Anderson is a Ph.D. student at the Princeton University School of Public and International Affairs. He obtained his A.M. in Regional Studies—East Asia from Harvard University, and his A.B. in Japanese Studies and Political Science from Middlebury College.

As a junior scholar of political science with a regional interest in East Asia, Anderson researches the emergent patterns of cooperation and competition in the Indo-Pacific. On a theoretical level, he is interested in explaining how political preferences originate, the mechanisms by which they are shaped, and the processes by which they may become policy therein. On the empirical side, he is interested in the mode and manner in which alliances and blocs form, the conditions under which bilateral and multilateral arrangements emerge, and the varying effects that geopolitical alignments can have on the region. His doctoral advisors are Professor G. John Ikenberry and Professor Naima Green-Riley.

Fluent in Japanese (JLPT N1) and proficient in Mandarin Chinese, Anderson is an alumnus of the U.S. Department of State’s Fulbright Scholarship Program (Japan/Research) and the Critical Language Scholarship Program for Advanced Japanese. He has traveled to the People's Republic of China as a visiting scholar through Peking University, and to the Republic of China as a scholar with the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Anderson draws upon this area expertise to incorporate primary source materials into his research.

An aspiring public servant, Anderson has professional experience working at every level of government. Previously, he has been with the City of Burlington (CEDO), the Vermont General Assembly (Senate), the U.S. Department of State (EAP/China), the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP/USTR-South & Central Asia), and the World Bank Group (IEG).