SMART CITY
SMART INNOVATION
WEBZINE2025 Vol.08, No.2
Featured
New Faculty - Prof. Jin-Soo Kim
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• Ph.D., Division of Environment Science and Engineering, POSTECH, 2019
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• M.S., Atmospheric Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Seoul National University, 2013
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• B.S., School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Seoul National University, 2010
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- Jin-Soo Kim joined the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at KAIST as an Assistant Professor in September 2025. He earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Seoul National University and completed his Ph.D. at POSTECH. Prior to joining KAIST, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Edinburgh (2019–2020), a senior scientist at the University of Zurich (2020–2022), and served as an Assistant Professor at the City University of Hong Kong (2022–2025).
- Climate change is among the most pressing challenges facing humanity, with rising global temperatures, increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, and fundamental shifts in the Earth’s climate system profoundly impacting ecosystems, public health, food security, the economy, and society at large. Professor Kim conducts comprehensive research on the impacts of elevated greenhouse gas concentrations on the climate system. His work is interdisciplinary in nature, addressing both climate change mitigation and adaptation, including emerging approaches such as climate engineering. In fact, he decided to become a climate scientist after watching disaster films such as The Day After Tomorrow (2004). He was deeply inspired by how these films portrayed scientists who, by challenging conventional thinking, helped save lives. Moreover, he was fascinated by the idea of integrating disciplines such as physics, chemistry, and biology to address threats to the Earth and humanity.
- At KAIST, Professor Kim leads the Climate System Lab (CSL), which focuses on cutting-edge topics in climate science and engineering. The lab conducts research in areas including climate system dynamics, ecosystem–climate interactions, the global carbon cycle, wildfires, climate economics, and geoengineering. As the expression "System Change, Not Climate Change" suggests, please support and get interested in CSL to provide the scientific knowledge our society needs to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
- Jin-Soo Kim joined the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at KAIST as an Assistant Professor in September 2025. He earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Seoul National University and completed his Ph.D. at POSTECH. Prior to joining KAIST, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Edinburgh (2019–2020), a senior scientist at the University of Zurich (2020–2022), and served as an Assistant Professor at the City University of Hong Kong (2022–2025).