Steven is a Lecturer and Vice-Director for the Study Program in East Asian Economy and Society (EcoS) for the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Vienna.

He earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Toronto, an M.A. in Global Affairs and Policy from Yonsei University, and a B.A. in Political Science from Harding University.

Steven teaches graduate courses in international relations, comparative politics, and research methodology. He is also the Vice-Director of the European Centre for North Korean Studies (ECNK).

A comparativist specializing in East Asian affairs and the Koreas, his core research interests include citizenship and migration, democracy and authoritarianism, and the political economy of entrepreneurship. Additionally, he contributes to studies in innovation policy and the dynamics of firm growth, using cases primarily in North America.

Steven's research mainly uses surveys and experimental methods to understand public opinion, but he also works with administrative data and mixed-method approaches for analyzing qualitative data.