The Yale Child Study Center (YCSC) – which serves as the department of child psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine – welcomes and introduces new community members on an on-going basis. All new faculty, staff, and trainees are invited to share bios and photos upon joining the department, and those who wish to participate are announced approximately monthly. This month, meet postdoctoral associate Sophie Barnes, undergraduate communications assistant Hien Tran, and postdoctoral associate Da-eun Ellen Lee.
Sophie Barnes, PhD joined the Education Collaboratory as a postdoctoral associate in November to work on projects that advance the science and practice of social and emotional learning (SEL) through rigorous evidence syntheses. Her research centers on understanding the mechanisms that support children’s social, emotional, and behavioral skill development in school contexts, with a focus on executive function and self-regulation. She is interested in adding nuance and precision to SEL measurement and partnering with schools and districts to develop feasible, responsible, and actionable assessment plans. Prior to beginning her doctoral studies, she worked in the Ecological Approaches to Social and Emotional Learning Lab on evaluations of school-based interventions that target children’s SEL growth and development, as well as research and translational writing projects.
Da-eun Ellen Lee, PhD joined the Cha Lab as a postdoctoral associate in January. She earned her PhD in applied artificial intelligence from Sungkyunkwan University under the supervision of Dr. Jinyoung Han in Seoul, Republic of Korea, in August 2024. Her primary research focuses on affective computing, specializing in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Multi-Modal Learning to create accessible AI-driven healthcare solutions for real-world challenges. Lee’s work emphasizes interdisciplinary studies, particularly in developing deep learning models for suicide prevention by combining artificial intelligence and psychological insights.
Hien Tran is a Yale undergraduate student who joined the YCSC as a part-time communications assistant in December. Studying molecular, cellular, and developmental biology, she is also an undergraduate researcher in the Chung Lab at the Yale Medical School, where she studies ovarian aging and reproductive functions. Outside of academics, she writes for the Yale Scientific Magazine and serves as the co-president of the Yale Vietnamese Students Association. Previously, she served as media chair for the Yale Vietnamese Students Association and director of Rising Scientists, where she oversaw all communications and event planning of the organization.