Familiar faces at the TRA conference

Went to the conference today, and since I hadn't read the agenda in advance, I was surprised by seeing so many familiar faces; especially Steven Phillips and Lowell Dittmer. 

What a pleasant surprise! The two were here in Taiwan last year for legislative election observations and I was one of the students who took them for a field trip in Tainan and Kaohsiung. (series of related blogs are on the right side panel under title "2008 Legislative Election Observations") Professor Phillips later on helped me out tremendously with my applications and thus I owe him a huge debt. If I eventually end up at UVA, he would be one of the main factors that made it happen.