Our History
The Yun Kim Population Research Laboratory (PRL) was established in 1968 by Dr. Thomas Yun Kim (1934-2023). The PRL is one of the oldest population research centers in the U.S. and the only research center dedicated to population studies in the Intermountain West region between Colorado and California. As a member of the Association of Population Centers (APC), PRL has played a crucial role in demographic research and training at Utah State University and the Intermountain West Region for over 56 years.
PRL’s primary mission is to stimulate and support high-quality scientific research on population issues affecting Utah, the nation, and the world. Our faculty’s research productivity also supports another key mission—training and mentoring the next generation of demographers and population scholars through the M.S. and Ph.D. programs in Sociology.
Faculty and graduate students at PRL have produced significant research in areas such as health and mortality, family changes, labor market inequality, migration, and environmental impacts, both domestically and internationally.
Dr. Thomas Yun Kim
Dr. Kim was a noted educator and researcher and served for more than forty years at Utah State University as a professor of sociology and demography, department chair, and chair of the Asian studies program. His contributions to the field of demography and population studies were wide-ranging and significant. In 1968, he founded and directed what is now known as the Yun Kim Population Research Laboratory at USU, one of the oldest research labs in the country.
Our Leadership
Sojung Lim
Director, Yun Kim Population lab
Sociology
Dr. Lim joined the School of Social Sciences in 2013 after receiving her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Lim’s research focuses on the causes, processes, and consequences of a growing inequality across individuals, families, and different social contexts with particular interests in changes in family, labor market, and health disparity.
Erin Hoffman
Associate Director, Yun Kim Population lab
Sociology
I joined the Sociology faculty at USU in August 2012, after completing my Ph.D. at the University of Texas, Austin. I came somewhat late to the wonderful world of sociology. I have a bachelor’s degree in International Relations, and a master’s degree in Russian Studies, and worked for three years as an event planner and editor at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC.
Our Program
A specialization in demography allows students to explore issues of population change, migration, and health outcomes. Graduate coursework is provided in social demography, population theories and policies, demographic research methods, and various special topic seminars. Our program provides basic and policy-oriented research on sociological aspects of demographic structure and processes including migration, marriage and fertility, morbidity and mortality, and technical demographic topics such as population estimates and projections. We also provide demographic training to domestic and international students that is relevant to their respective settings. Our graduates have gone on to do great work all around the country and the world.