I am a Ph.D. student in Sociology at Virginia Tech. My research interests span inequality, poverty and social mobility, comparative political economy, and social demography. My recent publication, “Post-Materialism under Threat: Insecurity and Middle-Class Value Shifts in East Asia,” examines why China’s postmaterialist trajectory diverges from those of Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. This theory-refining review was published in Sociology Compass. Building on this work, my current research projects investigate: (1) why women are less likely to be promoted to top positions within firms; (2) the instability of middle-class support for postmaterialist values in East Asia; and (3) the effects of deindustrialization and industrialization on trust in science across East Asia, Western Europe, and North America.