Dr. Mark Padoongpatt is Associate Professor of Asian American Studies and Interdisciplinary Studies and the Director of the Asian and Asian American Studies Program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). He researches and writes on Asian American histories in the twentieth-century United States, with a focus on empire, race, migration, and urban and suburban culture. His first book, Flavors of Empire: Food and the Making of Thai America (University of California Press, 2017), explores how and why Thai food shaped Thai American community and identity since World War II. He’s currently working on a book project on the history of race, space, and placemaking in Asian America. He is also the recipient (PI) of a three-year, $800k Mellon Foundation grant to support the “Neon Pacific Initiative,” which aims to expand, enhance, and elevate the placemaking and public-facing scholarship activities happening in UNLV’s Asian and Asian American Studies Program. He’s also shared his work on podcasts and television shows, including an Emmy-winning food series The Migrant Kitchen and the Hulu series Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi.