising institutional investors, financial institutions, and investment firms on firm-level topics of investment strategy, asset allocation, risk management, organization, and governance, as well as on individual diligence transactions. In fall 2009, she returned to Peking University for advanced Chinese study under the Chinese Government Scholarship while working with a multinational financial corporation in expanding its operations within the Chinese financial securities market. 

 

Class of 2008

Sungeun Cho | 周圣恩 
Sungeun currently works at L.G. Group in Korea. While at Cornell, she was double-majoring in CAPS and Economics. Her activities/interests at Cornell included chorus, Korean Church at Cornell, skiing, field hockey, and singing.

Vickie Eisenstein | 艾玮丽 
Double major with Economics. Vickie is currently a comedian, actress, blogger, and writer who has greatly expanded her presence through her Youtube channel.  She recently graduated from Chicago's Second City conservatory and comedic writing programs at iO Theater and ComedySportz.  A Chicago native, Vickie moved to Los Angeles after many years of performance and establishing an internet empire.  After graduation, she went to Korea to study Korean at Yonsei University, one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Korea. She has worked at Walker Corporate Law Group PLLC in L.A while she simultaneously built the foundations of an acting career in Hollywood. Her Youtube channel consists of a variety of content such as video blogs, comedy videos, YouTube "challenges" and more.

Andrew Ham | 咸景焕 
Andrew is currently working at Apple as a worldwide supply-demand planner in consumer electronics.  Prior to that, he was an associate manager for YG Entertainment's business strategy team in Seoul, a consultant at Monitor Deloitte, and a legal assistant at Sherman & Sterling LLP's Beijing office.  He recently completed an MBA at INSEAD and currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Max Klein | 柯慕德 
Max is currently a product manager for the speech recognition and identity aspects of Amazon's Alexa Engine.  He has held multiple roles at Amazon in their Alexa and Kindle departments.  After graduation, Max started his graduation in Beijing, where he lobbied the Chinese government on behalf of U.S. companies (USITO), created a China strategies semiconductor industry of Intel, and drove new product initiatives and partnerships for Amazon China.  He also serves as a CAPS alumni adviser and helped rekindle the Cornell Club of Beijing with fellow CAPS students and Beijing-based Cornell alumni.  While he lived in Beijing for many years, Max now works at Amazon's Seattle office.  He also works periodically as a research assistant for Evan Osnos, the New Yorker Magazine Beijing-based foreign correspondent. 

Josephine Lee | 李智仁 
Josephine is currently a JD candidate at Northwestern University School of Law. After graduation, she went back to China to teach English at a college in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture upon graduation from Cornell. She received her MA in international relations from the University of Chicago in  2011 and worked for Morningstar as a Senior Client Solutions Consultant until entering law school.

Justin Long | 龙剑飞 
Justin is currently a J.D. Candidate at Washington University, St. Louis School of Law.  He is simultaneously a legal intern at the Education Justice Program, where he helps to ensure that children stay in a safe school environment and get a good education, regardless of socio-economic background or race.  Prior to that, Justin was a director of development at T&B Education, an editorial assistant at Japan Focus, and a Web developer at VDesign.

Ilene Molina | 莫依林 
Ilene is a senior relationship manager for a New York City branch of East West Bank, a commercial bank with an exclusive focus on the U.S. and Greater China markets.  After graduating from Cornell, she attended American University in Cairo's graduate program in International Human Rights Law and Arabic.  there, she earned several awards in International Law Moot Court Competitions.  Ilene had a wide range of activities and interests while at Cornell, including tennis, fencing, Thai kickboxing, swimming, Latin America, Middle East (esp. Egypt), and Arabic. 

Justin Orr | 欧建文 
Double major with Government.  Justin works at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in the Greater New York City Area as an Associate, specializing in intellectual property and technology transactions.  Previously, he received a J.D. from the University of California, Berkely School of Law.  After graduation, Justin worked as an Associate Consultant at Control Risks, a London-based consulting company in Beijing.  He is also active in the Cornell Beijing Alumni Club, where he was an Executive Committee member for several years,  He spent his CAPS experience exploring the many facets of the Chinse economy and its foreign policy and was also active in many Cornell organizations, including the Golden Key Honour Society.  

Max Rothkopf | 罗志伟 
Max currently works as EVP of Investments & Capital Markets Deputy Portfolio Manager at Cortland Growth and Income. Previously he was an investment manager specializing in the real-estate principal investment in the Asia-Pacific for Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) in the United Arab Emirates.  Prior to that, he worked as an associate in real estate private equity at Century Bridge Capital in Beijing, China and at Morgan Stanley in San Fransisco, California. Before working at these companies, Maxwell earned an M.B.A. in General Management from Harvard Business School. Max also worked at Hines, the international real estate developer, at the Hines Europe headquarters in London, England.

Reuven Shapiro | 邵瑞文 
Reuven is the founder and Asset Manager of Spectem Technologies LL, a family office in New York City that manages private and public investments.  Previously, he was a CFO and Partner at Nava New York, a custom collegiate jewelry company focusing specifically on Greek life sales as well as graduation jewelry.  He has extensive experience in both startup development, implementation, and management.  He was previously a Research Analyst at Keith Fitz-Gerald Publications LLC. 

Iris Zhang | 张博美
Attended Fordham Law School and worked as a Global Grains Research Analyst for Bunge. She is now a Coordinator at Columbia University.

 

Top