We’re excited to welcome Wondeok as the newest Ph.D. student in the Risk-Resilience Lab! 

Wondeok is a first-year Ph.D. student at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy. His research focuses on three areas: 
🔹 Punitive criminal justice policies and their effects on crime and recidivism 
🔹 Socioeconomic factors behind depression and suicide 
🔹 Statistical methods for demographic analysis and program evaluation 

He studied Political Science and Economics at SUNY Stony Brook, with a minor in Applied Math and Statistics. Through a dual-degree program, he also studied Public Administration and Economics at the University of Seoul. After military service in South Korea, he earned a Master of Policy Analysis from Korea University. 

Why Berkeley? Wondeok wanted the freedom to take rigorous statistics courses and the chance to work with Professor Jennifer Skeem, whose research in mental illness and crime aligns closely with his own. 

When asked why he chose this field, Wondeok shared: “In Korea, there’s a strong public demand for harsher punishments, but I wanted to study whether simply increasing punishment truly leads to a safer society. That’s what brought me here.”