Hasta Colman

Hasta Colman is in the PhD program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where she researches China’s border cooperation with neighboring states in South and Southeast Asia. She has conducted fieldwork in China, Thailand, Cambodia, India, and Nepal, with an affiliation at the School of Government at Nanjing University. Her work draws on a foundation in Chinese language and area studies, including training at the International Chinese Language Program (ICLP) at National Taiwan University and the Inter-University Program (IUP) at Tsinghua University.

Hasta holds a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree from Sarah Lawrence College. Before beginning her doctoral studies, she spent more than a decade working with grassroots NGOs across Asia, focused on sustainable development and community-driven initiatives.

Her research is shaped by a commitment to producing policy-relevant analysis on pressing regional and global challenges. By combining field-based insights with rigorous academic study, she aims to inform strategies that engage China’s role in fragile and strategically important regions.