Estrella Sejin Hong, a native of Seoul, South Korea, completed a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music from Mason in 2016 and a Master Degree in Piano Performance in May 2017. She graduated in December 2020 with a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Piano Performance at George Mason University under the tutelage of Dr. Monson.

She began playing the piano at the age of three in her native Korea, and as her family moved to Argentina, she studied piano at the National Conservatory of Music “Carlos Lopez Buchardo” in Buenos Aires with her life-long mentor, Maria Teresa Criscuolo. In the States, she earned a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of California at Los Angeles. Later, she collaborated to do graduate research with Whitesides Research Group in Chemistry Department at Harvard University.

Estrella has been fascinated with both music and science throughout her life that she is interested in promoting STEAM as a future educator. She was the Graduate Teaching Assistant of Dr. Monson and now, she teaches Keyboard Skills and Oral and Musical Communications at Mason as an adjunct faculty. Estrella is a fluent speaker of Spanish, Korean and English.