Sun Kim Named Outstanding Junior Faculty

Sun Kim, assistant professor of informatics, is among five IU faculty to receive the 2005 Outstanding Junior Faculty Award. Jeanne Sept, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculties, and Michael McRobbie, vice president for research and information technology, announced the award in a letter dated December 10th.

Other award recipients are Aurelian Craiutu (Political Science), Daniel J. Mindiola (Chemistry), Massimo Scalabrini (French & Italian), and Liese van Zee (Astronomy).

Kim was recognized for his research in string pattern matching techniques, machine learning, and combinatorial search and their application to bioinformatics. He is developing algorithms and frameworks for genome sequencing and computational comparative genomics. Dr. Kim is the recent recipient of a prestigious NSF Career grant, and is part of a team of researchers from Indiana University, Ohio State University and the University of Missouri who have begun a five-year, $8 million project funded by the National Cancer Institute that will help doctors better understand the damage caused by breast and ovarian cancers. He has also played a central role in growth of the bioinformatics program in the School of Informatics.

Sun Kim received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Iowa in 1997. He joined DuPont Central Research in 1998 and worked as senior computer scientist until August 2000. He is currently assistant professor at the School of Informatics, INGEN investigator at the Center for Genomics and Bioinformatics, and adjunct assistant professor of Computer Science at Indiana University Bloomington.

The Outstanding Junior Faculty Award recognizes the achievements of junior faculty who have committed themselves to the teaching and service missions of the University while also developing nationally recognized programs in research and creative activity. The program supports five faculty each year to further their scholarship or creative activity. Award recipients receive $14,500 to support their research and creative activity.