Jungmeen Kim-Spoon named fellow in two national organizations

Jungmeen Kim-Spoon has achieved fellow status in not one but two prestigious national organizations in psychology: the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Sciences.

For the American Psychological Association (APA), fellow status is granted to members whose work has had a national impact on the field of psychology beyond a local, state or regional level.

The Association for Psychological Sciences (APS) awards fellow status to members for their sustained outstanding scientific contributions, and the award also considers teaching, service, or the application of their research.

Kim-Spoon is the director of the JK Lifespan Development Lab, which focuses on investigating pathways to adaptation despite exposure to adversity in order to understand both typical development and psychopathology.

“It’s a great honor for my peers in both the APA and the APS to recognize my work,” Kim-Spoon said. “More importantly, I hope recognition such as this helps bring further light to the issues that we research, which affect so many young people these days.”

As a member of the Department of Psychology in the College of Science since 2005, Kim-Spoon has conducted longitudinal studies of risk and protective factors related to young people’s mental health, substance use, and overall well-being. She, along with graduate and undergraduate students in her lab, approaches this work from a breadth of perspectives, including neurobiological, cognitive, emotional, social, and religious/spiritual processes.

Kim-Spoon’s research has contributed to the theories on “resilience” by elucidating protective factors, such as self-regulation, cognitive control, and religiousness, that promote adaptation despite exposure to adversity, such as child maltreatment and poverty.

Her current 10-year longitudinal project, in collaboration with several colleagues in the psychology department and the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, has revealed how adverse experiences impact brain systems involved in risky decision-making, potentially rendering young people more vulnerable to the escalation of health risk behaviors. This research is being funded by the National Institutes of Health for $7.2 million.

“Science has been a way for me to serve God and serve others, and my passion has been about preventing dysfunctional youth development by understanding protective factors leading to adaptation despite adversity,” Kim-Spoon said. “I am grateful to my students and my collaborators who make doing science fun, as well as to my family who cheers me on.”

In addition to the two national organizations, Virginia Tech recently recognized Kim-Spoon with an Alumni Award for Research Excellence.