Nora (Junga) Youn

My academic journey at Penn has been hectic yet rewarding. I started out as a computer science major, became a political science major, and now I am a cognitive science major. Because it took me some time to find my footing, my research journey started rather late, in the middle of my sophomore year. When I realized that I would love to investigate my questions and discover new knowledge, I reached out to various departments all over the spectrum of social science and the mind sciences (divisions between fields feel rather arbitrary to me). In sophomore spring, I was a research assistant for a project in communications/music and for a project in marketing. I was also interested in visual design at the time, and throughout all my activities and research I realized that my questions kept pointing back to the mind. After some digging of my own, I was thrilled to find that there are researchers who have the same questions that I do. I promptly reached out to researchers at Penn in neuromarketing and neuroaesthetics, and was thankfully given a chance to learn from them. Now, as a junior, I'm involved in various research activities: I'm working for Dr. Reibstein on his Nation and City Branding projects, where we study the perception of different nations/cities and how that correlates with other economic measures such as GDP. I'm also working as a research assistant for Dr. Yun in the Platt Labs in his neuromarketing projects. In addition, I'm conducting an independent study research project in the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics with Dr. Chatterjee and Dr. Gonzalez, where I will investigate the effects of guided slow-looking on the impact that art can have in a museum context! Please feel free to reach out to me if you are juggling many interests, want to get into interdisciplinary research, or are interested in any of the research topics I'm involved in! 

Another aspect of research I'm passionate about is helping to navigate the undergraduate research process. It can be daunting, especially if you aren't familiar with research culture. I know I certainly had many questions about it. Everything was uncertain--how to address professors, how to write cold emails, how many questions I can ask, and more. This can be made especially difficult if you come from an underrepresented, non-American, or neurodivergent background. So please don't hesitate to ask me about any of these!

• Research assistant for Dr. Reibstein at the Wharton School (Geographic Branding)
• Research assistant for Dr. Yun at the Platt Labs (Neuromarketing)
• Undergraduate Researcher at the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics (independent study in neuroaesthetics)
• Research assistant for Sound of Victory project for Dr. Johnson in the Annenberg School of Communications and Dr. Cox in the University of Oregon

Extracurricular Activities: Penn Compose, Wharton Undergraduate Consulting Club (Marketing), Marketing for Penn Residential Services