RFG Fellows, Olivia Parker (UMD 2024) and Jackson Rice (UCSD 2025), had the incredible opportunity to reconnect in Taiwan this quarter. Olivia traveled to Taiwan this spring to conduct research as part of her University of Maryland graduate capstone research project, which she is doing in collaboration with U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (CFE-DM). Conversely, Jackson has been living and studying in Taiwan for the past eight months as part of a Boren Fellowship designed to advance his fluency in Mandarin.
This is not the first time their paths have crossed. Last summer, both Olivia and Jackson completed summer internships in Honolulu, Hawaii with the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. As part of that internship, Jackson completed a research project with U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s CFE-DM, titled “The Resilience of Taiwan’s Energy and Food Systems to Blockade.” The report is part of a multipart research initiative, which Olivia’s current capstone research project will contribute to upon its completion.