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Tell us about yourself.

I joined l'Université Laval after doing my PhD in marketing at the University of Alberta. I was there for about three years before I joined Dal this past July as an assistant professor of marketing. I did my master’s at Queen’s, also in marketing, and my undergrad at the University of Toronto in economics and psychology.

I was born in Korea, raised in many countries, including the U.S., Venezuela, Austria, and finally Canada.

What interested you about coming to Dal?

±«Óãtv is one of the best universities in Canada, and the marketing department in the Faculty of Management is an amazing group of people who I’m going to love working with.

And Halifax, to me, is one of the coolest cities in Canada.

It’s a great balance between the size of the city and the services that are offered, and it also balances out nature with a laid-back mentality.

I grew up by the sea in Korea. I didn't grow up like most people from Korea; they are from Seoul. I'm used to the salty ocean smell and the seafood and the climate. It immediately felt like home, it felt very good.

What are your research interests?

My research interests are at the intersection of technology and marketing. I look at how technology affects consumers’ behaviour and customer experience.

 For example, in one stream of my research I explore the implications of social language, which could be as simple as using emojis. We use it to convey sociability and basically to be friendly. I look at how companies use that language on social media and how that affects consumer engagement.

My other stream of research looks at generative AI. What are the implications of AI on customer perceptions if the product is created by, or is something that can be created by, AI? What is the quality perception of this product? And what are the implications of technology and AI on consumer wellbeing?

What is something you’re proud of?

The fact that I went back to school after working professionally, after years of industry experience, to get my PhD. I think that's what I'm most proud of so far.

And I've done that with my family. When I started my PhD, I was already well into my 30s and had kids. And I had more kids during the PhD.

So, it wasn't easy for me and my wife. But the fact that I went through that and managed is probably what I'm most proud of. Having a big family is what gives me joy at this point.

How do you approach teaching?

I try to make my courses and my teaching as fun and engaging as possible for my students. I'm always looking for ways to do that. It could be as simple as making the courses themselves more fun, mixing in jokes, memes, and videos that'll be refreshing in the middle of the course.

I try to incorporate as many hands-on exercises as possible. I like to incorporate cases and readings and then use those to have a discussion.

And that's because I think analytical thinking is probably the most important thing students can learn from business education.

They have to absorb some knowledge, but with that they have to think critically. They have to come up with a solution and think about all the possibilities of that solution. That’s what happens in the real world, in real business situations.