June 2, 2025 | Erin Bluvas, bluvase@sc.edu
Kimanh Le was working on her second public health degree at the University of Texas at Tyler, a master’s in health sciences, when her niche within the field became more clear. Like many others, Le had struggled with social media overuse at one point and decided that she wanted to help others tackle this widespread phenomenon and its harmful effects on mental and physical health.
The Waco, Texas native completed her thesis project on the topic and began looking for doctoral programs. Health promotion, education, and behavior (HPEB) associate professor Courtney Monroe invited Le to campus – showing her around and introducing her to other faculty members and students.
“Because of Dr. Monroe’s expertise in physical activity and tech health research as well as her enthusiastic and kind demeaner, I knew the Ph.D. in HPEB program was the right fit,” Le says of her advisor. “She has influenced me by challenging me to think critically and to continue thinking outside the box. Her guidance has helped shape me to become an independent researcher.”
In addition to social media use and overuse, the Norman J. Arnold Doctoral Fellow’s interests include user experience research and design, recruitment methodologies, physical activity and mental health. She has gained experience in these areas through a graduate research assistantship with the South Carolina SmartState Technology Center to Promote Healthy Lifestyles (TecHealth). She also volunteered with the Hi Da Research Lab in the College of Information and Communications and for the College of Engineering and Computing’s Human-Computer Interaction and User Experience Laboratory.
After learning more about the different career paths afforded by doctoral programs, Le decided to pursue a research position in an industry setting rather than academia as she originally planned. With this goal in mind, she’s been working as a user experience research and design intern at Lockheed Martin since 2024.
“Industry user experience methodologies mirror those learned in academia, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, data analysis, and manuscript/proposal writing,” Le says of this ability to pivot.
“Jennifer Mandelbaum, an HPEB alum, was a great inspiration and resource during my internship search,” she adds. “She balances roles in academia, industry, and politics and has provided me with advice on salary negotiation and job-searching tips.”
After graduating in 2026, Le hopes to continue with Lockheed as a full-time employee. She says that her doctoral degree is providing the necessary foundation for this work, and she is already applying skills and knowledge from her program to her internship – developing interview guides, surveys, and analyzing large amounts of data to create visualizations.
“It’s okay if you don’t know the exact research question or methodologies you want
to use, but knowing what you want to study does make classes more fun, engaging, and
could potentially speed up your timeline to graduate,” Le reflects. “I knew some students
who came into the program with a clear roadmap of what they wanted to do their dissertation
on. During classes, they would tailor the projects to their dissertation topic, thus
getting early feedback on their idea. But if this isn’t you, it’s perfectly fine to
change your mind – as I did. Just keep an open mind and talk about your ideas with
your advisor regularly because life happens, and things change.”
