Cheon’s research focuses on pressing issues of governance, contestation, and conflict in the age of climate change. His past research has examined energy security and environmental conflict. He is currently researching microfoundations of threat perceptions among great powers across different issue areas. His teaching interests at Duke Kunshan include International Politics, Global Governance, and International Relations of East Asia. 

He is co-author of Activism and the Fossil Fuel Industry (Routledge, 2018) and author of Fueling State Capitalism (Oxford University Press, 2023). Cheon has had papers published in reputable academic journals including Journal of Conflict Resolution, Comparative Political Studies, and Economics and Politics. He served as the founding president of Duke East Asia Nexus, a student organization.

Cheon has an A.B. in Political Science and Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (AMES) from Duke University, as well as an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University. Before joining Duke Kunshan, he was Assistant Professor of International Political Economy at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C.