Young-Hae Han is a visiting professor at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) for the 2012–13 academic year. She is also a professor at the Graduate School of International Studies at Seoul National University (SNU). Her research and education focuses on contemporary Japanese society. She has conducted field research on Japanese local-level grassroots social movements in cities such as Kawasaki, Kunidachi, Kobe, Yamagata, Kanazawa, and Oita. After the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, she organized a team and conducted research in the damaged area. Han is also involved on researching another topic that is of great interest to her: ethnic minorities in contemporary Japan. For this topic, her research has been focused on identity issues of Zainichi Koreans, particularly on the new relation of Zainichi with their “homeland” in the post-cold war period.

Han served as the director of the Institute for Japanese Studies at SNU from 2006 to 2012 until just before she joined Shorenstein APARC. She also served as the chair of the Exchange Committee of KSA-AJS at the Korean Sociological Association from 2008 to 2011.

Han is the author of numerous publications, such as the books: Understanding Contemporary Japanese Society (in Korean); Japanese Community and Grassroots Social Movements (in Korean); Multi-Cultural Japan and Identity Politics (co-author, in Korean). Her recent publications include Institutionalization of East Asian Studies and New Dilemmas: With a Focus on Japanese Studies (in English); New Relationship between Zainichi Koreans and the Homeland: Through the Journeys of the Former ‘Chosen Nationals’ Living in Korea (in Japanese); The Meaning of ‘Seikatsu’ (Life) in the Citizens’ Movement in Contemporary Japan (in Korean); and The Inheritance of the Korean Dance and Identity in the Ethnic Korean Community (in Korean).  

So-Min Cheong is a visiting professor at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center for the 2012–2013 academic year, and is an associate professor of geography at the University of Kansas. Her current research focuses on the social consequences of environmental disasters and climate change adaptation in Korea and the United States. 

Cheong is the author of numerous publications in top interdisciplinary environment, policy, and geography journals such as: Nature Climate Change; Climatic Change; Ecology and Society; Environment and Planning; Transactions of the Institute of the British Geographers; and Marine Policy. She has also worked on several technical reports for the Korean government on the topics of coastal management, adaptation, boundary issues, and disaster management. She was a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on managing climate extremes, and is currently a contributing author of the IPCC 5th Assessment Report. Her recent awards include the NSF CAREER award and the Korea Foundation Fellowship.  

Cheong received her PhD in geography from the University of Washington, where she also earned MA degrees in marine affairs and international studies. She earned her BA in English from Yonsei University in Korea, and was an exchange student at Reed College in Portland, Oregon.  

Ajay Verghese joined the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) during the 2012–13 academic year from The George Washington University, where he received his PhD in political science in August 2012.

His research interests are broadly centered on ethnicity, conflict, and South Asia. His doctoral dissertation, Colonialism and Patterns of Ethnic Conflict in Contemporary India, examines why ethnic conflicts in multi-ethnic states revolve around one identity rather than another. He argues that British colonial rule is the key determinant of contemporary patterns of ethnic violence in India. During his time at Shorenstein APARC, he converted his dissertation into a book manuscript.

Verghese has been published in Qualitative & Multi-Method Research, and has received funding for language training and fieldwork in India from a variety of sources, including the U.S. State Department, the American Institute of Indian Studies, the Sigur Center for Asian Studies, and the Konosuke Matsushita Memorial Foundation.

Verghese also holds a BA in political science and French from Temple University.