Ayumi Teraoka

Ayumi Teraoka is Assistant Professor of Politics at Brandeis University. She studies alliance politics and security issues in the Indo-Pacific. Her forthcoming book examines the history of U.S. alliance management in Asia from the 1960s to the present, illuminating the conditions under which the United States successfully negotiated geopolitically contested issues with allies, including air defense integration and the defense of Taiwan, in the face of China's opposition. Her research has been supported by the Smith Richardson Foundation, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, and the America in the World Consortium, among others. Before joining Brandeis, she held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Texas at Austin (2022-2023) and Columbia University (2023-2025), where she taught Japanese Foreign Policy for Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). She also previously held research positions at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C. She holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in Security Studies from Princeton University, an M.A. in Asian Studies from Georgetown University, and a B.A. in Law from Keio University.