2021-2022

Jeffrey Kuo is an Economics Ph.D. candidate at George Washington University. He received his M.A. degree in Economics from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and a BS/MS Honors Degree in International Business and Trade from National Chengchi University. Before pursuing a graduate degree in the U.S., he was a research assistant at the Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica.

His academic fields encompass International Economics, Political Economy, and Applied Econometrics. Specifically, he analyzes the economic and political impact of the preferential trade agreement and the policy coordination between the countries. He uses the CGE models and empirical econometric methods to explore how international economic activities such as goods and services trade, foreign direct investment, and regional trade agreements affect the welfare of the nations and multinational firms. 

Faculty Advisor: Joseph Pelzman

Research Project: “Essay Trade Agreement and Geopolitics in Taiwan”

He simulated the potential outcomes of joining trade agreements and analyzed the political effect of open-border policies in Taiwan. These methods and its findings were applied in his TERP Fellows research which is a subsection of his dissertation.

Fall 2022 and Beyond

Jeff is currently preparing for his Job Market Paper as well as his dissertation proposal defense. He will represent GW attending the American Economic Association （AEA) in New Orleans, LA, next January, 2023. Currently, he works as a Research Assistant at the Institute of International Economic Policy (IIEP) and as a course grader in his department (department of economics). Jeff developed a couple of new topics relating to the FTA, PTA, or regional integration’s impact on Taiwan. Finally, he had the chance to present some of his results at the 2022 NATSA’s NATPA meeting.  

Ben Levine is a first-year master’s student in GW’s Chinese Language and Culture program. He graduated Boston University in Spring 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in International Relations. He is currently doing research in Taiwanese defense policy.

Faculty Advisor: Robert Sutter

Research Project: “Rethinking Taiwanese Defense Policy”

He looked at two areas: how Taiwan can defend itself without the explicit backing of the United States and its allies; and Chinese versus English-speaking perspectives on the former issue. 

Fall 2022 and Beyond

Robert Snedden is an undergraduate senior at the Elliott School of International Affairs studying International Affairs and Economics and graduated in the Spring 2022 semester. He is originally from Mountain View, California. Robert is interested in Asia-Pacific trade and supply chains, and studies Mandarin Chinese.

Robert worked as an Intern with the Northeast Asia practice of McLarty Associates. Previously, Robert has also interned with the Asia Society Policy Institute, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, the U.S. House of Representatives, and Samsung Electronics America.

Faculty Advisor: Robert Sutter

Research Project: “Taiwanese Policies to Promote Investment- Preventing Negative Effects of Supply Chain Diversification”

During his TERP Fellowship, Robert researched Taiwan’s reaction to international calls for supply chain diversification– specifically calls to re-shore away from Taiwan because of growing security issues through its formation of policy to promote foreign direct investment in Taiwan. His research created a catalog of relevant policies from 2012 onward, with a particular focus on policies implemented during President Tsai Ing-wen’s first and second administrations. Robert hopes to create predictions for strategies Taiwan, both national and administrative divisional, should or will take to protect key industries.

Fall 2022 and Beyond

Robert graduated Magna Cum Laude with Special Honors from the Elliott School of International Affairs in May, receiving his BA in International Affairs with a concentration in Asia Studies and a Minor in Economics. He now works as an Associate at McLarty Associates in Washington, DC, and supports McLarty’s Northeast Asia Practice and other global clients. Robert looks forward to learning more about the research of this year’s cohort and welcomes any fellow to reach out to him about working or interning in DC!

Mark Warburton is an undergraduate student at the Elliott School of International Affairs, majoring in international affairs, political science, and Chinese language and literature. Before joining TERP as a Fellow, Mark served as the communications assistant for the Elliott School’s East Asia National Resource Center (NRC) where he maintained the NRC’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and website, illustrating over 100 unique graphics and resources for the office’s web campaigns and live events. During his time as an undergraduate student, Mark served as a congressional intern for former chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Asia, the Pacific and Nonproliferation Subcommittee, and Deputy Assistant Supervisor of Elections for the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections in Gainesville, Florida.

