PhD Candidate in Political Science, University of Hawaii at Manoa. He studied economics and Portuguese (Brazilian) language and literature and in his bachelor's degree in Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, South Korea. His educational background in a master's degree is in foreign policy and international relations, but for the past several years he has studied the field of comparative politics. His research interests include the dynamics of globalization and nationalism, sports and national identity, cultural/civic nationalism and the transformation of national identity in Latin American countries, particularly Brazil, in a constructivist perspective. He is also interested in the impact of mega-sporting events on the sense of nationhood in the era of globalization as a topic of his dissertation project.