Ryan Doan-Nguyen, from central Massachusetts, is pursuing a joint B.A. in History & Literature and Government at Harvard University, where he conducts historical research on U.S. imperialism in Southeast Asia to confront enduring inequities in education, media, and policy. A Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow, Ryan is the recipient of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize, awarded to the top third-year student in his department; the Lisa MacFarlane Prize, the New England American Studies Association's highest undergraduate honor; and the second-place prize in the Southeast Asia Digital Library's undergraduate research contest, among 26 universities. In 2021, Ryan led the Stop Asian Hate movement on the East Coast, organizing its first U.S. protest and advocating for Asian American history in school curricula, with recognition from the Boston Red Sox. At Harvard, he has continued to spearhead inclusive education efforts as co-president of the Harvard Vietnamese Association, as an intern for the White House Initiative on AANHPI, and as a founder of the university's first Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) chapter. Ryan aims to integrate history and journalism to empower local communities and has published hundreds of articles in outlets including The Associated Press, The Harvard Crimson, and The Independent. His work has shaped campus policies, Cambridge politics, research discussions, and university syllabi, earning the Associated Collegiate Press's 2023 Story of the Year Award and the AAJA's 2024 Student Excellence in Written Reporting Award.

Ryan seeks to engage in a comparative analysis of Western colonialism across Southeast Asia by reading for two taught master's degrees at the University of Oxford: one in Global and Imperial History and the second in U.S. History. He also hopes to learn from and contribute to British public media (and tea culture).