Post-Doctoral Associate_ President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (PPFP), University of Minnesota, USA, 2023-2025
PhD in Human Development and Family Science- Emphasis in Couple & Family Therapy, University of Georgia, USA, 2018-2023
MA in Educational Guidance & Counseling, De Lasalle University, Philippines, 2011-2014
Dr. Chansophal Mak (Dr. Sophal) is originally from Cambodia. She received her PhD in Human Development and Family Science with emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of Georgia in Spring 2023. Chansophal's broad research, teaching, and clinical interests are around Traumatic Stress/Intergenerational Transmission of Psychopathologies and Resilience, Global Mental Health, Relational Health, Culturally Responsive Multi-level Interventions, Positive Parenting Intervention, Need Assessment, Ethnographic Research Principles, and Early Prevention Science. Chansophal is passionate about improving Mental Health, Family Relationships, and Wellbeing of Forcibly Displaced, Trauma-affected, and Marginalized Populations through Multi-level Interventions (i.e., Individual, family, community). During her President's Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2023-2025, Chansophal was hosted under the Department of Family Social Science, College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota. Chansophal’s postdoctoral project aimed to document parenting strategies and assess the needs for parenting within Cambodian refugee communities in Minnesota and across the United States. The ultimate goals of her project are to support refugee parents and promote positive child development in the context of forced displacement, and to interrupt the intergenerational transmission of traumatic stress among Cambodian communities across the U.S.
AWARDS/HONORS
University of Minnesota
President’s Postdoctoral Followship Program Research Funds, Awardee, 2024-2025
President’s Postdoctoral Followship Program Research Funds, Awardee, 2023-2024
University of Georgia
Graduate Education Advancement Board Fellowship, Awardee, 2022
Price-Coker Excellence in Research Foundation Award, Awardee, 2022
Summer 2022 Virginia Wilbansks Kilgore Scholarship, Awardee, 2022
Summer 2021 Virginia Wilbansks Kilgore Scholarship, Awardee, 2021
Degree Acceleration Awards, Awardee, 2021
Summer 2020 Virginia Wilbansks Kilgore Scholarship, Awardee, 2020
Summer 2019 Virginia Wilbansks Kilgore Scholarship, Awardee, 2019
Cambodian and Laotian Strength and Resilience Summer Research Award, Awardee, 2019
Open Society Foundation (OSF)
Civil Society Scholar Awards (CSSA) Program Assistantship to assist CSSA scholars’ preparation courses in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Awardee, 2016 (July)
OSF Alumni Internship Funding to work at Ragamuffin Cambodia/International, Awardee, 2014-2015
Asia Pacific Scholarship Consortium (APSC) sponsored by OSF for a Master of Arts in Educational Guidance and Counseling at De La Salle University, the Philippines, Awardee, 2011-2014
LANGUAGES
Khmer- Mother tongue
English- Fluently