Independent researcher · consultant · advocate

Language, learning design, & AI ethics in service of a mission.

I help organizations protect people from sexual exploitation and human trafficking — drawing from language, learning design, and the ethics of AI.

Three capabilities, one purpose. My work bridges cultures and languages, designs and evaluates how people learn, and investigates how automated systems are used to both cause and combat harm.

Explore the work → Read my research ↗
01

An approach, not a list of services.

The throughline in my research and work — encompassing human rights, language, learning and development, and AI ethics — is the stewardship of the tension between the human and automated meaning-making systems to protect and benefit humanity.

Most interpreters do not think about pedagogy; most AI ethicists cannot interpret across cultures. The integration of my expertise is what enables me to serve the mission below — not with three separate careers, but through one coherent praxis.

Read about my overall perspective related to AI governance and regulation, beginning at the workplace ↗

02

Three capabilities.

01

Language & Cultural Bridging

Helping people and organizations navigate where cultures, languages, and worldviews meet.

ServicesKorean-English medical interpretation, cultural consulting, cross-cultural communication, academic partnerships.
FoundationM.A. in International Educational Development, Teachers College, Columbia. Thesis on cultural fluency & cultural intelligence, building on research from East Asian conceptions of law & justice, interfaith peacebuilding in Istanbul and Sarajevo.
02

Learning Design & Evaluation

Designing how people learn — and evaluating learning outcomes.

ServicesCurriculum development, learning design, monitoring & evaluation (M&E), academic advising.
FoundationGraduate studies in international educational development, concentration in peace and human rights education, applied research and field experience in conflict-affected environments, corporate training development of US-UK academic partnerships.
03

AI Literacy & Ethics

Helping people understand AI — from a rights-based, human-centered perspective.

ServicesAI literacy training, AI ethics consulting, AI content evaluation, advising on the role of AI in education and human rights contexts.
FoundationIndependent AI researcher and developer, current research in AI's societal impact and the limits of automated linguistic agency, interdisciplinary background in biological and social sciences, B.A. International Studies (premed), UC San Diego.
03

The mission the work serves.

Advocacy against sexual exploitation and human trafficking.

This is the mission that my three capabilities converge on. Over the past year I've examined how online criminal networks weaponize AI tools and social engineering tactics to identify, groom, and recruit potential victims — and what it takes to detect and disrupt them.

Forms of work

Prevention and awareness training; survivor-centered, trauma-informed program and curriculum design; monitoring & evaluation for anti-trafficking programs; trauma-informed interpretation for survivors; research, policy, and advocacy; and advisory on the technology dimensions of online exploitation.

Signature work

A year-long independent investigation applying red-team and purple-team security methodologies to understand how online networks use AI and social engineering against victims and survivors — the load-bearing bridge between my AI-ethics work and this mission.

Three capabilities converging on the anti-trafficking mission Language, AI literacy, and learning design feed into anti-trafficking advocacy, with AI literacy as the strongest connection. Language AI literacy Learning design Anti-trafficking advocacy
The capabilities converge — AI literacy the load-bearing link.

The trajectory

Two threads — a survivor-centered commitment and a growing technical capability — built in parallel, converging on the mission.

Survivor-centered mission & professional foundation Technical & AI capability
  • Jan 2025 Project Management Foundations: Ethics & Requirements
    LinkedIn Learning
  • Feb 2025 OnWatch — trafficking identification & reporting
    Safe House Project
  • May 2025 Human Trafficking 101
    Polaris
  • Dec 2025 Code Foundations Skill Path & Learn How to Code
    Codecademy
  • 2026 · ongoing Learn JavaScript and Build Chatbots with Python
    Codecademy — in progress
  • May 2026 Civil Justice for Victims of Crime
    National Center for Victims of Crime
  • 2025–2026 Year-long independent investigation — red-team & purple-team methods applied to AI-enabled exploitation. Where both threads converge.
04

Selected work.

Each project supports the work of protecting human dignity — and ultimately the fight against sexual exploitation and human trafficking.

