Michael Laha is a Program Officer at the Asia Society Center on U.S.-China Relations in New York. He manages the Center’s public programming and helps manage a project with ChinaFile tracking Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign. He is interested in politics, science, technology, and education in China. He joined the Center as a U.S.-China Dialogue Fellow. During his two years as a Fellow, he helped design and launch a new program aimed at introducing promising Chinese university students to social innovation, education, philanthropy, and media in the United States.
Laha is the New York Chapter Director for Young China Watchers, a global network of young China-focused professionals. In that role, he conceives and runs a monthly speaker series for a young professional audience.
Laha’s work has been supported by the American Council on Germany McCloy Fellowship on Global Trends and the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs Robert J. Myers Fellowship. He developed an interest in China after a brief stint in scientific research. He was a student researcher at Tufts for three years during which he co-authored four scientific papers. He then worked for two years as a Research Assistant at Rockefeller University. During his time there, he was a New York Academy of Science Mentoring Fellow.
Laha holds a M.A. in East Asian Cultures and Languages from Columbia University and B.S. in Chemistry from Tufts University. Before completing his Master’s degree, he spent a year at Nanchang University in Jiangxi Province teaching English. He is proficient in Chinese.
