Dr. Carina Pals is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology. She received her MSc in Cognitive Science and Technology, with a major in Language and Speech Technology, from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. After working in software development for a few years she returned to science, and Groningen, to pursue a PhD in Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience, on the topic of Listening Effort in Cochlear Implant Users. Her scientific field of interest is ‘Auditory Cognition’: a fairly new, interdisciplinary field of research in which cognitive and experimental psychology, neuroscience, audiology, linguistics, and more, come together to study hearing, hearing impairment, and speech comprehension, and their interaction with cognition. Her research has mainly centered on cochlear-implant hearing, but also included side projects on second-language speech perception and verbal response-time. Dr. Pals was born and raised in the Netherlands. She has traveled a lot within Europe, the US, and some in Asia, mostly within South Korea. Now that she is living in Korea she is looking forward to exploring more of Asia, and trying all the delicious Korean food. Besides traveling, her hobbies include hiking, water sports, Argentine tango, photography, and knitting. Research: My current interests are Speech understanding in challenging listening conditions, listening effort, hearing impairment, and listening effort in non-native listeners.Area specialty: Auditory perception and cognition. I currently teach the following undergraduate courses: Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Neuropsychology, Sensation and Perception, Memory and Cognition in Everyday Life, Human Factors & Ergonomics, and a special topic on Language and Speech at the University of Utah AsiaCampus.

Dr. Mee-Kyoung Kwon is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Utah Asia Campus. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Chicago and worked as a postdoctoral researcher and teaching professor at the University of California, Davis and the University of California, San Diego. She has been working on attention, memory, and face perception in various populations including infants, toddlers, children with Autism or ADHD, and adults with schizophrenia, aiming at integrating basic science and developmental/clinical research. She has also been working on children’s mathematics education in American and Asian children. In addition to research, sharing knowledge with others is important to her. In addition to the institutions mentioned above, she used to teach multiple courses at UNIST, Yonsei University, and Catholic University of Korea. Research: I have been working on developmental, cognitive and clinical studies and my research interests include -Biomarkers of Autism Spectrum Disorder-Development of face perception and own-race effect -Computational modeling of human vision (based on eye-tracking data)-Attention, memory, and executive functions in various populations including infants, toddlers, children with Autism or ADHD, and adults with schizophrenia as well as typically developing children and adults-Children’s mathematics education in American and Asian children

Dr. Bo-Ram Kim is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Utah Asia Campus. She received her doctoral and master’s degrees in Human Development and Family Studies from Pennsylvania State University, and her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Oberlin College. Dr. Kim was a Postdoctoral Researcher and Clinical Scientist in the Psychological and BrainSciences Department at the University of Delaware as part of the dissemination of the Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-Up intervention. Her primary research interests are the emotional quality of parent-child relationships during early childhood, the relations between infant attachment and later emotion regulation capabilities, and attachment-based interventions. Research: Every fall semester, I am recruiting first-and second-year students to learn a behavioral coding system of parent-child interactions. Students will learn to code parental sensitivity, intrusiveness, and delight during a 9-minute play interaction. One year(2 semester) minimum is required for training in this coding system.

Ha Na Yoo is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Utah Asia Campus. She received her B.A. in German Language & Literature and Economics from Seoul National University, her M.A. in Psychology from Yonsei University, and Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Rochester. Her research focuses on the development of moral and social judgments and behavior. Specifically, she is interested in the contextual (e.g., parenting, peer relationships), emotional (e.g., empathy, guilt), and cognitive (e.g., understanding of others) influences on the developmental processes. Before joining the UAC, she taught various undergraduate courses at the University of Rochester and Eastman School of Music. Research: My research examines social development. Specifically, my research interests focus on two areas:1) Moral and social judgments & behavior2) Parent-child relationships, parent-child conflicts, parentingStudents who want to gain experience in social development research are welcome to join my research section. Students will have experiences in all aspects of research, including assisting in research design, participating in data collection/preparation/coding, and learning about developmental research methods and social and moral development research.