Psychology major and Davenport alum (‘18), Hong Bui is next on our Homecoming series! Hong is originally from Austin, Texas, but currently finds herself in College Park, Maryland. After graduating, Hong spent two years as a research assistant at the National Institute of Mental Health researching the treatment, and brain and behavioral mechanisms of youth irritability and ADHD. She started her first year of graduate school in Clinical Psychology at UMD-College Park, where she has had the pleasure of working with college students with ADHD and researching parent-child interactions as they relate to psychopathology. Hong often thinks about how the transition to college can already be difficult without a diagnosis of ADHD, but finds hope in the evidence-based approaches that can facilitate that transition for students. Hong looks forward to completing her PhD as she continues learning and growing as a research and clinician.
Hong’s EDST field experience fellowship funded a summer opportunity that led her directly to the research she conducts today. Recalling her time as a scholar, Hong remembers reading about the vast differences in education systems during EDST 110, and how she felt disheartened after thinking about the ways her middle and high school education was lacking. Hong recalls how EDST faculty, like Professor Debs, have helped her realize that her own experiences and upbringings are valuable contributions to larger academic conversations. Her commitment to studying education has also influenced her theoretical understandings of psychology, for instance, in considering the parallels between the role of a therapist in helping a client and the role of a teacher in helping a student (importance of scaffolding, the zone of proximal development, etc).
Hong’s favorite EDST course was Early Childhood Education with Dr. Carla Horwitz, and advises younger scholar cohorts to take more EDST courses and to not hesitate to reach out to TAs/professors/alumni/people that you find interesting.