I am a social scientist who studies human decision-making and collective action.  I am an expert in the areas of American Politics, Political Behavior, Political Psychology, Survey Methodology, and Race and Ethnicity.  My research examines how emotions impact the ability of groups to overcome collective action problems.  My multi-methodological approach includes conducting original experiments and analyzing survey data.

I am an Associate Professor at Hawai'i Pacific University in the Department of History, Humanities, and International Studies in the College of Liberal Arts.

My research agenda focuses on understanding how policies and discrimination impact health and wellbeing. My scholarship is grounded in my relationship with, responsibility to, and community building among Indigenous scholars. I built, designed, and implemented the two largest identity surveys on Indigenous communities in Hawaiʻi and Guåhan. I am Principal Investigator of the 2019 Native Hawaiian Survey, and Co-Principal Investigator of the 2021 Guåhan Survey.

My current research projects involve community projects focused on understanding the role between political activism and health outcomes. I examine the role that civic engagement and political participation may play in disrupting the link between systemtic racism, weathering, and health inequalities. These projects include collaborating with Dr. Lynette Cruz on the Richard Kekuni Blaisdel Hawaiian National Archives, the Healthy Hawaiian Project (funded by NIHGMS: HPU HUI SRC and UH Manoa's Burns School of Medicine Cancer Center PIKO), and the Healthy Hawaiian Activists Project (PIKO Pilot Project). For Fall 2023-Summer 2024, Dr. Phan has a $50,000 NIH Grant to study how Native Hawaiian kupuna (elder) activists stay healthy. 

Research

My research employs original experiments and surveys to understand how individual and group experiences impact collection action problems.

Teaching

My teaching objective is to promote science literacy by challenging students to partake in the scientific process.

2019 Hawaii Pacific University Teacher of the Year
The BRL conducts empirical research and studies human decision-making and political behavior.