Petrice R. Flowers is Director of the Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs and Professor at the Matsunaga Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. She is an international relations scholar specializing in the study of international norms in Japan. Her research has examined gender and diplomacy, the domestic impact of international human rights norms, transnational networks, and refugee policy. Dr. Flowers completed post-doctoral research at the University of Tokyo and has held several visiting positions in Japan including at Hitotsubashi University’s Institute for the Study of Global Issues, Waseda University’s Graduate School of Asia and Pacific Studies, and Ochanomizu University’s Institute for Gender Studies. She has secured research funding from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the Fulbright US Scholars’ Program, the Council on Foreign Relations-Hitachi International Affairs Fellowship, and the Japan Foundation, among others. In 2009, Flowers published Refugees, Women, and Weapons: International Norm Adoption and Compliance in Japan (Stanford University Press). Another monograph, Refugee Policies in East Asia (Cambridge University Press Elements Series) is currently in production. She has published research in Gastronomica: Journal for Food Studies, Hague Journal of Diplomacy, Human Rights Quarterly, the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Critical Asian Studies, the Journal of Japanese Studies, and several edited volumes. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from Wellesley College and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Minnesota—Twin Cities.
Jacob Aki is the Communications and Outreach Manager at the Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs. Jacob spent nearly a decade as a senior legislative staffer in the Hawaiʻi State Legislature. In his most recent role as the Director of Communications, he served as the chamber’s chief spokesperson and led a team tasked with developing and implementing communication strategies, managing media relations, and effectively communicating legislative initiatives and policy issues to the broader community. He is from Kapālama, Oʻahu. He holds an M.A. in Political Management from George Washington University and a B.A. in Hawaiian Studies from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
Hannah Butler is a graduate assistant at the Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs and an M.A. student in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Her research focuses on the regions of East and Southeast Asia and the Arctic with an emphasis on international governance, economic interdependence, and conflict deterrence. She was previously an Ellings-Korduba Research Fellow Finalist at the National Bureau of Asian Research, examining Sino-Russian collaboration in the Arctic theater. She also received a Boren Scholarship to study Mandarin Chinese in Taiwan. She holds a B.A. in History and International Affairs from the University of Nevada, Reno.
Amber Hall is a graduate assistant at the Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs and an M.A. student in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Their research interests include the roles that modern media in the United States and Japan have in influencing preconceptions of one another. They previously studied at Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka, Japan. They hold a B.A. in Global Communication from Utah State University with minors in Japanese and Marketing.
Please direct all questions related to the Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs to cipa@hawaii.edu.