Hometown: Seoul, South Korea

Degree and Class: Ph.D., Exercise Science, 2020

How did you learn about/end up attending MSU?

While not many universities in United States have Ph.D. programs in adapted physical activity, MSU has multiple faculty members focusing on the area of the adapted physical activity. Especially, Dr. Agiovlasitis, who is one of the leading scholars in this area of study, as well as Dr. Chen whose interdisciplinary research agenda is quite impressive. All of these factors were appealing to me.

What are the responsibilities of your current position?

I am a tenure-track faculty member (assistant professor) at Sonoma State University (SSU). I teach three courses of upper-level Kinesiology courses including two 3-credit motor development courses and a 3-unit elementary school PE course. I also have to actively maintain a research agenda and provide service to the department and the university.

What is your favorite part of the position?

For the tenure track faculty job, my favorite part is that I can conduct my research projects with my students, and in so doing do both teaching and research, at the same time. My favorite part of this position at SSU is that this institution is very supportive and flexible for me to work on my job-related tasks including course development, research funding, and developing community connections.

How did your education at MSU help prepare you for your field?

First, I worked with many professors other than my mentor, in diverse areas of study. This allowed me to navigate many areas of kinesiology, which deepened my understanding of exercise science in general, and it eventually helped me refine my research interests. Secondly, I had many opportunities to interact with community organizations, which developed my capability to cultivate the kind of relationships necessary with community stakeholders which will allow for fruitful research collaborations

What advice would you give current students looking for internships or jobs in your field?

I would like to tell the students that they need to identify their professional goal first. Then they will be able to know what they really want to do. Without this identification process, they would be prone to lose direction and their motivation would be fragile.

What advice would give to incoming graduate students at MSU? 

Everything you experience in the grad school experience is learning. However, some learn more than others from the experiences. In order to maximize learning, I found that looking at situations positively was very helpful, so that I was always discovering something I can learn from every situation. If you see things negatively, then you will find yourself always blaming other factors rather than taking ownership and seeking to learn from every situation. As a result, your grad school life will be miserable.