Dr. Sheila A. Smith is an expert on Japanese politics and foreign policy. She joined CFR from the East-West Center in 2007, where she specialized in Asia-Pacific international relations and U.S. policy toward Asia. Prior to joining the East-West Center, She was on the faculty of the Department of International Relations at Boston University (1994-2000), on the staff of the Social Science Research Council (1992-93), and has been a visiting researcher at the Research Institute for Peace and Security. She earned her MA and PhD degrees from the department of political science at Columbia University. In fall 2014, she will launch a new project on Northeast Asian Nationalisms and Alliance Management.