Jinhyun Choo — KAIST Geomechanics Lab

Jinhyun Choo (주진현)

Jinhyun Choo is Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at KAIST. Born and raised in South Korea, Choo obtained his B.S. and M.S. from Seoul National University and worked at the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology. Later, as a Fulbright Scholar, he received his Ph.D. from Stanford University and conducted postdoctoral research at Columbia University. Then he was a faculty at The University of Hong Kong before relocating to KAIST.

Choo’s research develops and applies physics-based computational simulations and data-driven methods to understand, predict, and control mechanical and multiphysical processes in geomaterials and other porous, granular, and discontinuous materials. Applications of his work span a wide range of challenges related to safeguarding and decarbonizing the built environment.

Education

Ph.D. Stanford University (2012–2016)

Civil and Environmental Engineering (Geomechanics)

Mechanical Engineering Minor (Mechanics and Computation)

M.S. Seoul National University (2007–2009)

Civil and Environmental Engineering (Geotechnical Engineering)

B.S. Seoul National University (2003–2007)

Civil, Urban, and Geosystems Engineering, Graduated with honors

Positions

KAIST (2022–present)

Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (2024–present)

Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (2022–2024)

Seoul National University (2021–2022)

Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

The University of Hong Kong (2018–2022)

Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering

Columbia University (2016–2017)

Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics

Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (2009–2012)

Research Specialist, Geotechnical Engineering Research Division

Dasan Engineering Co., Ltd. (2009)

Engineer, U.S. Army Garrison Camp Humphreys Design–Build Project

Honors & Awards (selected)

Prize for Excellence in Teaching, KAIST (2024)

ASCE EMI 2023 Poromechanics Competition Winner’s Supervisor (2023)

ASCE EMI 2021 Computational Mechanics Competition Runner Up’s Supervisor (2021)

ASCE EMI 2021 Poromechanics Competition Winner’s Supervisor (2021)

Charles H. Leavell Fellowship, Stanford University (2015–2016)

U.S. National Congress on Computational Mechanics Travel Award (2015)

Blume Earthquake Engineering Center Research Assistantship (2012–2015)

Fulbright Scholarship (2012–2014)

National Science & Technology Full Scholarship of Korea (2003–2007)

Professional Activities

Technical Committee Memberships (international)

Computational Mechanics Committee, ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute

Poromechanics Committee, ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute

Computational Geotechnics Committee, ASCE Geo-Institute

Soil Properties and Modeling Committee, ASCE Geo-Institute

Numerical Methods Committee (TC103), ISSMGE

Geo-Mechanics from Micro to Macro Committee (TC105), ISSMGE

Energy Geotechnics Committee (TC308), ISSMGE

Machine Learning and Big Data Committee (TC309), ISSMGE

Invited Talks (selected)

Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Mechanics and Materials Unit (Nov 2023)

Korean Geotechnical Society Conference Keynote (Sep 2023)

University of Minnesota, Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences & Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo-Engineering (Jun 2023)

Northwestern University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (Jun 2023)

Stanford University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering & Department of Mechanical Engineering (Jan 2022)

Seoul National University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (Mar 2021)

Korea Association of Underground Safety (Sep 2019)

Geotechnical Engineering Office of the Hong Kong SAR Government (Jan 2019)

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (Dec 2017)

Princeton University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (Mar 2016)

Duke University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (Jan 2016)

Editorial Service

Editorial Board Member, Journal of Elasticity (2023-present)

Associate Editor, International Journal of Geo-Engineering (2023–present)

Associate Editor, KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering (2019–present)

Journal Reviewer