Currently, Mark is the executive director of the George Washington Student Research Institute (GWSRI), a student-run think tank and policy center at the George Washington University and a strategic communications intern for the State Department’s China desk within the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

Faculty Advisor: Steven J. Balla 

Research Project: “Taiwan and Active Aging”

His TERP Fellows research will study the impact of aging societies on economic factors in rural and urban Taiwanese communities.

Fall 2022 and Beyond 

Following his studies with TERP, Mark recieved the Sigur Center Summer Grant for Asian Language Study in Asia and the distinguished Boren Scholarship giving him the opportunity to live and study in Taiwan. During the summer, Mark began his work with Fulbright Taiwan and Education U.S.A., an organization for promoting American Higher Education and cross cultural exchange. Mark is currently studying Mandarin at International Chinese Language Program (ICLP) at National Taiwan Univerity in Taipei where he plans to use his Mandarin skills to study Taiwanese society, cross strait relations, and U.S.- China foreign policy. 

Faculty Advisors

Robert Sutter is Professor of Practice of International Affairs at the Elliott School of George Washington University (2011-Present ). He also served as Director of the School’s main undergraduate program involving over 2,000 students from 2013-2019. His earlier full-time position was Visiting Professor of Asian Studies at Georgetown University (2001-2011).

A Ph.D. graduate in History and East Asian Languages from Harvard University, Sutter has published 22 books (four with multiple editions), over 300 articles and several hundred government reports dealing with contemporary East Asian and Pacific countries and their relations with the United States. His most recent book is Chinese Foreign Relations: Power and Policy of an Emerging Global Force, Fifth Edition (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021).

Sutter’s government career (1968-2001) saw service as senior specialist and director of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division of the Congressional Research Service, the National Intelligence Officer for East Asia and the Pacific at the US Government’s National Intelligence Council, the China division director at the Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research and professional staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Steven J. Balla received his B.A. in government and economics from Franklin and Marshall College and his M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from Duke University. He studies government transparency and public participation in policymaking in China and the United States. He has testified in front of the United States Congress. He has on two occasions served as a consultant to the Administrative Conference of the United States, as well as a Fulbright Scholar at Peking University in Beijing and Nankai University in Tianjin. He is currently working on projects on congressional oversight of regulatory policymaking, polarization in public commenting on proposed rules, transparency and participation in state rulemaking, commenting on midnight regulations, policymaking innovation in China, transparency and participation in policymaking in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and the responsiveness of Chinese government officials to public feedback on draft laws and regulations.

Joseph Pelzman is an internationally recognized authority and author on US and WTO international trade policy, the economics of international trade law, contemporary international trade policies affecting the PRC, with a strong research interest in the Transition economies in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) and in Asia.

Before joining the faculty at George Washington in 1980 he was a Brookings Institution Economic Policy Fellow. Prior to that he was a faculty member at the University of South Carolina (1976-79). He has held appointments at Renmin University, School of Economics, Beijing, (PRC) as a Fulbright Senior Scholar (2012-13); at Ben Gurion University of the Negev (Israel) as Fulbright Senior Scholar (1995-96); Visiting Professor of Law and Economics at Catholic University Law School (2001-05); Visiting Professor of Law at the Radzyner School Of Law, The Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, Israel (2001); Research Associate, The Maurice Falk Institute for Economic Research in Israel, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel (1988-97); Visiting Scholar and Fellow, The Russian Research Center, Harvard University (1991-92); and Visiting Professor of Economics and Lady Davis Fellow, Department of Economics and Soviet and East European Research Center, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1984-85).

As part of his outreach program, he served as the founding Chair of the International Academic Board of the International School of Economics at Tbilisi State University (ISET), Tbilisi Georgia, (2006-08); and as a Member of International Advisory Board at the Kyiv School of Economics, Ukraine, (2002-17). He also serves as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Trade, Aid and Security Coalition (TASC), and Global Works Foundation, Washington DC. (2006-present);

Professor Pelzman is the current Managing Editor, of the Global Economy Journal and former President of the International Trade and Finance Association. He is also the Chief Editor, of the World Scientific Reference Series on The Economics of the Middle East and North Africa. He is also a frequent contributor to the international media, and has been a consultant to various governments, research institutions, foundations, and private corporations