Credit for the wonderful PhDefense image to Katie Zeng
Adam Chen Zhao is a graduate student in counseling at the University of Northern Colorado. He identifies as East Asian, Chinese American, cismale, broadly queer, agnostic atheist, and able-bodied. As a counseling professional, he operates primarily from a lens of Relational-Cultural Theory and his research passions include working with the intersections of mental health, media representation, social justice, and relationships. His work extends to justice and diversity trainings and collaborations on campus with an emphasis on liberation, not assimilation. His television favorites are The Wire, The Leftovers, Watchmen, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Scrubs. His music favorites are Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager by Kid Cudi, Pure Heroine by Lorde, The Year of Hibernation by Youth Lagoon, Acid Rap by Chance the Rapper, and xx by The xx. He is the primary investigator for the Cultural Empathy Media Project.
Special thanks to Dr. Jennifer Smith at the University of Northern Colorado, who is the research advisor for this project and was instrumental in its creation and development.