Kristen Hayashi is a Ph.D. student who is currently engaged in the study of both Public History and the American West at the University of California, Riverside. After earning her B.A. in American Studies from Occidental College in Los Angeles, she worked at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in various capacities. As a result of being part of the content team for the Natural History Museum’s semi-permanent exhibition Becoming Los Angeles, she has become highly engaged in research into the region’s rich history. Although her interest in Los Angeles spans a multitude of subtopics, she is greatly interested in further examination of the Japanese American community within the diverse social milieu of Southern California in the first half of the twentieth century. The experience that she gained from working at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, interning at the Smithsonian, and collaborating with the Little Tokyo Historical Society has inspired her to continue to pursue a career in museums and historic preservation.