Michael completed a PhD in Psychology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His dissertation focused on entrepreneurship and building a structural model to explain the relationship between entrepreneurial self-efficacy in the prediction of entrepreneurial behavior. He has since co-founded a business, Ephone Limited and he is serving as Chief Operating Officer. The company specializes in technology and electronics and deal with the full life cycle of mobile phones and other electronic devices, parts and sub-assemblies.

Michael is a 2004 Mitchell Scholar. He received an LLM in Human Rights and Criminal Justice from Queen's University, Belfast. Michael used his time in Ireland to add an international perspective to the research on capital punishment he began at Stanford University. Michael interviewed prison officers and visited a number of detention facilities in Northern Ireland. He also spent time working with Amnesty International in Dublin.

On completion of his doctoral work, Michael would like to teach at a university while also continuing with his business interests. The opportunities for in-depth research provided by an academic career, coupled with the practical experience of running commercial projects will help him have the greatest impact on economic policy design and decision making.

Michael obtained his undergraduate degree from Stanford.