He holds a BA from Yale University in American Studies, an MA in Asian American Studies from UCLA and a PhD in American Culture from the University of Michigan. He has looked at the ways in which Japanese Americans were portrayed during the war and after, and the ways that meanings have been assigned to that experience. He has also written on how the building of Poston fits into Western U.S. history, and about women’s labor at Poston as well as biographical pieces on Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga and Fred T. Korematsu.