Minju Kim, Ph.D.

Minju earned her Ph.D. at UC San Diego in 2022. As a researcher, Minju is interested in promoting the importance of observing nonverbal cues in children’s early development, such as infants’ dance to music with their parents or preschoolers’ spontaneous gestures in production when solving problems. 

Before joining the Teaching and Learning Commons, Minju served as a teaching assistant for more than 12 different classes in psychology. She also served on the Educational Continuity Committee as a graduate student representative in the psychology department for the transition from in-person to remote classes in 2020. After meeting a wonderful teaching community through the 2020 Summer Graduate Teaching Fellowship Program, Minju is continuing to teach as an instructor of record for remote and in-person classes in psychology, such as introduction to psychology or developmental psychology. Minju’s ultimate goal as a teacher is to lower barriers in education through providing evidence-based class structure for self-guided learning, and provide a safe space for productive struggle for students from all backgrounds. 

Outside school, Minju is a foodie, a human group-selfie stick, and a passionate karaoke lover (and a Kpop fan)! She is also a volunteer at Mommy, Daddy, and Me classes for international families on UC San Diego campus. At this class, she loves teaching English action songs that toddlers and parents can enjoy together and helping develop the intimate community beyond language and culture. Before coming to UC San Diego, Minju received her B.A. and M.A. in psychology at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. At UC San Diego, she is part of the Mind and Development Lab and the Early Learning Cognition Lab in the department of psychology.