Frequently Asked Questions

Will you be accepting a new PhD student to begin in Fall 2026? 

No, we will not be accepting doctoral students to the Counseling Psychology and Applied Human Development Program for the Fall 2026 cycle. 

How do I know if I am a “good fit” for the ARISE Lab? 

Here is Dr. Kim's Mentoring Philosophy: My mentoring philosophy is grounded on Asian American feminist mentoring (see my writings on this topic here and here). In my mentoring, I try my best to attend to: making space to be whole people, relationality, mutuality, and attention to power dynamics. What this looks like in practice is that the ARISE team prioritizes community. My vision for a research team is one that pursues justice-oriented projects with care for each other, and care for our participants/larger community members. Hence, when we select a student to join us in the ARISE team, I am looking for a student who would share this vision, and who wants to engage with this community focus. We get a lot of work done and keep each other accountable in our work. However, productivity follows the shared vision and a sense of caring community, not the other way around. For those of you wanting to work with me, I encourage you to consider what you are looking for in a program and a mentor, what you need, and what you bring, and tell your story. That is, please don’t try to fit into my vision or my focus; tell me your vision and your focus right now, even if they are not completely developed. What we are looking for is a good fit, and this is not something you can force or mold into.

Should I email you to express my interest in applying to your lab?

Thank you for your interest in our lab! We appreciate you taking the time to learn more about our work. 

Please know that reaching out via email will not affect your chances of being invited for an interview or receiving an offer of admission. That said, we receive a high volume of emails from prospective students, and we are mindful of the fact that not everyone has the opportunity to email future faculty mentors. Hence, in order to keep the workload of our team balanced and the admissions process equitable, we will not offer separate meetings with prospective students requesting to meet with us prior to the admissions deadline. 

Please do not interpret our silence as a reflection on your candidacy. We encourage all applicants, whether or not they choose to reach out, to carefully explore our website to learn more about our research and decide if our lab might be a good fit.

Will you be accepting research assistants this Fall 2026? 

No, we are not currently accepting applications for undergraduate or master's student RAs, but check back with us next Spring! 

What will be my role and expectations as an RA in the ARISE Lab? 

As an RA, you will have the opportunity to learn more about how important questions become psychology research studies, what is involved in conducting psychology research, and how study results are shared with others. In addition, this is an opportunity to become a part of our ARISE community and receive mentoring from doctoral students and Dr. Kim. Pending performance and level of participation, research assistants may be given opportunities to present at conferences and/or to be added as co-authors on publications. 

While individual tasks would differ based on the research studies, in general, we are asking research assistants to:

• Commit at least 1 year of work in the research team

• Attend weekly research team meetings

• Complete assigned research tasks in a timely manner and produce good quality work (e.g., transcribing interview transcripts, cleaning data, participating in data analysis, aiding in IRB submission).

• Read about and become familiar with Asian American psychology and social justice education

• Complete training for Institutional Review Board (IRB)

• Become trained in research methodology and data analysis programs

• Attend regular meetings with doctoral student mentors and/or Dr. Kim

• Undergraduate or master's student RAs may also support research projects led by doctoral students.

Should I email you to express my interest in applying to your lab? 

Thank you for your interest in our lab! We appreciate you taking the time to learn more about our work. 

However, to balance the high workload of our PI and lab members, we may not be able to respond to inquiries about joining the lab. If we are accepting RAs (check above for the status), please complete the application at the link below, and we will do our best to follow up. 

To apply, please follow the application link here.