Meet Our Team!
Karen L. Fingerman
Director
Karen Fingerman is the Wilson Professor of Human Ecology, Director of the Texas Aging & Longevity Consortium and Director of Research for the UT Austin Center on Aging and Population Sciences. She has over 175 publications addressing social and emotional aging including older adults’ intergenerational family ties, social relationships and physical and cognitive functioning. She received the Distinguished Mentor in Gerontology Award from the BSS section of GSA in 2020, the Baltes Distinguished Research Award in Psychology of Aging from the American Psychological Association in 2022, and took second place in the Great Blanton Bakeoff.
Zexi Zhou
Graduate Student – 4th Year
Zexi is interested in intergenerational ties across the lifespan. She is also interested in the social determinants of health aging.
Hobbies: going for a walk and building Legos.
Sibo Gao
Graduate Student – 3rd year
Sibo is interested in older adults’ emotional and physical health after encountering negative major life events. He is also interested in how social interactions may mitigate the negative effects of these stressors.
Hobbies: eating dim sum, Thai food, and Korean BBQ
We’re a hoot!
Lab Alumni
Shiyang Zhang, PhD
Former Graduate Student, 2019-2024
Post Doctoral Fellow in Human Development and Family Sciences at UT Austin
Yijung K. Kim, PhD
Former Post Doctoral Fellow, 2020-2023
Research Scientist at Health Economics and Aging Research (H.E.A.R) Institute
Crystal Ng, PhD
Former Graduate Student, 2017-2022
Post Doctoral Fellow at the University of Michigan
Meng Huo, PhD
Former Graduate Student, 2014-2019
Assistant Professor at the UC Davis
Eden M. Griffin, PhD
Former Graduate Student, 2012-2017
Director at OMNI Institute
Kyungmin Kim, PhD
Former Post Doctoral Fellow, 2013-2015
Assistant Professor at Seoul National University