What? In light of massive climate change-driven risks to marine and coastal life as well as urban habitability, a growing population, increasing per-capital electricity demands, and escalating international pressures, Southeast Asia is at the forefront of global energy transitions. This project examines the bureaucratic and coordinative efforts to make the Southeast Asian energy transition happen through ethnographic fieldwork at the Jakarta-based ASEAN Center for Energy. By following the negotiations and collaboration between key actors in the Southeast Asian Energy transition I aim to expand our understanding of the political and bureaucratic aspects of transitioning into sustainable energy systems. Why? Developing green energy sources and modernizing electricity grids are at the heart of contemporary attempts to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate climate change. Accordingly, energy transitions away from coal and natural gas are underway globally. Southeast Asia’s transition is uniquely compelling as the region’s strategic placement between American and Chinese spheres of influence means that this transition needs to navigate the emerging tensions of 21st century multipolarity as well as regional political conditions and technical challenges. For these reasons, the institutional arrangements and efforts emerging at the ASEAN Center for Energy showcase the new international institutions and forms of governance which are needed to manage the climactic challenges of the Anthropocene. How? This project leverages my Ph.D. research on organizational collaboration and democratic institutions in Southeast Asia to contribute to the emerging fields of environmental humanities and social scientific energy studies. But in doing so it leverages the long disciplinary histories of anthropology and Southeast Asian studies and their deep resources for critical theorization and analysis. Ethnographic fieldwork at the ASEAN Center for Energy will permit detailed insight into the formal and informal workflows at the center. In addition to this, I will conduct in-depth interviews with involved actors from private and public sectors and approach the field comprehensively through document approaches critically engaging with reports and analyses made by the ASEAN Center for Energy and the organizations it collaborates with.

What? Engineering of orthogonal translation systems to enable the biosynthesis of genetically encoded polymers (proteins) with non-standard monomers. Here we will start with trying to create so-called "mirror" proteins creating a system that can use D-amino acids. Why? Proteins have essential roles for cells and undertake various functions that are structural, regulatory or catalytic in nature. In the cell, the chemical diversity of proteins are limited to a standard set of 20 L-α-amino acids (L-AA), but there is an interest in enabling non-standard amino acids incorporation into proteins to expand their chemical repertoire and create new types of materials, therapeutics and enzymes. To date, it is not possible to efficiently translate proteins with D-amino acids and building an orthogonal translation system to do so is challenging. Therefore, I seek to perform this project and in doing so gain insight into bacterial translation while creating a path to biosynthesize new types of proteins. How? To perform the project, I will start of with chromosomally integrating orthogonal translation components into a genome recoded E. coli strain. Then I will perform extensive mutation and evolution using cutting-edge genome engineering tools such as MAGE to find a strain that can biosynthesize proteins with D-amino acids.

What? The project asks how activists are constructed and reasoned about in the US public. Activists have become prominent and influential political actors in both the United States and in other liberal democracies such as Denmark. They are consolidated and highly recognisable figures in the public, exemplified most recently by Black Lives Matter and anti-lockdown activists. In the public, activists are sometimes seen as empowered citizens but can also be seen as unruly actors who threaten democratic institutions and norms. These diverging views place activists at the centre of a public discussion about the meaning and prospects of democratic subjectivity. I set out to explore the cultural constructions of and ways of reasoning about activists, which underlie these public discussions. Why? Activists represent a new way of being a democratic subject, which is gaining traction in many liberal democracies. Usually, we have analysed this way by focusing on activists themselves, asking who become activists and how this shapes their identity and subsequent life. However, we also need to study how activists are seen in the public. Tackling this question helps activists better understand the public to whom they direct their appeals. It also provides a mirror for the public, facilitating a discussion about what role activists can and should play in democratic societies. Understanding this role helps us ensure that the increasing prominence of activists does not erode but deepens democratic participation. How? The research is carried out at Yale’s Center for Cultural Sociology, which is at the core of sociological discussions about the cultural dimensions of democracy. My project moves through three interconnected stages. First, I construct and analyse an archive of popularized activist autobiographies. Here, I seek to uncover a set of underlying activist narratives that are widely diffused in the public. It is through these that we come to think about the democratic role of activists. Second, I conduct a population representative survey of the US public to explore how these narratives are inflected in the ways that individual members of the public reason about activists. Finally, I conduct a series of in-depth interviews with these individuals to get a nuanced description of these ways of reasoning.