Dr. Melody Rod-ari is Contributing Editor for Southeast Asian art. She earned her M.A. from Boston University and her Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research examines modern and contemporary Thai Buddhist visual culture. She is currently Assistant Curator of Asian art at the Norton Simon Museum and Editor for the American Council for Southern Asian Art. Beginning in August she will join the faculty of art history at Loyola Marymount University.