James Joo-Jin Kim Center for Korean Studies
We are pleased to award the 2020-2021 Kim Program Graduate Fellow to the following recipients:
Yoonbin Cho (top left)
Yoonbin Cho is a Ph.D. candidate in the Comparative Literature & Literary Theory program at University of Pennsylvania. She currently studies the reinforcement and complication of national identities in narrative films, and contemplates East-West relations as they are manifested in transnational adaptations, remakes and other forms of retelling. Her fields of interest are cinema studies, globalization and postcolonial studies, and transpacific studies, with a focus on modern and contemporary Korea. She received her B.A. in Comparative Literature and Culture at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea.
Ina Choi (top middle)
Ina Choi is a PhD student at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research centers on 20th century East Asian art in global culture. Topics of interest include visual cultures of migration, intersection between post-colonial studies, critical race and gender studies, and global contemporary art. She previously earned an MA in Arts Administration from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and also an MA in Art History from the University of Pennsylvania. She has also worked in numerous art institutions as a curator and exhibition coordinator both in Seoul and New York, and is currently working at the Philadelphia Museum of Art as an exhibition assistant for the upcoming Korean Contemporary Art Exhibition in 2021.
Soo Gyeong Ju (top right)
Soo Gyeong Ju is a PhD student in the Interdisciplinary Studies in Human Development program at Penn Graduate School of Education. Her research interest lies in children’s cognitive development as a protective factor against their socioemotional difficulties. She is particularly interested in how to facilitate children’s executive function while considering their environmental and physiological factors. Her recent work includes research on the relationship between Korean parents’ interaction styles and their children’s executive function and social understanding development. She has been honored with multiple awards for her leadership on research as well as her help in building a supportive community at Penn.
Eunsun Lee (bottom left)
Eunsun Lee is a PhD student in the Educational Linguistics Division at the Graduate School of Education. With a focus on the interplay between language policies and language education practices, her current research interest is in the development of sociopragmatic knowledge and identity of Korean language learners in the U.S. Higher Education contexts, particularly with regard to honorification. Her interest has primarily stemmed from her experience working at the Language Flagship Technology Innovation Center as a Learning Design Graduate Assistant, where she developed and implemented technology-assisted blended learning courses for Korean language learners in the Korean Flagship program. Eunsun holds Bachelor’s degrees in English Language and Literature and Economics from Seoul National University and Master’s degree in Second Language Studies from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
Sangsoo Lee (bottom right)
Sangsoo Lee is a fourth-year dual Ph.D. student in the Department of Sociology and Demography program at the University of Pennsylvania. He grew up in Seoul, South Korea. Prior to coming to Penn, he received his B.A. and M.A. in Sociology from Korea University. His broad research interests include family demography, social stratification, and education in East Asia. Recently, his research has focused on the diverse dimensions of changing family formation behaviors in South Korea. This includes a study on the influence of parental education on young adults’ entry into first marriage, and a paper exploring the educational assortative mating patterns in remarriage and first marriage in South Korea.