I am a first-year graduate student in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. I graduated from Seoul National University with a Bachelor's degree in Child Development and Family Studies and Sociology (double major), and I hold a Master of Public Policy from the Korea Development Institute (KDI) School of Public Policy and Management.

My research interests include family demography, gender and sexuality, mental health, and the impacts of policy. Specifically, I focus on the evolution of diverse family structures, such as same-sex marriages and civil unions, and the resulting demographic shifts. I am particularly interested in examining the societal impacts of institutionalizing diverse family forms and how these affect individual health outcomes.

Matías Strehl-Pessina is a fourth-year PhD student in Economics at UCSB. He obtained his BA and Master’s degree in Economics from Universidad de la República, in Uruguay, as well as a Master’s degree in Economics at UCSB. His research focuses primarily on Public Economics, Labor economics, and Political Economy, with special focus on inequality. His current research focuses on the effect of tax policies on different aspects of the economy--such as income inequality and the wage distribution-- and on individuals and firms’ behavior. His research also focuses on trying to understand what shapes people's preferences for redistribution. Finally, he is interested in economic mobility, opportunity, and its main determinants. He has also a keen interest in sports, particularly in futbol(soccer), tennis, and table tennis.