Hi, I’m Kevin!

Life’s taken me in many different directions.

I grew up in New York City and studied international development and environmental science at Cornell University. During my studies, I was able to live and work around the world, giving me an early appreciation for just how rich and varied the human experience can be.

Since then, curiosity has taken me across countries, cultures, and disciplines. I’ve worked as a botanical illustrator for a historic site in New York City , an agricultural researcher for the United Nations in Central Africa, a web designer for a small tea farm in Japan, a chef at a fine-dining restaurant in Australia, and a World Bank consultant supporting development projects in Indonesia.

Now I’m completing a graduate program in computer science at the Georgia Institute of Technology, exploring how data and technology can help us understand complex problems and make better public-policy decisions. Although my path hasn’t always been linear, each experience has deepened my interest in people, places, and the systems that shape our lives.

I’m almost Indonesian.

It’s funny where life takes you. I was born in Jakarta, Indonesia but my family left for the United States when mass violence swept the country in 1998. Growing up, I didn’t have much interest in Indonesia; it was part of my history, but often felt distant from my everyday life.

That all changed when I attended a museum exhibition in college where I met a musician playing a traditional Indonesian instrument, the gendèr. He turned out to be a professor, I took his Indonesian music class, and all of a sudden found myself taking Indonesian language lessons too. Fast-forward a couple years and I found myself back living and working in my birth-city, Jakarta. Full Circle! And now, I find myself back where the interest all started, in Ithaca! Full Circle…and a half?

I say I’m Almost Indonesian because I grew up with American, Chinese, and Indonesian culture all mixed-in. I grew up eating rice with a spoon and fork, chopsticks, and sometimes my hands. In Indonesia, I identify more as American, while in America I identify more as Indonesian; but in both places people still point out that I look Chinese.

I’ve struggled with my cultural identity as a third culture kid, but today I see it as a gift — the ability to move between cultures, question assumptions, and understand that identity doesn’t have to fit neatly into one box. (That em-dash was not AI-generated, I swear!)

I like to eat, make things, and think about stuff.

I like to draw, watercolor, play the ukulele, take photos, shoot arrows, read books, make things with my hands, interpretive dance, organize, cook, and eat delicious food. I’m especially good at the last one.

I spend a good amount of time in my own head; constantly comparing, contrasting, analyzing, dissecting, and questioning things about myself, others, and the world in general. My interests are constantly evolving, but curiosity is a common thread.

Writing helps me make sense of it all.

Few things organize my thoughts better than trying to communicate them to someone else. Writing forces me to take all that jumbled mess, reflect on it, and evaluate it against set values and beliefs. In the process, I almost always learn something new.

This site serves as a repository for my creative endeavors, travel photography, and semi-coherent thoughts. Hopefully I’ll be able to provide interesting takes on development, share some insights with data, and have some fun along the way. Come take a look!

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