Graduate Students

Sujun Liu
Graduate Assistant

Sujun is a doctoral student in Fashion Merchandising. She was born and raised in south of China (Sichuan) and studied and lived in north of China (Beijing) for over 10 years. She completed her bachelor’s degree in Fashion Design and Engineering and master’s degree in Brand Strategy both at Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology.

Sujun has multiple working experiences. During her study for master’s degree, she started a Photography Studio with her brother as the Photographer, providing customized advertising photography services for fashion corporate. After the graduation, she opened an online fashion store selling self-designed dresses (via Taobao). She also worked as a luxury buyer in a Foreign Trading Company in China which imports luxury brand goods from Europe.

Her areas of interest mainly include consumer decision-making and well-being in online shopping environments. In addition to that, she also has an interest in Historic/Cultural Textiles and Apparel.

Irina Milke Pavlova
Graduate Assistant

Irina completed six years of fashion design training at the Moscow Art-Industrial Institute, earning a Bachelor of Design degree. During her senior college years, she launched her own fashion project and participated in four seasons of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia and one season of Milan Fashion Week. After graduation, Irina worked as a lead lingerie designer for a small body-positive start-up and later as a womenswear and print designer for two of Russia’s largest apparel brands.

After a few years in the industry, Irina became concerned with how the current fashion design and production model mistreats resources, producers, and consumers, prompting her to pursue a career in academia. She earned a Master of Fashion Industry Studies degree from Kent State University, where she taught Sustainable Fashion Thinking (FDM 10044) and Fashion Fabrics (FDM 10034) and worked as a Research Assistant at the Kent State Digital Knitting Lab.

During her Master’s studies, Irina presented her research at three major conferences, including the 2024 International Foundation of Fashion Technology Institutes Conference. Her research focuses on fashion sustainability, particularly environmental and social justice in the fashion industry, zero-waste and circular methods, fashion activism, and the intersection of fashion and politics.

Mfon-Abasi Obong
Graduate Student

Mfon-Abasi Obong is a Costume Designer and Technologist. She received her MFA in Costume Design and Technology from the University of Virginia (UVa)in 2017 and her undergraduate degree from Arizona State University (ASU) with a BA in Theater, concentrating in Costume Design in 2014. 

Mfon-Abasi enjoys telling stories through costumes and mentoring students on their theatrical costume designs. She has designed costumes in both regional and educational theatre settings, and she was also a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Republic of Georgia, serving as a Co-English Teacher in a public school. She is a member of the International Textiles and Apparel Association (ITAA), the Costume Society of America, and the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT).

She is a Ph.D. candidate in Textile, Apparel, and Merchandising, with a concentration in Historical/Cultural Textiles and Apparel. Her research interest focuses on West African textiles and the social-psychological aspects of dress. Her goal for this program is to develop various research methodologies and apply the skills to conduct research for organizations.

Hope Passmore
Graduate Student

Hope was born and raised in San Antonio, TX. She earned her BA degree in English from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas and MA Degree in Counseling from UTSA in San Antonio, TX. Hope’s professional background is in teaching and counseling.  She has a private practice serving Texas females with self-esteem issues.

Hope always had a passion for fashion and worked in retail environments serving women at Rainbow Inc., Dillard’s and David Bridal. Hope has a niche for styling and interest in sustainability. For a hobby, she loves exploring the Buffalo Exchange store in different cities and selecting vintage clothing pieces to add to her wardrobe collection.

Currently, Hope is a Ph.D. student in Textiles, Apparel, and Merchandising with a concentration in Historical /Cultural at Louisiana State University (LSU). Her research focuses on African American women and social aspects of dress. Her long-term career goal is to become an expert in Social Aspects of Dress and utilize her academic knowledge and research experience to make a positive change as a consultant and professor.

