The experience was intended to create a broader understanding of Asia among America’s future leaders, and ultimately to influence American attitudes and actions toward Asia. As its partner in the program, Luce selected The Asia Foundation. With its network of field offices and familiarity with local organizations and conditions, The Asia Foundation was well-placed to assist in the program’s administration.
The Asia Foundation has continued to administer the Asian portions of the program since its inception, over the years facilitating internships for 518 Luce Scholars. The Foundation handles a variety of tasks, most importantly identifying internships for the Scholars and advising and assisting Scholars while they are in Asia. While Asia has changed substantially in the past three decades, it is no less important today for American leaders to understand the region, and the Foundation remains committed to reaching this goal through its partnership with the Luce Foundation in their Luce Scholars program.
The 2007-2008 Luce Scholars are:
Edward Carlson - Japan
Edward Carlson is a communications aide for the former Japanese Cabinet Secretary for Economic Policy. He assists his office by helping write and review its English language communications work, in addition to handling some interview and scheduling requests. Currently the Senator's Office is working closely with other senior members of the ruling party to study the possible launch of a sovereign wealth fund in the spring of 2009.
Aaron Creek - Philippines
Aaron Creek went to the Philippines to work with the Philippine National Red Cross' Disaster Relief Division. But since there have not been any disasters during his stay, he has been working mostly in community health. Most of his work involves going to the depressed parts of Manila and administering vitamins and vaccines to the local children. Starting in March, Aaron will be spending some of his time working with the Department of Orthopedics at Philippine General Hospital.
Sachin Desai -Taiwan
Sachin Desai works at the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in their Intellectual Property Business Division. He is assisting ITRI to market itself to the international community, allowing them to bring technology and intellectual property from abroad into Taiwan's market. His work includes everything from negotiating and creating advertisements in US newspapers to cold-calling companies in the US and Europe to inform them about business opportunities in Taiwan. Other than working to benefit Taiwan's industry, he likes to travel around his host-city of Hsinchu on his motor-scooter and sample the indescribable diversity of Taiwanese food.
Ryan D. Dick - China
Shanghai - Ryan is placed at Tongji University and is working for the College of Architecture and Urban Planning. He is assisting first and second year Urban Planning and Architecture studio courses and focuses much of his time on teaching structural detailing and the importance of contextual and sustainable design. Outside of class, Ryan has helped to initiate the Building Shanghai Symposium which is aimed at helping students bridge the gap between academia and the professional practice. Ryan has also been moonlighting at two local architecture firms in hopes of better understanding China's architectural process. Sampling at street food stalls and traveling in and out of China have also been staples to Ryan's Luce Experience.
Dane Erickson - China
Dane Erickson works at the African Studies Center at Beijing University where he is trying to better understand China's growing political and economic ties with Africa from a Chinese perspective and gain insight into the longer term implications for Africa and the international community. Dane's work includes periodic lecturing to interested students on campus as well as undertaking specific research projects around this emerging topic. In his free time, Dane keeps himself in good humor by attempting to learn Mandarin, making new friends, exercising on "blue sky" days, and assimilating local techniques at the ping pong table.
Elizabeth Forwand (Liz) - Indonesia
Liz Forwand is working in Bogor, Indonesia, for LEI; the Indonesian Ecolabeling Institute. LEI develops standards for sustainable forest management in Indonesia and facilitates forest certification work across the archipelago to create market incentives for sustainable forestry. Through her work Liz has gotten to explore the full range of Indonesian forest management, from industrial forest concessions in Sumatra to community managed agroforestry projects in Kalimantan. When not struggling to understand Indonesia's forest regulations, Liz can be found with her running group in the rice paddies and cassava fields around Bogor, or stuck in the market sampling the amazing variety of fruit the rainy season has to offer.
Laurel Gabler - Thailand
Laurel Gabler is studying the integration of traditional and Western medical practices at a hospital in Prachinburi in rural Eastern Thailand which produces its own line of herbal products. She is learning techniques of Thai massage and aroma therapy as well as working in the emergency room to observe the differences between Thai medicine and Western medicine. She has also spent two months at the farm which grows the herbs with the intention both of finding inexpensive alternatives to more expensive medicines and of developing models for local economic development. Because there is virtually no information in English on Thai herbal treatments, she is translating hospital literature into English and writing a small book on Thai herbs and medicines, and she is creating a database of photographs and a website for the farmers. In her spare time she has volunteered photographing children and giving them framed portraits of themselves at the Dragonfly orphanage, and she has judged a national speech contest for Thai students speaking English.
David Gilbert - Indonesia
David Gilbert is working in Aceh, Indonesia with the Leuser International Foundation (LIF). The LIF's mission is to conserve the Leuser Ecosystem, which is the largest remaining tract of tropical forests in Indonesia, is the last home to the Sumatran tiger, orangutan, and rhino, and provides drinking water and flood control to over 4 million people. These are challenging times in Aceh for conservation, with deeply entrenched logging and palm plantation interests, fortified by corruption, threatening to destroy this UNESCO World Heritage site by 2050. David is a field member of the Leuser Ecosystem Tiger Survey, a joint project between the LIF and the Wildlife Conservation Society. When not looking for tigers, he is a member of a team writing a World Bank Carbon Trading proposal for Aceh, and is LIF's staff photographer.
