His original goal was to find a measure of how “culturally French” different generations of French Asians feel, and whether those feelings are reflected in voting rates, how closely they follow national politics, and other metrics of political participation. But early into his time in Paris, he realized he would have to alter the scope of his project: In 1978, France passed a law that banned the collection and computerization of racial data, which has left a decades-wide gap of census data on the race and ethnicity of its citizens.

“Since coming here, dealing with French bureaucracy and the issues and the sensitivities surrounding race and ethnicity in France, I’ve realized that large quantitative surveys trying to differentiate between race and generations are a lot more difficult to obtain here than the U.S., where we have a lot of census data available," Kuan said.

Kuan has since switched to an extensive interview-based approach. The collected interviews, along with a chronicle of his experience in France, will be woven into a manuscript exploring the subjects’ perceptions of being Asian in France.

But the need to pivot in his research wasn’t a problem.

Kuan said the skills he developed at Brown empowered him to come up with a new plan, and his time in the classroom prepared him to confidently implement it. A nonfiction writing course taught by Senior Lecturer in English Jonathan Readey was particularly inspiring and equipped Kuan with the necessary framework to draft a manuscript. And he said organizational and time-management skills honed during busy semesters and scholarship application cycles have proven instrumental to his research.

“How do you break out a project like this from eight months into phases?” Kuan said. “Brown helped me figure out that process — what goal points you want to be hitting; being self-disciplined enough to keep up progress; identifying what you need to focus on; where you’re lacking — all the things that make for a really successful project.”

Before leaving the U.S., Kuan said he was thrilled by the prospects of cultural immersion and getting to know what it’s like to live in a different part of the world. Now that he’s settled in, he said the initial culture shock has worn down. He’s growing accustomed to French customs and etiquette, he can navigate the city without the aid of Google Maps and he’s memorized prices for coffee and pastries; “those more mundane quotidian details —  those have become more familiar, more internalized,” he said.

Though he’s traveled abroad before, the experience of taking up residence in Paris is an entirely different one. The differences between France and the U.S. — though he acknowledges that they’re similar countries in many regards — are felt much more intrinsically, he said. He analogizes the experience to listening to music.

“When you’re listening to music, the high frequencies cut through very cleanly; when you’re traveling abroad, the sights and sounds and food similarly cut through very cleanly into your memory,” Kuan said. “You remember them first, but they’re also the easiest to lose when you leave. When you leave a concert, you don’t necessarily hear the melodies on top. Those fade with time. But when you’re living abroad, the experiences occur over longer periods of time. They’re like the bass; and when you leave a concert, even a mile away, you can still feel that bass.”

When Kuan returns to the U.S. this summer, he plans to work in government and public sector practice with an eye toward a law degree and a future in public interest or international law. And a career path that takes him back to France isn’t off the table, he said — he can still feel that bass, even 3,500 miles away.

Brown’s 2022-23 undergraduate and recent graduate Fulbright scholars include:

• Sabrina Bajwa (Spain)
• Roger Bautista (Sweden)
• Maria-Chiara Bellomo (Italy)
• Kaitlan Bui (Vietnam)
• Benjamin Connor (France)
• Joshua Danielson (Malta)
• Kevin Du (Switzerland)
• Celia Heath (Italy)
• Julia Henke (Nepal)
• Olivia Howe (Germany)
• Annie Huang (Austria)
• Rebecca Kirby (Germany)
• Anuj Krishnamurthy (United Kingdom)
• Lucas Kuan (France)
• Michael Lahiff (Germany)
• Scott Magid (Czech Republic)
• Cameron McCartin (Taiwan)
• Patrick Nasta (Italy)
• Daviana Pérez (Guatemala)
• Poom Pipatjarasgit (France)
• Samantha Plezia (India)
• Allison Singleton (Germany)
• Kelley Tackett (India)
• Nathan Tung (France)
• Aidan Wang (Spain)
• Hanna Wells (Sri Lanka)

Brown’s 2022-23 graduate student Fulbright Scholars are:

• Sarah Christensen, History (Austria)
• Devon Newhouse, History (Portugal)
• Ike (John) Uri, Sociology (India)