"We heard about a huge range of topics — the Chinese think tank system, elite politics and economic indicators — as well as deep discussions about research methodologies," said Alaimo. "I haven't had much professional experience in foreign policy analysis, so learning methods to parse government documents and use the Chinese language internet for sourcing was invaluable."
Alaimo believes the U.S.-China bilateral relationship is one of the world's most important. With his strong academic focus on industrial policy and political economy, Alaimo is interested in how quickly many Asian countries, including China, have industrialized in the last 50 years. "These economies' growth is relevant to the United States' desire to reinvigorate our manufacturing," said Alaimo. "China's use of industrial policy to promote science and technology is extremely important for the world, writ large."
His knowledge of Mandarin, due to an intensive summer language course in Beijing and a Buddhist poetry class with Jason Protass led Alaimo to translate a set of classical Chinese poems into English. The poems, which had never been translated into English, were written by Buddhist monks about drinking tea at a monastery. "I like learning languages. Mandarin clicks with my brain because of the rote memorization," said Alaimo, who also has a working knowledge of Swahili.
Alaimo was inspired to join and become editor-in-chief of Brown University Interviews because of stories he heard from 2022 Brown alumna Amelia Spalter, including interviewing an FBI hostage negotiator and a famous rapper. "Brown Interviews allows you unparalleled opportunities to reach out and talk to all sorts of interesting people," said Alaimo. "I've interviewed The New York Times' architecture critic, Michael Kimmelman and Yale Law Professor Daniel Markovits."
Alaimo said, "I'm most grateful for the incredibly high quality of professors, including Mark Blyth, who teaches Money and Power in the Political Economy, which changed the trajectory of my interests, and Yan Xu, who worked with me closely and was very receptive to my ideas." Xu's junior seminar on the Politics of Industrial Transformation — taught with only five students — was a uniquely challenging environment at the undergraduate level. "We went very in-depth into industrial policy issues," said Alaimo.
Currently, Alaimo is enrolled in a senior seminar on Diplomacy, Crisis, and War, where Tyler Jost covers the history of international relations since 1945. “We have hundreds of pages of readings each week, and then Professor Jost cold-calls us. He's a virtuosic lecturer.”
Post-graduation, Alaimo hopes to work in a think tank or for Congress addressing emerging technology policy and foreign policy research. "Everything I've learned at Brown has been useful. I've gotten a very strong grounding in different areas. While they may not all be directly related to my future career, I can pull examples from many different places. IAPA has given me a variety of reference frames for modern-day questions," he said. "It's exactly what I wanted."
As to his career choices post-graduation, Alaimo was philosophical. "It would be great to work in a position within the executive branch — the State or Commerce departments or the Department of the Treasury — to understand the economic and foreign relations between the United States and China," he said. "Or, working in a research institution to better understand the Chinese government and how it relates to the rest of the world." Given President-elect Trump's early Cabinet choices and his plan to impose tariffs on Chinese goods, Alaimo anticipates the U.S. government's relationship will likely be more confrontational and hawkish toward China.
"It's challenging to find one narrative I can tell about myself during my time at Brown. I've had four or five different lives here and met so many people, given Brown's wide-ranging Open Curriculum and IAPA's interdisciplinary approach," said Alaimo. "I've done unrelated activities that have all enriched my life and enhanced my understanding of the world."
