OFFICE/DEPARTMENT
Each semester, the East-West Center in Washington selects a cohort of Young Professionals to gain first-hand training and experience at a US-Indo-Pacific research and education organization in Washington, DC. This cohort has a total of ten Young Professionals, who you can meet below!
Alana Hoang Ballagh
Alana is an incoming graduate student in the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley pursuing an MS in Energy and Resources. Prior to Berkeley, Alana was a U.S. Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Vientiane, Laos, and served as an intern with the Stimson Center's Southeast Asia Program and Research Assistant with UC Berkeley's Energy and Resources Group. She received a BA in Environmental Studies and Political Science from Swarthmore College, where she completed an exchange program at the International Sustainable Development Studies Institute in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Alana has language skills in Lao, Thai, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
Jiwon Lim
Jiwon is a rising senior at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and rising first year at the School of Advanced International Studies in D.C. She is an international studies and sociology major with minors in East Asian studies. Outside of school, she has worked as a podcaster, an audio engineer, and research assistant in the international relations field. After graduating SAIS, she would like to work to analyze the ground impacts of U.S. foreign policy in Asia through research and editorial perspectives.
Nichapa (Aom) Boonphatthanasoonthorn
Aom is a graduate student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She is pursuing a master's degree in public policy with a national security certificate. Aom is originally from Thailand but moved to middle Tennessee (Murfreesboro, TN) when she was in high school. Her research interests are international affairs, Indo-Pacific relations, Southeast Asia/ASEAN relations, Thailand and the great powers, territorial/maritime disputes, China-US rivalry, etc.
Uma Baron
Uma is a recent graduate from the University of Edinburgh where she earned an MA (Hons.) in Chinese Studies. While at university, Uma was awarded the Taiwan-Europe Connectivity Scholarship and spent a year in Taiwan studying Mandarin. Uma also served as a Student Representative, working to improve student-faculty relations and the overall student experience. Uma previously served as a research intern for the Global Taiwan Institute where she conducted extensive research on Taiwan's international relations and foreign policy, cross strait relations, and social issues. She has also been featured as a guest host on podcasts such as Taiwan Insights and Taiwan Salon. Uma has advanced language skills in Mandarin.
Jack C. Borrow
Jack is a recent graduate of Boston College (Class of 2024), where he earned a BA in political science with a minor in Asian studies. For the last year, he served as a research assistant for the Political Violence Project Team, a Boston area group that performs research on the Middle East, terrorism, and civil wars across the globe. He also currently works at the Ricci Institute for Chinese Western Cultural History. As a sophomore, Jack had the opportunity to study abroad in Seoul, South Korea, where he took classes on Korean politics and performed research on the growth of anti-Americanism on the Korean Peninsula. He is proficient in Korean and French and enjoys reading in his spare time. In the fall, he plans to begin working as a legal assistant at a law firm in Chicago.
Phuoc Sac (Sam) Tran
Sam is a recent graduate from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he earned a B.A. in Political Science. He previously interned with the US-Asia Institute and worked as a research assistant for the UMass Amherst Poll. Sam also served as a Committee Chair and Senator at the UMass Amherst Student Government Association (SGA), where he engaged with over 300 registered student organizations representing diverse cultures, academic interests, and extracurricular activities. He will be participating in the ASEAN Diaspora Youth Development Program through the US-Asia Institute. Sam is a native Vietnamese speaker and has elementary skills in German.
Nyan Htet Htay Win
Nyan Htet was born and raised in Pakokku, Myanmar and has harbored a keen interest in current events and politics since a young age. This passion fueled his decision to major in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Parami University. Here, he is participating in the Parami University Rising Generation Summer Internship. Nyan Htet is particularly interested in volunteering for civic education projects. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he co-founded Junior Learners, a youth-centered education program that organized workshops and learning activities for youths interested in politics and international relations. He also honed his leadership skills as a project coordinator for the Effective Youth Empowerment initiative, a community strengthening project that provides civic education, critical thinking, and leadership skills to diverse youth across Myanmar. Nyan Htet's academic focus lies in ethnic affairs and conflict resolution. He believes in the power of dialogue to bridge divides and foster understanding between different groups. During his first two years at Parami University, he actively participated in organizing multiculturalism and information literacy workshops with his classmates.
