Travis Research Institute


Clinical Data Science Lab
Office
Psychology Building 330
Fuller Theological Seminary
180 N. Oakland Ave.
Pasadena, CA 91101-1714
shkim@fuller.edu
Phone
626.584.5554
Mission
Our lab does empirical studies to understand abnormal psychological aspects (e.g., PTSD, mild traumatic brain injury) of humans using (neuro-) psychological assessment tools (e.g., MMPI) as well as brain imaging (e.g., PET scans of Iraq/Afghanistan veterans). We apply conventional methods popular in social sciences as well as more recent developments in artificial intelligence such as machine learning and deep neural networks to examine the complexity among psychological constructs.
Some popular research agenda items in our lab are:
Artificial Intelligence (Machine Learning and Deep Learning)
- Unsupervised/supervised learning on text data and assessment data (classification; Latent Dirichlet Allocation; structural topic model)
- Brain imaging (PET images among veterans with PTSD and/or mild traumatic brain injury)
Research on or with psychological assessment
- Personality (MMPI, Big Five, sentence completion tests, etc.)
- Intelligence (WAIS-IV)
- Neuropsychology (D-KEFS, BVMT, HVLT, or Rey-O)
RECENT PUBLICATIONS:
Kim, S.-H., Rising, S., Green, R., & Sin, C. (in press). Machine learning analysis of the MMPI-2 items for gender identity. Journal of Asia Pacific Counseling.
Sundararajan, L., Ting, R. S., Hsieh, S.-L., & Kim, S.-H. (in press). Religion, Cognition, and Emotion: What can automated text analysis tell us about Culture? The Humanistic Psychologist.
Kim, S.-H., Martin, B. J., Lee, N., Suh, J., Walters, D., Silverman, D. H., & Berenji, G. R. (2020). Examining Post-traumatic Stress Disorder as a Key Post Injury Risk Factor in OIF/OEF Veterans with Blast-Induced Mild Traumatic Brain Injury. Neuropsychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/neu0000678
Kim, S.-H., Lee, N., & King, P. E. (2020). Dimensions of religion and spirituality: A longitudinal topic modeling approach. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 59, 62-83. doi:10.1111/jssr.12639
Lim, E.-M., & Kim, S.-H. (2020). A validation of a multicultural competency measure amongst South Korean counselors. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 48, 15-29. doi:10.1002/jmcd.12161
Abernethy, A. D., & Kim, S.-H. (2018). The Spiritual Transcendence Index: An Item Response Theory Analysis. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 28(4), 240-256. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508619.2018.1507800
Lim, E.-M., Kang, H. J., Kim, S.-H., & Koo, J. K. (2018). The development and validation of a multi-cultural counseling competence scale for Korean counselors. Korean Journal of Counseling, 19(1), 421-442.
Kim, S.-H., McNeill, T. M., Strenger, N. R., & Lee, C. (2016). An Actor-Partner Interdependence analysis of the ABC-X stress model among clergy couples. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 8(1), 65-76. https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000031
People
Faculty and Principal investigator

Sung Kim
Associate Professor of Psychology
BA, SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, KOREA
MA, SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, KOREA
PHD, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
Students
Lab Alumni:
Narae Lee
Bess Martin
Joy Suh
Darrell Walters
Anthea Tjoa is a third-year PsyD student. She was born in Singapore and lived in Burma for eight years before moving to Pasadena, California two years ago. She is currently working on her dissertation that analyses responses from the Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank Second Edition personality assessment instrument using a novel quantitative method called Topic Modelling.

Bethany Ling is a first year PsyD student. Her research interests include Asian American psychology and understanding how birth order affects individuals brain and social development, particularly with individuals who have been adopted.

Paul Domigan is a second career, third year clinical psychology PhD student in Dr. Kim’s lab within the Fuller Theological Seminary School of Psychology. Paul’s first career was in the field of MRI and PET/CT system development and holds several related patents. Paul’s current research is involved in understanding the effects of post traumatic stress disorder and mild traumatic brain injury experienced by combat veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraqi theaters on cerebral glucose metabolism and measures neuropsychological performance. Paul earned engineering degrees from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Paul also earned an MA in Marriage and Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and an MA in Psychology from Fuller Theological Seminary.

Shant Rising is a Clinical Psychology PhD student. He is interested in neuropsychological assessment. His current research is focused on traumatic brain injury and the influence of chemotherapy on neuropsychological functioning.

Caleb Sin is a second year PhD student in Clinical Psychology. He is interested in clinical work such as neuropsychological assessment and psychotherapy in Asian American communities. His current research interest is in the effects of mild traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder on memory and attention in veterans.

Rachel Green is in the second year of a PsyD. in Clinical Psychology. Primarily interested in research and clinical work within a forensic setting, her current research is focused on using data from psychological assessments and profiles to modify the standard treatment modality used with individuals convicted of sexual crimes.

Contact Us
t. 626.584.5544
email: tri@fuller.edu
Staff
Jim Cummings, MDiv, MA
Research Administrator
jamescummings2@fuller.edu
Office Hours
Monday–Friday
8 am–5 pm
Address
Room 326
180 N. Oakland Ave
Pasadena, CA 91182