I received my PhD in Southeast Asian and Environmental History from Cornell University (2019) and am now a social science researcher on the ‘Advancing Conservation Through Empathy (ACE) for Wildlife’ project at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington. I have a deep interest in the relationships that people have with non-human species, land, and environment both historically and in the contemporary context. My historical research examines how relationships between society and nature have been severed over the past several centuries, with a particular interest in Southeast Asia, while my social science research engages with the concept of empathy to understand how it can be fostered to drive positive social and environmental change.