Meet MAIS Student Brennan Leong

Meet Brennan Leong, a 2nd year student in the Master of Arts in International Studies Program.

Brennan is an International Economics concentrator who is currently writing a graduate thesis in Chinese on the empirical factors that influence the craft beer market in China. Partnering with the Kentucky company, Alltech, alongside a number of Chinese breweries, Brennan is assessing market entry for craft beers, both domestic and foreign.

A double-major in Chinese and Neurobiology from the University of Wisconsin, Brennan has previously worked in the health care industry as a children's behavior therapist and was enrolled in medical school. Ethnically half-Chinese, a longing to improve his language abilities and a compulsion to grow closer to a culture he was disconnected with in his childhood inspired Brennan to move to Chongqing to teach English. On a whim, a friend brought up the possibility of attending the Hopkins-Nanjing Center to further his academic study while simultaneously honing his Chinese language skills, and Brennan was sold.

During his time at the HNC, Brennan has taken classes on game theory, international law, trade theory and policy, and China's environmental development all in Chinese. As captain of the HNC basketball team, Brennan helped lead the team to its highest tournament finish in recent history. Brennan says he was most drawn to SAIS and the HNC for the ability to impact his career trajectory and help him find out “where he fits in as a piece of the puzzle” that is China's growth and US-China interaction. Having already interned with KPMG's US-China Strategic Corridor and interning with the Royal Bank of Canada this winter, Brennan hopes to utilize his research, language, and management skills to work for an international consulting firm.


Written by Logan Pauley, MAIS '17