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.

Fluent in Japanese (JLPT N1) and proficient in Mandarin, 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 also interned for the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs's Office of China Coordination and traveled to China as a visiting scholar through Peking University.

Anderson’s research focuses on the emergent patterns of cooperation and competition in international relations — particularly as it relates to the Indo-Pacific region. He is interested in understanding how political preferences originate, the mechanisms by which they are shaped, and the processes by which they may become policy therein. His doctoral advisors are Professor G. John Ikenberry and Professor Naima Green-Riley.

Anderson’s most frequent extracurricular associations include the Princeton Center for International Security Studies, the Princeton Global Japan Lab, and the Council on Foreign Relations Young Professionals Briefing Series.