Jaehong Kim appointed the Becton Professor of Engineering
Jaehong Kim, newly named as the Henry P. Becton Sr. Professor of Engineering, is interested in diverse aspects of environmental science and engineering, from fundamental photocatalytic and photoluminescent materials chemistry to water quality engineering in the developing world. He is best known for his work on environmental nanotechnology in which he develops various novel nanomaterials for sustainable water treatment.
Kim received B.S. and M.S. degrees in chemical and biological engineering from Seoul National University in Korea. After earning his Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2002, he began his academic career as an assistant professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). Prior to joining the Yale faculty in 2013, Kim was the Georgia Power Distinguished Professor and associate chair of School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech. At Yale, Kim also serves as chair of the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering.
The Yale professor has published more than 130 peer-reviewed articles in professional journals. Kim’s research has been funded with grants from federal agencies, industry, and private foundations. He serves on the editorial board of Environmental Science & Technology Letters, and was previously associate editor of Water Research and the ASCE Journal of Environmental Engineering. He has delivered several plenary and keynote speeches at professional conferences and over 100 invited lectures at universities and institutions nationwide and abroad.
His teaching at Yale was recognized by the Ackerman Award for Teaching and Mentoring. Kim has advised 13 Ph.D. students and 16 postdoctoral researchers. Sixteen of them are currently holding faculty positions in universities and others leading role in industry in the United States and around the world. His honors include the Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize from American Society of Civil Engineers, the Paul L. Busch Award from Water Environment Research Foundation, and the Top Environmental Technology Paper Award from American Chemical Society, among many others. In 2016, he was elected a member of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering.
