Following my rural Ozarkian upbringing, I served active duty in the military. Upon my return to civilian life, I began my academic journey by studying Confucianism, rhetoric, and pedagogy in Portland, Oregon. After which, my family and I lived abroad in both Beijing and Taipei, where I spent a few more years learning, teaching, and translating.

We later moved back to North America and I pursued additional training in modern Chinese political history & IR theory in Washington, D.C. At the same time, I worked as a researcher at the Wilson Center. When the COVID lock down began, we decided to leave D.C. and I returned to teaching as a university lecturer in Colorado. 

Presently, I am researching and teaching Late Imperial & Modern Chinese history in the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa's Department of History. I plan to complete my dissertation over the next few years, with the intent of obtaining a permanent faculty seat. In my work, I leverage world/global history, global intellectual/conceptual history, historical & sociological institutionalism, area studies, & global studies methods.