Oscar Escobar
Oscar hails from Orlando, FL, and is an M.S. in Foreign Service candidate at Georgetown University. He earned his B.A. in International Studies and East Asian Studies at Emory University and spent a semester abroad at Yonsei University in Seoul. Following his graduation, he worked in the nonprofit and civil society spheres on refugee and immigrant issues for several organizations including Re’Generation Movement, the Coalition for Refugee Service Agencies, and Aurora NK. Oscar was subsequently awarded the State Department Rangel Fellowship and will be joining the U.S. Foreign Service upon graduating from Georgetown. As part of the Rangel Fellowship, he interned in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Consulate General Ho Chi Minh City.
Bayarjavkhlan (Jack) Bayanmunkh
Jack is a senior at Swarthmore College, majoring in Economics and Political Science. Jack studied abroad in South Korea, where he worked at the 180 DC Yonsei branch, an NGO consulting organization. He is also part of the 180 DC branch at Swarthmore College. On campus, Jack worked as a career fellow, helping students with their resumes and cover letters. Outside of Swarthmore, he worked as the project manager and president of the Association of Mongolian Students in America for two years, where he organized annual networking events and ran a university prep program for high school students. Most recently, Jack worked with the campaign financing team of the PA Senate on a re-election campaign, where he analyzed open-source data to filter potential donors. Currently, Jack is co-founding an NGO, Gobi Scholars, where he aims to help underprivileged students to study in the US and help them to develop their careers. He will be participating in the Mongolian-US National Civic Engagement Program sponsored by the US-Asia Institute.
Nissa Dotson
Nissa is an undergraduate student at the University of Georgia pursuing a BA in Political Science and International Affairs. Along with the Young Professionals Program, she is taking part in the US-Asia Institute's IMPACT! Program for Filipino Americans in partnership with the Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines in Washington, DC. Prior to this, Nissa worked as a Political Affairs Intern at the US-Asia Institute. At the University of Georgia Nissa serves as the Filipino Culture Night Director of the Filipino Student Association and is an Athens Prison Tutorial tutor.
Each semester, the East-West Center in Washington selects a cohort of Young Professionals to gain first-hand training and experience at a US-Indo-Pacific research and education organization in Washington, DC. This cohort has a total of ten Young Professionals, who you can meet below!
Alana Hoang Ballagh
Alana is an incoming graduate student in the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley pursuing an MS in Energy and Resources. Prior to Berkeley, Alana was a U.S. Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Vientiane, Laos, and served as an intern with the Stimson Center's Southeast Asia Program and Research Assistant with UC Berkeley's Energy and Resources Group. She received a BA in Environmental Studies and Political Science from Swarthmore College, where she completed an exchange program at the International Sustainable Development Studies Institute in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Alana has language skills in Lao, Thai, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
Jiwon Lim
Jiwon is a rising senior at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and rising first year at the School of Advanced International Studies in D.C. She is an international studies and sociology major with minors in East Asian studies. Outside of school, she has worked as a podcaster, an audio engineer, and research assistant in the international relations field. After graduating SAIS, she would like to work to analyze the ground impacts of U.S. foreign policy in Asia through research and editorial perspectives.
Nichapa (Aom) Boonphatthanasoonthorn
Aom is a graduate student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She is pursuing a master's degree in public policy with a national security certificate. Aom is originally from Thailand but moved to middle Tennessee (Murfreesboro, TN) when she was in high school. Her research interests are international affairs, Indo-Pacific relations, Southeast Asia/ASEAN relations, Thailand and the great powers, territorial/maritime disputes, China-US rivalry, etc.
Uma Baron
Uma is a recent graduate from the University of Edinburgh where she earned an MA (Hons.) in Chinese Studies. While at university, Uma was awarded the Taiwan-Europe Connectivity Scholarship and spent a year in Taiwan studying Mandarin. Uma also served as a Student Representative, working to improve student-faculty relations and the overall student experience. Uma previously served as a research intern for the Global Taiwan Institute where she conducted extensive research on Taiwan's international relations and foreign policy, cross strait relations, and social issues. She has also been featured as a guest host on podcasts such as Taiwan Insights and Taiwan Salon. Uma has advanced language skills in Mandarin.