Language & Cultural Bridging

cultural consulting · academic advising

Mental Health for Asian International Students

Role As a visiting academic counselor, co-created and delivered a classroom presentation on mental health for Asian international students.
Approach Culturally responsive framing that directly addressed anti-Asian rhetoric and the specific pressures facing this population.
Outcome Delivered to a university classroom to build awareness and reduce stigma around help-seeking.

cultural consulting

La Puerta Estrecha — Conflict Resolution & Management

Role As part of a Teachers College graduate-student consulting team, co-designed and presented an informal conflict-resolution method for a Spanish-speaking congregation in New York.
Approach Worked with the congregation on their own ground — presenting the communication tools, demonstrating the process, and leaving them with something they could continue to adapt to the church's needs.
Outcome Equipped the congregation with a shareable, practical method for clearer communication among members — built to keep evolving as they use it.
Learning Design & Evaluation

facilitation · training

Design Thinking Workshops — Chengdu

Role Led a week-long, in-person teaching and workshop series introducing design thinking to Chinese high-school and college students in Chengdu (2018).
Approach Adapted the IDEO design-thinking curriculum — discovery, interpretation, ideation, experimentation, evolution — with attention to cultural differences in mainland China, encouraging critical and creative thinking throughout.
Outcome By the end of the week, students had completed all five phases of the design process — moving from desk research through peer collaboration and field testing — and presented their work back to the class.

research design

The Arts & Conflict Transformation — Research Proposal

Role Designed a case-study research proposal on arts-based peacebuilding programs for youth in Northern Ireland (graduate research-methods course).
Approach A rigorous mixed-methods, case-study design built around participant safety from the start — minimum-risk participation, informed consent, and confidentiality treated as the foundation of the research architecture, especially given the vulnerability of youth participants.
Outcome A complete proposal — participant selection, data collection, data analysis, ethical considerations, limitations, and intended contributions to the literature on the arts in peacebuilding, the role of youth in peacebuilding, and the Northern Ireland context.
Read the proposal on Academia.edu ↗
AI Literacy & Ethics

civic AI

AI4Legislation — Civic AI Tools Initiative

Role Conducted desk research to identify and engage policy influencers, policymakers, and policy initiatives via LinkedIn and GitHub; supported outreach and tracked engagement.
Approach Network and stakeholder engagement across education and legal communities, supporting a civil-society effort to make legislative knowledge more accessible through AI.
Outcome Advanced the initiative's goals — educating and empowering citizens to engage with civic and legislative processes, and encouraging students to build and test civic AI tools themselves from a critical perspective.

portfolio presentation · self-authored

My AI Learning Journey — From Explorer to Developer

Role Authored a portfolio presentation tracing and building an interdisciplinary path through AI literacy — at the intersection of technology, critical thinking, and human-centered design.
Approach Mapped a four-phase learning arc — foundation, exploration, development (including red/purple-team testing), and strategy — alongside an evaluation framework, a clear-eyed view of AI's potential and pitfalls in healthcare and behavioral health, and a closing principle: always center the human.
Outcome A reflective portfolio piece that articulates my interdisciplinary insights — framing the core question as the endeavor to harness the efficiency of AI, without sacrificing the irreplaceable value of real human connections.
View the presentation ↗

Certifications

Medical interpretation and annotation work is bound by confidentiality to protect sensitive health data and intellectual property (HIPAA, NDA, GDPR). The credentials below stand as evidence of competence.

  • Korean L4 (ILR) Medical Interpreter & Subject Matter Expert micro1 October 2025
  • Advanced Medical Interpretation Training LanguageLine Solutions September 2025
View full list on LinkedIn ↗
05

Academic research.

My advising and consulting work grows directly from my academic research in international education, peacebuilding and human rights, and the social dimensions of language and law.

Selected writings can be read in my Academia.edu profile, with a description of developing foci on AI, society, and human rights.

View full profile on Academia.edu ↗
  • Cultural Fluency and Cultural Intelligence: Navigating the Terrains Where Cultures MeetIntercultural communication
  • An East Asian Conception of Law & JusticeComparative legal thought
  • The Arts and Conflict TransformationArts-based peacebuilding · research design
  • Protecting Women from Domestic Violence in TurkeyGender-based violence · human rights
  • The Multidimensionality of Social ExclusionVulnerability & marginalization

Let's work together.

Emailsoominimoos@gmail.com LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/parksoomin ↗ Academia.edutc.academia.edu/SoominPark ↗