FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Derek Ferrar
Media Relations Specialist
East-West Center
Phone: (808) 944-7204
Email: ferrard@EastWestCenter.org
(HONOLULU) Dec. 18 -- Dr. Denny Roy , an expert in Northeast Asian security and governance issues, and Dr. Melissa Finucane,a specialist in risk perception and decision science, have joined the research program at the East-West Center.
Dr. Roy comes to the Center from the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies, a U.S. Department of Defense academic institute in Honolulu, where he focused on issues involving China. At the East-West Center, Roy will work on new research projects in such areas as Northeast Asia security studies, governance issues and human rights. He is also currently working on a book on the legacy of World War II for today’s international relations in Northeast Asia.
Originally from southern California, Roy earned a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago in 1991 and is the author of a number of books, including Taiwan: A Political History (Cornell University Press, 2003) and China's Foreign Relations (Macmillan, 1998), and co-author of The Politics of Human Rights in East Asia (Pluto Press, 2001). His articles have appeared in journals including International Security, Asian Survey, Survival, Orbis, Contemporary Southeast Asia, and Security Dialogue. He previously held teaching and research positions on the U.S. mainland and in Singapore and Australia.
Dr. Finucane joins the East-West Center from the Kaiser Foundation’s Center for Health Research, where she studied human decision-making and risk-perception characteristics among people of varied ethnicities and ages, and how best to communicate health risk information to diverse populations. At the Center, she is planning to focus on risk-perception and behavioral motivation issues related to climate change in the Asia Pacific region.
Originally from the outback of northwestern Australia, Finucane received her Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Western Australia. She later studied with Paul Slovic, a pioneer in the field of decision-making and risk-perception research, at the Decision Science Research Institute in Eugene, Ore. Finucane’s articles have appeared in journals including Social Science and Medicine; Health, Risk, and Society; Risk Analysis; the Journal of Risk Research; and the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making. In 2003, Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman cited Dr. Finucane’s work on the role of emotion in decision making as “probably the most important development in the study of judgment heuristics in the past few decades."
The EAST-WEST CENTERis an education and research organization established by the U.S. Congress in 1960 to strengthen relations and understanding among the peoples and nations of Asia, the Pacific, and the United States. The Center contributes to a peaceful, prosperous and just Asia Pacific community by serving as a vigorous hub for cooperative research, education and dialogue on critical issues of common concern to the Asia Pacific region and the United States. Funding for the Center comes from the U.S. government, with additional support provided by private agencies, individuals, foundations, corporations, and the governments of the region.
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