Peter Gries was born in Singapore, and grew up in Hong Kong, Japan, and Beijing, where he attended a Chinese public elementary school and learned to throw (dud) hand grenades in sports class. He later earned a BA in Asian Studies at Middlebury College, a MA in Asian Studies at the University of Michigan, and a PhD in political science at the University of California, Berkeley. Peter is currently the Harold J. & Ruth Newman Chair & Director of the Institute for US-China Issues and Professor of International & Area Studies a the University of Oklahoma. He studies the political psychology of international affairs, with a focus on Chinese and American foreign policy. Peter lives in Norman, Oklahoma with his wife Monica and daughter Julia.