For more info on the Leuser Ecostem visit: www.leuserfoundation.com For a selection of David's photography in Sumatra see: www.criticalsumatra.com
Lauren Holden (Ming) - Mongolia
Ming Lauren Holden is working with the Mongolian Writer's Union as their International Relations Advisor in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Her primary goal for the year is to facilitate the formation of a Mongolian PEN Center. In December, a meeting was held to that effect and over the required 20 writers signed the International PEN Charter. The next step is to involve writers from different interest groups in the project--not an easy task in Mongolia--for which she is working with the Mongolian Arts Council and Academy of Culture and Poetry. Ming is also working with a writer in exile from Inner Mongolia, and co-translating a book written by the Head of the Mongolian National Library about wolf legends to be published with the help of TAF Mongolia this spring. Soon she'll start translating Mongolian poetry from the original. Ming swears that by now she knows more about mutton than you do.
Selena W. Hsu - China
Selena is working as a copyeditor and reporter at China Central Television's International English Language Channel (CCTV). When she's not leaning against the winter wind and pleading with passerby to talk to her, or in the newsroom parsing the particulars of Chinese media, she's gazing with longing (or squinting through haze?) at the unfinished new CCTV towers and looking forward to the craziness of the Olympics.
Angela Kilby - Indonesia
Angela Kilby is working at the Akatiga Foundation in Bandung, Indonesia. Akatiga is an NGO which produces social, political, and economic research that is used by civil society, government, and business to improve local and national economic development. Angela works in the labor group, and is focusing her research on the Indonesian textile and garment industry, paying particular attention to the linkages between local economic development and Indonesia's global position in the international trade of textiles and clothing.
Miles D. Killingsworth - Japan
Miles is working in Tokyo as an assistant researcher at the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policy, a leading advocate of global warming policy promotion. As a Luce Scholar, he is working on a number of projects, including plans for a sustainable city on the island of Kyushu, a U.N. sponsored finance initiative, and preparations for the upcoming G8 summit in Japan. When he's not busy, Miles enjoys struggling to learn Japanese, becoming an udon and soba connoisseur, and exploring the beguilingly postmodern Tokyo cityscape.
Mark G. Little - China
Mark Gabriel Little is working as a visiting scholar in the Department of Urban and Environmental Studies at Peking University in Beijing, China. He has collaborated with researchers on air pollution studies and is working in the lab with graduate students interested in organic air pollution in China. He is currently teaching a course on climate change to graduate students in the department.
Samuel Polk (Sam) - Indonesia
Sam is spending his Luce year at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Jakarta, Indonesia. While at CSIS, Sam has participated in international conferences on security issues, written monthly reports on political developments in Indonesia, and drafted policy proposals for the consideration of governments in the region. When not being a wonk, Sam enjoys soaking up Jakarta in all of its chaotic and absurd glory, and occasionally escaping the city for a breath of fresh air.
Zarah Rahman - Vietnam
Zarah Rahman is working in the CHILILAB Research Center of the Hanoi School of Public Health. She is involved in a number of ongoing research projects on topics such as injection drug use and HIV risk, adolescent health, and avian influenza. She has also been active in leading the university's English Club. When not busy with these projects, there's always a stack of reports for editing on Zarah's desk. In addition to her work at the School of Public Health, Zarah is conducting an assessment of community based HIV/AIDS programs in Vietnam to assist the Clinton Foundation with the HIV Pediatric treatment program. Some signs Zarah's started to become a little Vietnamese: she is comfortable driving her motorbike the wrong way down a one way street for several blocks, has no difficulty sitting on tiny stools on the sidewalk while eating her Pho, when meeting new people her first two questions have become "how old are you?" and "are you married?", prefers chopsticks to a fork, sends text messages at traffic lights, feels no meal is complete without rice, and exercises in the mornings by any of Hanoi's many lakes.
Michael Solis - Korea
Michael is working for the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, where he has published reports, articles, and policy recommendations on issues related to Korean conscientious objectors and migrant workers. Additionally, Michael has edited training manuals for prison and military personnel and worked on legal cases involving discrimination against the children of immigrants. Michael also helped draft letters to the UN and Korean government to prevent the removal of the NHRCK's independent status by the new presidential administration. He loves his co-workers, ajimas, Korean cuisine, and hiking through the country's beautiful landscapes.
Wen-Chih Yu - Singapore
Wen-Chih Yu is working for SingHealth, an organization that runs the public clinics, hospitals, and specialty care centers for the eastern half of Singapore. Wen-Chih is conducting SingHealth's first comprehensive Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) audit, and works closely with senior management on various other CSR-related projects. Her time is shared between the SingHealth Foundation and SingHealth's IMPAct program, and she enjoys learning about the nature of CSR, philanthropy, and corporate community involvement in Singapore and around Asia. Wen-Chih loves Singapore--its warm weather, its diverse mix of cultures, its fantastic hawker food, and its close proximity to all of Southeast Asia.