About Me

Community Roots

Growing Together with Community

Growing up in Busan, Korea, within diverse communities and neighborhoods that were destinations for immigrant families, shaped my earliest sense of belonging and resilience. These experiences became the roots of my interest in migration, inequality, and the policies that shape people’s lives.

Curiosity Exploration

Curiosity as a Guiding Force

Curiosity has always been more than simple wonder—it was a way of exploring the world around me. Each question opened new paths, and this spirit of exploration continues to guide my research and scholarship.

Stories Scholarship

Exploring Stories through Scholarship

Books opened new horizons, but it was the stories of people’s lives that truly shaped my path. Scholarship has become the way I could weave lived experiences with critical inquiry, grounding my work on migration and inequality in both evidence and empathy.

Greetings,

My life is closely connected with my academic pathway. Growing up amongst more than twenty immigrant families, I witnessed how exclusion shaped their opportunities—in school, in health, and in everyday life. Over time, as some families moved on, their places were filled by new, yet not truly new, immigrant families facing the similar layers of exclusion. At the same time, I also saw the resilience they carried in building community and pursuing new beginnings. This was the seed of my own journey. These experiences continue to guide the questions I ask as a researcher and the communities I strive to serve. They ground my academic focus on immigration, multidimensional poverty, and social policy, with a commitment to advancing equity for immigrants, refugees, and racialized populations.

Immigration Policy

Exploring how policies shape the lives of immigrant and refugee communities.

Multidimensional Poverty

Examining how poverty extends beyond income to include health, education, housing, and social dimensions.

Quantitative Methods

Using data-driven approaches to understand complex social phenomena.

Community Engagement

Bridging research and practice through partnerships with local organizations.