Matthew Willis
Hi! My name is Matthew Willis, and I was the U.S.-Japan NEXT Alliance Initiative intern at Sasakawa USA for Summer 2024. Next year, I will be a senior at the University of Texas at Austin, majoring in International Relations, Government, East Asian Studies, and Japanese. Throughout my academic and professional experiences, I have focused on U.S.-Japan and U.S.-China relations, including internships at the Mansfield Foundation, Wilson Center, and East-West Center in D.C. over the past year.
During the past two months, I assisted Sasakawa USA Senior Director Jim Schoff and Associate Program Officer Erim Gulum. One of our biggest projects was planning and executing the NEXT Alliance AI Study Trip – an exchange where we facilitated collaboration between experts in the United States and Japan on AI security and innovation. Jim and Erim kindly brought me to Tokyo to provide on-the-ground support for the meetings and events, which was an incredible opportunity to develop my programmatic skills. Since returning, I have shifted my focus more to working on the cyber mapping tool for U.S.-Japan collaboration and contributing to the bimonthly Alliance Digest. These projects have enhanced my writing, research, and web development abilities.
This internship has been a truly memorable experience, and I am so fortunate to have been surrounded by such patient and encouraging people like Jim and Erim, as well as everyone at Sasakawa USA. My immediate goal after completing my coursework on campus is to study or live abroad in Japan for an extended period. I have never done this before, so the next step is to immerse myself in the Japanese language and culture more fully so I can better contribute to U.S.-Japan relations. After that, I hope to eventually return to D.C. for a master’s program or fellowship that will allow me to continue working in this space. I have sincerely appreciated this opportunity, thank you so much for the honor of working at Sasakawa USA!
