Welcome to my website!
I am a Ph.D. student in Education Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park. My research focuses on the origin and practices of schools' disciplinary approaches toward truancy, and their consequences on student absenteeism and engagement in American K-12 public schools. I primarily use quantitative methods, focusing on causal inference modeling, expanding to historical/qualitative literature review and document analysis.
Before joining the Ph.D. program, I was a research assistant at the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training (KRIVET), coordinating two projects funded by the Ministry of Education: building school-community partnerships to enhance local-level career education and operating university career exploration programs for students from rural and underserved areas.
With teaching experiences ranging from elementary to undergraduate, through tutoring, volunteering, and TAing, I enjoy engaging with students and facilitating their growth both academically and personally.
Before joining the Ph.D. program, I was a research assistant at the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training (KRIVET), coordinating two projects funded by the Ministry of Education: building school-community partnerships to enhance local-level career education and operating university career exploration programs for students from rural and underserved areas.
With teaching experiences ranging from elementary to undergraduate, through tutoring, volunteering, and TAing, I enjoy engaging with students and facilitating their growth both academically and personally.
- School discipline
- Absenteeism/Truancy
- School engagement
- Asian students
- Socioeconomic inequality
- Casual inference analysis
- Historical literature review
News
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Research
June 2025 Check out our Edwroking paper "Behind the Push for Licensure Reform: How Beliefs About the Teaching Profession Unite and Divide Coalitions" with Dr. Comstock, Dr. Kaul, Dr. Dym, and Ms. Kim
Oct 2024 Excited to share a new published paper with Dr. An, Ms. Oh, and Ms. Lee: "How can young adults be civically engaged? The role of academic achievement standards in enhancing civic and social engagement in the case of South Korea"
Jun 2024 Leading a new project to further develop the systematic literature review on Asian students from low SES backgrounds, co-authoring with Ariel Chung and Yue Xin
Apr 2024 Presented at AERA 2024, "High School Experiences of Low-Income Asian-Origin Students in the U.S.: A Systematic Literature Review"
Nov 2023 Presented at APPAM 2023, "Who Succeeds Against the Odds?: Unpacking High-Achieving Middle School Students from Low Socioeconomic Backgrounds", co-authoring with Joyce C. Koo
Aug 2023 Started collaborating on a mixed-method study on examining policymaking process of North Carolina Teacher Licensure Policy (PI: Dr. Meghan Comstock)
Aug 2022 Initiated participation in a research project to understand and reduce racial/ethnic disproportionalities in school discipline by targeting educators' use of office discipline referrals (PI: Dr. Jing Liu & Dr. Emily Penner)
Oct 2024 Excited to share a new published paper with Dr. An, Ms. Oh, and Ms. Lee: "How can young adults be civically engaged? The role of academic achievement standards in enhancing civic and social engagement in the case of South Korea"
Jun 2024 Leading a new project to further develop the systematic literature review on Asian students from low SES backgrounds, co-authoring with Ariel Chung and Yue Xin
Apr 2024 Presented at AERA 2024, "High School Experiences of Low-Income Asian-Origin Students in the U.S.: A Systematic Literature Review"
Nov 2023 Presented at APPAM 2023, "Who Succeeds Against the Odds?: Unpacking High-Achieving Middle School Students from Low Socioeconomic Backgrounds", co-authoring with Joyce C. Koo
Aug 2023 Started collaborating on a mixed-method study on examining policymaking process of North Carolina Teacher Licensure Policy (PI: Dr. Meghan Comstock)
Aug 2022 Initiated participation in a research project to understand and reduce racial/ethnic disproportionalities in school discipline by targeting educators' use of office discipline referrals (PI: Dr. Jing Liu & Dr. Emily Penner)
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Connecting to Community
Sep 2024 - July 2025 Taught a weekly religious education to 6th-graders and facilitated youth activities at Sunday School, St. Andrew Kim Catholic Church, a Korean immigrant/American Catholic Church in Olney, MD.
Jul - Aug 2024, Jun - Jul 2023 Coordinated the PROMISE Program for Asian kids with autism for data collection and behavior support (PI: Dr. Veronica Kang). This six-weeks session, organized by ACCEL and CCACC, aims to promote social-emotional engagement for culturally and linguistically diverse children with developmental disabilities.
Sep 2024 - July 2025 Taught a weekly religious education to 6th-graders and facilitated youth activities at Sunday School, St. Andrew Kim Catholic Church, a Korean immigrant/American Catholic Church in Olney, MD.
Jul - Aug 2024, Jun - Jul 2023 Coordinated the PROMISE Program for Asian kids with autism for data collection and behavior support (PI: Dr. Veronica Kang). This six-weeks session, organized by ACCEL and CCACC, aims to promote social-emotional engagement for culturally and linguistically diverse children with developmental disabilities.
- ACCEL (Autism, Family, Culture, and Communication Education Lab)
- CCACC (Chinese Culture and Community Service Center)
- PROMISE (Promoting Meaningful Interaction and Social Engagement for Young Children and Youth)