Lisa K. Son, Ph.D.
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Dr. Lisa Son (she/her) is a Professor at Barnard College in New York City, New York. She specializes in research on metacognition, spacing, and student study strategies. She earned her Ph.D. from Columbia University in 2000.
Dr. Son’s research focuses on how accurately people know the “self,” and on the optimization of long-term retention. She studies metacognitive behavior in a range of populations, including normal adults, children, and monkeys. Her work has been published in prestigious academic journals, and she has received funding from the U.S. Department of Education and the American Psychological Society for her work with elementary school-aged children. She earned multiple Fulbright scholarships to pursue research projects in Korea, including her published book written in Korean, 메타인지 학습법 (Metacognition: The Thinking Parent Makes the Thinking Child), which focuses on the science of metacognition—how we think about what we think.
Born and raised in the United States, Son has maintained active ties to her ancestral South Korea as an educator and individual. In response to the rise in anti-Asian attacks during the pandemic, Son delivered a speech at a #StopAsianHate rally in Millburn, New Jersey, she wrote an op-ed titled “Stop Treating Asians as a Monolith,” and spoke in various interviews and lectures on the psychology of activism, racial stereotypes, and the challenges that Asian Americans face. Her work as an activist was featured in Brown Political Review.
Additional language spoken: Korean (fluent)
Recommended research publication: Son, L. K., & Simon, D. A. (2012). Distributed learning: Data, metacognition, and educational implications. Educational Psychology Review, 24(3), 379-399.
