She teaches modern Korean history and other topics in East Asian history, including comparative colonialisms, twentieth century conflicts, and political symbolism. She received her doctorate in history and East Asian languages from Harvard University, and an MA in international relations from Columbia. Her research and writing has focused on national identity, material culture, and political movements. Her forthcoming book The King Is Dead explores the ways that colonization and modernization influenced Korean polity and identity during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A most recent study analyzes the problem of cultural properties (antiquities). She has also written on royal photographic portraits in colonial period. She is presently working on a study of arts management in Korea after WWII.