Sumin Cheon
PhD Student
Sumin Cheon’s research focuses on data-driven child maltreatment prevention, incorporating AI and machine learning, along with big data from integrated administrative records and other resources. His data-driven research emphasizes ethics, equity, and community-level strategies for inclusive prevention. He brings firsthand insight into potential blind spots, algorithmic bias, and stigma in South Korea’s child protection systems, informed by his work and experience. This perspective fuels his commitment to building more effective and equitable systems that reach every child and family.
Sumin has engaged in diverse volunteer activities in South Korea, Vietnam, and the Czech Republic to advocate for and advance children’s welfare and rights. He worked as a full-time, field-based case manager for child protection at an international NGO in Siem Reap, Cambodia, visiting diverse households and communities to assess and support child protection needs. He has also participated in several government-funded research projects on child welfare and maltreatment prevention. His work includes contributing to the development of predictive risk models grounded in big data and machine learning to inform maltreatment prevention services.
He has published three journal articles on child and adolescent welfare, including a sole-authored paper examining the mediating pathways through which the frequency of combined abuse and neglect influences adolescent cyberbullying. He has also explored community-level protective mechanisms to promote inclusive and non-stigmatizing approaches to maltreatment prevention.
Sumin earned a Bachelor of Social Welfare from the University of Seoul, where he graduated summa cum laude, received the President’s Award for Academic Excellence three times, the Seoul Mayor’s Award, and delivered the commencement address as the top graduate. He also holds a Master of Arts in Social Welfare from Seoul National University. Sumin is a recipient of the Presidential Graduate Fellow Award at the University of Georgia.
