back

Pilyoung Kim

Pilyoung Kim

Professor

pilyoung.kim@du.edu

303-871-4132 (Office)

https://baic.center/

Frontier Hall, 2155 S. Race St. Denver, CO 80208

What I do

Professor

Professional Biography

Dr. Pilyoung Kim is the Director of the Brain, Artificial Intelligence, and Child (BAIC) Center (https://www.baic.center). At the BAIC Center, Dr. Kim and her team aim to understand the role and applications of artificial intelligence in supporting child development, particularly in the areas of socioemotional and brain development.

Current projects include cross-cultural studies of children's brain activation during creative storytelling with generative AI, parent–child interactions with character AI, and brain responses to short-form videos.

Dr. Kim and her team also study how poverty and cannabis exposure affect the brains of two generations—infants and their parents. Research methods include MRI, fMRI, fNIRS (functional near-infrared spectroscopy), neuroendocrine markers, observations of parent–child interactions, and structured clinical interviews.

Degree(s)

  • Ph.D., Developmental Psychology, Cornell University, 2009
  • M.A., Developmental Psychology, Cornell University, 2007
  • M.Ed., Human Development and Psychology, Harvard University, 2003
  • B.A., Psychology and English Language & Literature, Korea University, 2002

Professional Affiliations

  • Society of Research in Child Development
  • Life Course Research Network (LCRN), UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families & Communities
  • International Network for Research on Inequalities in Child Health
  • The Organization for Human Brain Mapping

Research

Our lab's research program focuses on examining the early life origins of socioeconomic disparities in health from a neurobiological perspective. We are currently conducting a longitudinal study to examine the effects of prenatal exposure to poverty and substance use on the brains of two generations – new mothers and newborns. We use a multidisciplinary approach, including neuroimaging (MRI, fMRI, fNIRS), neuroendocrine, observational, and behavioral methods. We are also working on various projects to delineate (1) the roles of stress on neural regulation of emotion and parenting among new parents; and (2) the roles of early exposure to poverty and cannabis on brain development for emotion regulation in infants and young children. Please visit our lab website for more information https://liberalarts.du.edu/psychology/family-child-neuroscience. In the BAIC center (https://www.baic.center/), students across multiple fields (psychology, neuroscience, computer science) work to understand the role of artificial intelligence in early childhood development. Recently, our research was featured on a UK BBC documentary (https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p09z4k1y/how-motherhood-changes-the-brain).

*We welcome undergraduate students and prospective graduate students to join our lab!

Key Projects

  • Prenatal Pathways for Poverty’s Influence on the Brains of Two Generations
  • Cannabis Use during Pregnancy, Maternal Brain, and Mother-Infant Relationships
  • Alterations in Neural Functions that Predict the Onset of Perinatal Depression
  • The influence of in utero cannabis exposure on offspring brain morphology, micro-, macrostructural and network connectivity in the prefrontal regions during infancy
  • Poverty and Mother-Infant Attachment: Neurobehavioral Mechanisms

Featured Publications

Kim, P., Leckman, J. F., Mayes, L. C., Feldman, R., Wang, X., & Swain, J. E. (2010). The plasticity of human maternal brain: longitudinal changes in brain anatomy during the early postpartum period. Behavioral Neuroscience, 124(5), 695-700.
Kim, P., Evans, G. W., Angstadt, M., Ho, S. S., Sripada, C. S., Swain, J. E., et al. (2013). Effects of childhood poverty and chronic stress on emotion regulatory brain function in adulthood. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(46), 18442-18447.
Kim, P., Rigo, P., Mayes, L. C., Feldman, R., Leckman, J. F., & Swain, J. E. (2014). Neural plasticity in fathers of human infants. Social Neuroscience, 9(5), 522-535.

Presentations

Kim, P. (2021). How Poverty Influences the Brains of Two Generations. Department of Psychology. Taipei, Taiwan: National Taiwan University.
Kim, P. (2020). Socioeconomic Disadvantage and the Neuroscience of Mother-Infant Attachment. Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS) 2020 virtual meeting.
Kim, P. (2017). How Poverty Influences Brains of Two Generations--New Mothers and Infants. Chautauqua 2017 Biobehavioral Markers in Risk and Resilience Research. Oklahoma State University--Tulsa, OK.
Kim, P. (2020). Motherhood and the Brain. Webinar for the workgroup at NIDA on Sex/Gender Differences and Women Health. NIDA.

Awards

  • Victoria S. Levin Award For Early Career Success in Young Children's Mental Health Research, Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD)

Graduate Mentorship

Dr. Kim will be reviewing applications for fall 2025 admission.