Jack C. Borrow
Jack is a recent graduate of Boston College (Class of 2024), where he earned a BA in political science with a minor in Asian studies. For the last year, he served as a research assistant for the Political Violence Project Team, a Boston area group that performs research on the Middle East, terrorism, and civil wars across the globe. He also currently works at the Ricci Institute for Chinese Western Cultural History. As a sophomore, Jack had the opportunity to study abroad in Seoul, South Korea, where he took classes on Korean politics and performed research on the growth of anti-Americanism on the Korean Peninsula. He is proficient in Korean and French and enjoys reading in his spare time. In the fall, he plans to begin working as a legal assistant at a law firm in Chicago.
Phuoc Sac (Sam) Tran
Sam is a recent graduate from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he earned a B.A. in Political Science. He previously interned with the US-Asia Institute and worked as a research assistant for the UMass Amherst Poll. Sam also served as a Committee Chair and Senator at the UMass Amherst Student Government Association (SGA), where he engaged with over 300 registered student organizations representing diverse cultures, academic interests, and extracurricular activities. He will be participating in the ASEAN Diaspora Youth Development Program through the US-Asia Institute. Sam is a native Vietnamese speaker and has elementary skills in German.
Nyan Htet Htay Win
Nyan Htet was born and raised in Pakokku, Myanmar and has harbored a keen interest in current events and politics since a young age. This passion fueled his decision to major in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Parami University. Here, he is participating in the Parami University Rising Generation Summer Internship. Nyan Htet is particularly interested in volunteering for civic education projects. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he co-founded Junior Learners, a youth-centered education program that organized workshops and learning activities for youths interested in politics and international relations. He also honed his leadership skills as a project coordinator for the Effective Youth Empowerment initiative, a community strengthening project that provides civic education, critical thinking, and leadership skills to diverse youth across Myanmar. Nyan Htet's academic focus lies in ethnic affairs and conflict resolution. He believes in the power of dialogue to bridge divides and foster understanding between different groups. During his first two years at Parami University, he actively participated in organizing multiculturalism and information literacy workshops with his classmates.
Oscar Escobar
Oscar hails from Orlando, FL, and is an M.S. in Foreign Service candidate at Georgetown University. He earned his B.A. in International Studies and East Asian Studies at Emory University and spent a semester abroad at Yonsei University in Seoul. Following his graduation, he worked in the nonprofit and civil society spheres on refugee and immigrant issues for several organizations including Re’Generation Movement, the Coalition for Refugee Service Agencies, and Aurora NK. Oscar was subsequently awarded the State Department Rangel Fellowship and will be joining the U.S. Foreign Service upon graduating from Georgetown. As part of the Rangel Fellowship, he interned in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Consulate General Ho Chi Minh City.
Bayarjavkhlan (Jack) Bayanmunkh
Jack is a senior at Swarthmore College, majoring in Economics and Political Science. Jack studied abroad in South Korea, where he worked at the 180 DC Yonsei branch, an NGO consulting organization. He is also part of the 180 DC branch at Swarthmore College. On campus, Jack worked as a career fellow, helping students with their resumes and cover letters. Outside of Swarthmore, he worked as the project manager and president of the Association of Mongolian Students in America for two years, where he organized annual networking events and ran a university prep program for high school students. Most recently, Jack worked with the campaign financing team of the PA Senate on a re-election campaign, where he analyzed open-source data to filter potential donors. Currently, Jack is co-founding an NGO, Gobi Scholars, where he aims to help underprivileged students to study in the US and help them to develop their careers. He will be participating in the Mongolian-US National Civic Engagement Program sponsored by the US-Asia Institute.
Nissa Dotson
Nissa is an undergraduate student at the University of Georgia pursuing a BA in Political Science and International Affairs. Along with the Young Professionals Program, she is taking part in the US-Asia Institute's IMPACT! Program for Filipino Americans in partnership with the Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines in Washington, DC. Prior to this, Nissa worked as a Political Affairs Intern at the US-Asia Institute. At the University of Georgia Nissa serves as the Filipino Culture Night Director of the Filipino Student Association and is an Athens Prison Tutorial tutor.
