Donald K. Emmerson heads the Southeast Asia Forum at Stanford University, where he is also affiliated with the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

In 2010 he was honored by the National Bureau of Asian Research and the Woodow Wilson International Center for Scholars with a two-year Research Associateship awarded to “top scholars from across the United States” who “have successfully bridged the gap between the academy and policy.” Earlier awards include many fellowships and a campus-wide prize for excellence in teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Emmerson has a PhD in political science from Yale University and a BA in international affairs from Princeton University.