I am a linguist and language educator, and am passionate about language teaching pedagogy and designing programs based in linguistic principles. I currently serve as the Director of Language Programs at LanGo Institute, a language school that connects people with linguisticky language learning opportunities. At LanGo, I teach 한국어 and design programs and learning materials that incorporate knowledge about language science, linguistic variation and change, and how language reflects and shapes culture.

I am also an Adjunct Professor of Linguistics at the University of North Texas and at the University of Texas at Arlington. As a sociolinguist, I study the social aspects of language variation. My research focuses on the perception/production of linguistic variation and the relationship between language and place in South Korea and in Texas. I’m interested in the connections that link sounds with social meaning and methodological approaches for analyzing linguistic data with Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

My current research explores the intersections of language and ethnicity, region, and other social factors among Korean Americans in the U.S. and the linguistic resources involved in the construction of Korean-American identity. I am a founding member of the Korean Heritage Language Research Group (KoHL/콜), a group that gathers scholars from the field of linguistics and other language-oriented disciplines who research Korean language/linguistics, Korean as a heritage language, and the language practices of peoples and communities of Korean heritage. You can view the list of previous and upcoming KoHL/콜 roundtable events here.

My BA and MA in Linguistics are from the University of North Texas, where I worked with Patricia Cukor-Avila, Haj Ross, and Chetan Tiwari. My PhD in Linguistics is from Rice University, where I worked with Nancy Niedzielski and Stephen Klineberg.

Outside of work and academia, I love spending time with family and friends and traveling (and even better, the combination of the two). I dig wordplay of all kinds, especially punny jokes and delightfully difficult crosswords.