Morgan Strzynski
Graduate Assistant

Morgan is originally from the small town of Hemlock, Michigan. She completed her undergrad at Central Michigan University (CMU) in December of 2021. Here, she obtained a B.A.A. in Fashion Merchandising. Her classes at CMU paired with her lifelong interest in history inspired her to pursue further education. She is pursuing her Ph.D. in Historic Costume. Her research at LSU will better prepare her to meet her long-term career goal working in museum curation or in the film and television industry.

Mary-Gwynedd Taylor
Graduate Assistant

MG Taylor is a PhD student in Apparel Design with a focus in high performance apparel for sports. After graduating with a degree in Industrial Design from the Savannah College of Art and Design, she moved to England to complete a design fellowship at the Oakham School. Using her knowledge of various CAD programs, she moved to Virginia to work as a nuclear aircraft carrier CAD designer for Huntington Ingalls Industries. This work was extremely fulfilling, but she knew her passions lay in more personal projects. This, plus a lifelong love of sport lead her to Portland, OR where she received a Master of Science in Sports Product Design. While all of her previous design work had been centered around hard goods, this course of study reignited a passion for design with special consideration to the user's physiology and biomechanical needs. 

MG has honed her practice as a designer driven by the idea that human-focused design can help every person achieve their goals. In academic and creative endeavors, it is her mission to bring innovative, functional, and beautiful design solutions to underserved users in industries that too often balk at change. Areas of interest for future work and research include wearable technologies for female anatomy, athletic apparel for emerging LGBTQ+ markets, and the design of performance apparel in a world where more athletes are breaking from the gender binary and sexualization of their bodies.

Anna Yan
Graduate Assistant

Anna's research experience includes the application of digital art in cultural heritage preservation. She is committed to exploring the integration of art, technology, and business.

Her research interests include Historical costume digitization, museum exhibitions, and virtual fitting.

Bonnie Zhang
Graduate Assistant

Yanbo Zhang has accumulated more than ten years of professional experience as an art and design curator and a tutor specializing in art portfolio development. Motivated by her aspiration to merge her prior expertise in art and design with the realm of fashion merchandising, she made a conscious choice to advance her educational pursuits by enrolling in the Apparel Design doctoral program at Louisiana State University. 

Yanbo's research pursuits revolve around the focal point of advancing innovation and sustainability within the fashion industry through the implementation of pioneering approaches. For instance, she aims to explore the possibilities of digital fashion and investigate the advantageous attributes of novel hemp-based fabrics. By engaging with these areas of study, she seeks to contribute to the development of progressive solutions that promote both innovation and sustainability in the fashion domain.

Rui Zhao
Graduate Assistant

Rui Zhao was born and raised in northern China (Zhangjiakou). He has studied in both the south (Guangxi) and the north (Beijing) of China. He has studied and lived in Beijing, China for more than ten years. His undergraduate major was for knitted clothing design, and the masters is in ethnic costume research.

During his undergraduate period, he planned and participated in clothing exhibitions. During his master's degree, he participated in multiple fashion design competitions, such as knitting design competition, fur design competition, underwear design, etc. He also used 3D software to conduct restoration research and field surveys on the styles and patterns of ethnic costumes, and publish relevant academic papers.

His current interests are in sustainable clothing development and marketing models. He is also interested in textile history, textile culture and textile dyeing and weaving.

Momo Zhou
Graduate Student

Mo Zhou is a Beijing girl from China. She graduated from Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology in 2019 with a bachelor's degree in Marketing (Fashion Manager Orientation). After that, she went to the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom to study Fashion Marketing and Branding, where she received a master's degree in Merit in 2020. Beginning Fall of 2021, she is now a PhD student in Textiles, Apparel, and Merchandising at LSU. Mo Zhou is a passionate girl, willing to make friends and help others. She hopes that focusing on the textile market for middle-aged and elderly women can make female consumer groups feel respected and cared for in her research. She also hopes that through her work and research, an equal and comfortable consumer experience can be gained by female consumers in the textile market.

Maryam Abedi
Graduate Student

Katherine Bankhead
Graduate Assistant

Anna Scurria
Graduate Student