This list shows where our Ph.D. students have gone after completing the program, including both initial placements and more recent updates when available
We cordially invite you to explore the narratives shared by our accomplished Ph.D. graduates. These insightful stories can be accessed on our dedicated webpage for Post-graduate Career Outcomes. Delve into the experiences of our esteemed alumni and gain valuable insights into their rewarding journeys beyond our graduate program.
2025
Yalin Du
Faculty Advisor: Anna M. Shields
Filippo Gradi
Faculty Advisors: Federico Marcon and Sheldon Garon
Peter Tsung Kei Wong
Presidential Assistant Professor at the City University of Hong Kong
Faculty Advisors: Martin Kern and Anthony Grafton
2024
Yuzhou Bai
Special Collections Librarian and Archivist, Harvard-Yenching Library
Adviser: Willard Peterson
Junnan Chen
Assistant Professor: Interactive Media Arts Department, NYU, Shanghai
Faculty Adviser: Steven Chung
Gian Duri Rominger
Assistant Professor, University of Washington Seattle
Yunxiao Xiao
Postdoctoral Researcher, Center for East Asian Studies, Stanford University
Faculty Adviser: Martin Kern
Tsz Kit Yim
Adviser: Paize Keulemans
Hanruo Zhang
Faculty Advisers: Anna M. Shields and Stephen F. Teiser
2023
Chan Yong Bu
Assistant Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University
Faculty Adviser: Steven Chung
Megan E. Gilbert
Postdoctoral Fellow in JapanLab, University of Texas at Austin
Faculty Adviser: Thomas D. Conlan
Soojung Han
Assistant Professor of East Asian History, Southwestern University
Faculty Advisers: Xin Wen and Nicola Di Cosmo
David L. Romney
Subject Librarian for East Asian Languages and Cultures, Washington University in St. Louis
Faculty Adviser: Thomas D. Conlan
Lili Xia
Assistant Professor, Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures, Barnard College
Faculty Adviser: Anna M. Shields
Shengyu Yang
Faculty Advisers: Benjamin Elman and He Bian
Zhuming Yao
Assistant Professor of Chinese and Comparative Literature, Boston University
Faculty Adviser: Martin Kern
2022
Yixin Gu
Assistant Professor in Classical Chinese Literature, Lingnan University, Hong Kong
Faculty Adviser: Martin Kern
Kimberly Hassel
Assistant Professor of Japanese Studies, Duke University
Faculty Adviser: Amy Borovoy
Ziyao Ma
Assistant Professor, Metropolitan State University of Denver
Faculty Advisers: Benjamin Elman and He Bian
2021
Claire Cooper
Assistant Professor of East Asian History in the Department of History, Philosophy and Religious Studies at Eastern Kentucky University
Faculty Adviser: Federico Marcon
2019
David Boyd
Associate Professor of Translation and Japanese Studies, University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Faculty Adviser: Atsuko Ueda
Su Fu
Assistant Professor, School of Chinese Language and Literature at Nanjing Normal University
Faculty Adviser: Anna Shields
Elijah Greenstein
Honorary Research Associate & Lecturer, University of British Columbia
Faculty Adviser: Sheldon Garon
Jinsong Guo
Assistant Professor and Fellow, Premodern Chinese History, Center for Ancient Chinese History, Peking University
Faculty Adviser: Benjamin Elman
Kaoru Hayashi
Assistant Professor of Premodern Japanese Literature, University of Arizona
Faculty Advisers: Richard Okada and Brian Steininger
Magnus Ribbing Gren
Postdoctoral Scholar: Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica (Taipei)
Faculty Adviser: Benjamin Elman
Luke Waring
Assistant Professor, Department of Asian Studies, University of Texas at Austin
Faculty Adviser: Martin Kern
2018
Qinyuan Lei
Assistant Professor, School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong
Faculty Adviser: Atsuko Ueda
Independent Filmmaker
2017
Thomas Mazanec
Associate Professor of Pre-modern Chinese Literature and Cultural Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Faculty Advisers: Anna Shields and Stephen Teiser
Mercedes Valmisa Oviedo
Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy at Gettysburg College
Faculty Advisers: Martin Kern and Willard Peterson
Dror Weil
Assistant Professor in History of Early Modern Asia, University of Cambridge. Official Fellow of King’s College Cambridge
Faculty Advisers: Benjamin Elman and Michael Cook
2016
Sare Aricanli
Assistant Professor in History, Durham University (United Kingdom)
Faculty Adviser: Benjamin Elman
Daniel Burton-Rose
Assistant Professor of History, Wenzhou Kean Unviersity
Faculty Adviser: Susan Naquin
Jue Chen
Associate Professor: Ancient & Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
Faculty Adviser: Martin Kern
Kjell Ericson
Assistant Professor, History of Science, Faculty Fellow, Kyoto University
Faculty Advisers: Sheldon Garon and Benjamin Elman
2015
Marten Söderblom Saarela
Special Collections Librarian, Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History, Boston College
Faculty Adviser: Benjamin Elman
2014
James Bonk
Visiting Assistant Professor of Chinese Studies and History, College of Wooster
Faculty Adviser: Susan Naquin
Erin Leigh Brightwell
Associate Professor of Pre-modern Japanese Literature, University of Michigan
Faculty Adviser: Thomas Hare
Christopher Mayo
Professor in Communication, Kōgakkan University (Japan)
Faculty Adviser: Martin Collcutt
2013
2012
Wiliam H. Bridges IV
Associate Professor of Japanese, University of Rochester
Faculty Adviser: Atsuko Ueda
Scott W. Gregory
Associate Professor in East Asian Studies, University of Arizona
Faculty Adviser: Andrew Plaks
Michael Hunter
Associate Professor of East Asian Languages & Literatures, Yale University
Faculty Advisers: Willard Peterson and Martin Kern
2011
2010
Esther Sunkyung Klein
Lecturer in Chinese Studies, The University of Sydney
Faculty Adviser: Martin Kern
2009
Zhiyi Yang
Associate Professor of Sinology, University of Frankfurt (Germany)
Faculty Adviser: Martin Kern