Dr. Kun Lee, a Professor of Urban Sociology from the University of Seoul, is spending a year-long sabbatical at the UCSB Department of Geography as a visiting scholar. He has been given facilities at spatial@ucsb where he is learning to apply GIS to his areas of research interest which include survey methodology, census studies, and the labor market. Dr. Lee received his BS in Mathematics from Seoul National University, an MS in Mathematics and an MA in Sociology from Rutgers University, and his PhD in Sociology from Harvard University. Asked why he chose UCSB in particular, Dr. Lee commented: “Having once lived on the east coast, I wanted to experience the California life style; I wanted to be in a non-urban setting, but within a short distance of urban culture; and many people recommended the Department of Geography at UCSB as the best place to go if I wanted to learn GIS and how to apply spatial thinking to sociological research.”
Since his arrival in January, Dr. Lee says he has particularly enjoyed visiting downtown Santa Barbara and the UCSB lagoon area, trying to understand geographical data, and meeting people in Geography. An avid walker, he trains one and half hours a day and especially enjoys hiking the trails to/around Coal Oil Point and the Ellwood Monarch Butterfly Grove. Dr. Lee says he also wants to meet people in sociology and film once he gets familiar with GIS. His interest in film lies in the presentation of research procedures through film, which he thinks will be an important tool in higher education.
