My name is Young Joon Oh — without a middle name. In my case, Young Joon (including the space) is my first name. When I first applied for my passport, it was common among Koreans to include a space or dash in their English first names. While it has since become more typical to merge them (e.g., Youngjoon), I have retained the original spacing — a small example of path dependence in personal identity.
I am currently actively seeking new academic and research opportunities.
I was born and raised in South Korea, where I earned my B.A. in Political Science with a minor in Economics from Chung Ang University. My M.A. at Seoul National University focused on rational choice modeling in voting behavior, reflecting my early interest in bridging political theory and analytical methods.
In 2015, I received my Ph.D. in Public Policy and Political Economy from the University of Texas at Dallas. My dissertation examined bank failures, systemic resilience, and slow economic recovery through agent-based network simulation modeling, integrating political economy with computational methods.
Before pursuing my doctorate, I worked for about seven years in the National Assembly of Korea, contributing to policy analysis and legislative support. I also served on campaign teams for major national elections, including the 2004 General Election, 2006 Seoul Mayoral Election, and 2007 Presidential Election, gaining firsthand experience in the intersection of policy, politics, and governance.
After completing my Ph.D., I joined the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University as a Postdoctoral Research Associate, where I contributed to research on resilient infrastructure systems and interdisciplinary collaboration across policy and engineering domains.
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