Ketian Vivian Zhang is an Associate Professor of International Security in the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, where she also serves as the faculty director for the International Relations Policy Task Force. Ketian examines rising powers, coercion, economic statecraft, and grand strategy, with a regional focus on China and East Asia. 

Her research agenda emphasises how globalised production and supply chains affect states' foreign policy, especially regarding coercion and grand strategy. My first book with Cambridge University Press examines when, why, and how China uses coercion when faced with issues of national security, such as territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas, foreign arms sales to Taiwan, and foreign leaders’ reception of the Dalai Lama. Part of her research has appeared in International Security, Journal of Strategic Studies, Journal of Contemporary China, Texas National Security Review, Asia Policy, and Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs, among other venues. Her second book project examines the relationship between economic interdependence and rising power grand strategies. 

Ketian received her Ph.D. in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2018, where she is also an affiliate of the Security Studies Program. She previously held fellowships with the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University, the International Security Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School, and the Institute for Security and Conflict Studies at George Washington University.