People | Social Connection Lab

The Team

Elisa C. Baek, Ph.D.

Elisa: pronounced like “Melissa” without the “M”
Baek: pronounced “Bek”

Lab Director

Elisa Baek is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at USC. She completed her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D., at the University of Pennsylvania and her postdoctoral training at UCLA. Elisa draws from methods and approaches from social psychology, neuroscience, network science, and communication to study what helps people feel socially connected to one another. Outside of the lab, she enjoys hosting dinner parties and going out in nature with the lab pup, Mochi.

elisa.baek@usc.edu | CV |

Begüm Babür

Begüm: pronounced like legume with a B instead of an L
Babur: pronounced "Bah-bure"

Ph.D. Student

Begüm graduated from Barnard College, with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Statistics. She is currently a third year doctoral student in the Social Connection Lab. Broadly, she is interested in studying what makes two people click and what distinguishes people who can easily create successful social connections from others. Outside of the lab, she enjoys traveling, finding good music and food spots in the city, and photography.

babur@usc.edu | CV |

Saewon Jina Chung

Ph.D. Student

Saewon is a second-year doctoral student in the Social Connection Lab. She completed her B.A. and M.A. in Psychology at Korea University. She is interested in studying the factors that affect individuals' feeling of social connection and exploring the neurological underpinnings of these connections. Outside of the lab, she loves traveling, enjoying music, and spending time with her dog.

saewon.chung@usc.edu

Jinsol Chung

Ph.D. Student

Jinsol is a fourth-year doctoral student with a B.S.S and M.S.S. in developmental/clinical psychology from Ewha Womans University. Before joining USC, she worked as a school counselor at a middle school in South Korea. In the SoCo Lab, she hopes to explore what it means to be ‘social’ and how social connections change over time by integrating insights from developmental psychology, social psychology, and neuroscience. In her free time, she enjoys visiting contemporary art museums and beaches in LA!

jinsolch@usc.edu

Chang Lu

Ph.D. Student

Chang is a third-year doctoral student in the Social Connection Lab. She completed her B.A. at the University of California, Irvine, and her M.A. at New York University. Her research interests revolve around the interplay between social connections and information-sharing behavior, such as how individuals' desire for social connection drives information-sharing with others. In her spare time, she loves walking in nature-filled spots and urban landscapes.

clu81945@usc.edu

Evans Alvarez

Lab Manager

Evans graduated from the University of Southern California with a B.A. in Cognitive Science and a minor in Artificial Intelligence Applications. He is deeply interested in the neural and cognitive dynamics underlying social learning and social connection, as well as their applications to mental health interventions. Outside the lab, he enjoys boxing, shooting street photography, and traveling to new places.

evansalv@usc.edu