Dr. Bo Kong is the ConocoPhillips Petroleum Professor of Chinese and Asian Studies and Assistant Professor at the University of Oklahoma’s College of International Studies. He is also Senior Fellow of the Foreign Policy Institute of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Senior Associate in the Energy and National Security Program of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), member of the Advisory Board for the Revenue Watch Institute, member of the International Editorial Board for the Universiti of Kebangsaan Malaysia’ journal—JEBAT: Malaysian Journal of History, Politics, and Strategic Studies, and member of the ChinaFAQs Expert Group.
Prior to assuming the position at the University of Oklahoma, he was Assistant Research Professor of the Energy, Resources, and Environment (ERE) program at the Johns Hopkins University SAIS and directed the Program’s research on East Asia. He also built and ran the School’s Global Energy and Environment Initiative (GEEI). Previously, he had three visiting fellowships, including Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Global Dialogue (IGD) in South Africa, Research Fellow at the Center for Global Security of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and Research Associate at the Shanghai WTO Affairs Consultation Center. In addition, he also provided consulting services to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) on Chinese mineral investments in the Congo River Basin and the Mekong River Basin and advised the Hess Corporation on its strategy in China.
With a B.A. in international trade from the Nankai University in China, he earned from the Johns Hopkins University SAIS his M.A. in American Foreign Policy and Economics and Ph.D. in China Studies. He is the author of China’s International Petroleum Policy (Santa Barbra, California: Praeger Security International, 2010). Currently, his teaching and research interests focus on four themes: 1) U.S.-China Relations; 2) Geopolitics of Energy; 3) Energy, Environment and Climate Change in China; and, 4) Chinese Foreign Policy and China’s Global Quest for Resources.