I joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins in 2003 after completing a doctoral degree in sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles. My research interests include political contention, social inequality, and social change in contemporary China. I am an active member of the East Asian Studies Program at Hopkins and served as program director from 2011 to 2013. I teach social theory at the undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as courses on political sociology and contemporary Chinese society. I travel to China regularly and have held visiting positions at the University of Sydney, the University of Adelaide, and Hong Kong University.