Welcome
I am an international student from Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I did my undergraduate in psychology and finished in 2002. In the fall of 2005 I completed my Masters degree in Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS) at Texas Tech University. Currently, I am a HDFS doctoral candidate and I am in the process of finishing up my dissertation. At the same time I am seeking a postdoctoral position. Research is my passion, and my long term goal is to become a well-known theorist in my field of studies.
I love photography, and many of photos have been bought by Texas Tech University. My photos appeared on the University’s Undergraduate/Graduate catalogs for 3 years in a row (2007, 2008, & 2009). Many others appeared in Texas Tech’s Law School catalogs every year in the past 3 years. In 2009, I was contracted to do pictures for law school catalog for its 2009-2010 publication. I have also been an official photographer for National Council on Family Relations for its annual national conferences for the past 3 years, 2007 (Pittsburgh), 2008 (Little Rock), and this year 2009 (San Francisco). I also won first place and second place awards from Texas Tech University during its annual photography competition back in 2005. What’s more, I had my photographs displayed during the city’s monthly photo exhibition—First Friday Art Trail. In March 2009, I was interviewed by and featured in an online magazine, Khmer Celebrity, as an Artist of the Month.
Why Texas Tech?
You may wonder why in the world that I came to Texas Tech University in a small town- Lubbock, Texas. Here is why. During the second year of my undergraduate studies in psychology (2000), I volunteered to work for a child psychiatric hospital—the Center for Child Mental Health. While there I became interested in how the daily life of a family with a child with psychiatric disorders is affected. My focus was on families with ADHD children and the difficulties that the families face. In addition to this in my fourth year of college I was selected to write a thesis about children with ADHD and family stress (only 5 out of 30 were selected based on high academic performance). There were very few resources for me to use for my research at that time. At the hospital, the director subscribed to periodicals from the US for the staff members to read. I was motivated to read every single article in every journal that the hospital subscribed to. In my reading I came across an article written by a professor and her colleagues at Texas Tech University. I was very intrigued by her paper and I decided to email her to ask for some materials that I needed for my studies. The next day, I received a long email from her offering to help and explaining what she was doing. As a result she became my mentor for my thesis. After I completed my thesis, Dr. Mulsow invited me to join Texas Tech, and that is why I am here.