Jinhyun Choo (주진현)

Jinhyun Choo is an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Seoul National University (SNU). He received his B.S. and M.S. from SNU and his Ph.D. from Stanford University as a Fulbright Scholar, followed by postdoctoral research at Columbia University. Prior to rejoining SNU, he was a faculty member at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).

His research focuses on the mechanics and multiphysics of geomaterials—porous, granular, and discontinuous materials—and their interactions with surrounding environments. Working at the intersection of geotechnical engineering and computational mechanics, he advances physics-based and data-driven approaches to better understand and predict the complex behavior of geomaterials and their interacting systems, with the overarching goal of contributing to a more resilient and sustainable built environment.

Choo is active in the international scientific community. He serves on the editorial boards of leading journals such as Acta Geotechnica and Computers and Geotechnics. He is a core member of ISSMGE’s Technical Committee on Geomechanics from Micro to Macro and contributes to several other committees of ISSMGE and ASCE. He has also been elected to the Young Korean Academy of Science and Technology (Y-KAST).

Education

Ph.D. Stanford University (2012–2016)

Civil and Environmental Engineering (Geomechanics)

Mechanical Engineering Minor

Dissertation: Hydromechanical modeling framework for multiscale porous materials

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

Civil and Environmental Engineering (Geotechnical Engineering)

Thesis: Effect of stress history on small-strain behavior of clay

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

Civil, Urban, and Geosystems Engineering, Graduated with honors

Positions

Seoul National University (SNU)

Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (2025–present)

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)

Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (2024–2025)

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

The University of Hong Kong (HKU)

Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering (2018–2022)

Columbia University

Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics (2016–2017)

Korea Institute of Construction Technology (KICT)

Research Specialist, Geotechnical Engineering Research Division (2019–2012)

Dasan Engineering Co., Ltd.

Engineer, U.S. Army Garrison Camp Humphreys Design–Build Project (2009)

Honors & Awards

APACM Young Investigator Award (2025)

Young Korean Academy of Science and Technology (Y-KAST) Member (2025)

KAIST College of Engineering Ph.D. Dissertation Award Winner’s Supervisor (2025)

KAIST Global Research Cooperation Award (2024)

Rising Star in Geotechnical Engineering, Frontiers in Built Environment (2024)

KAIST Prize for Excellence in Teaching (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

Editorial Service

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

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

Editorial Board Member, Acta Geotechnica (2024-present)

Editorial Board Member, Advances in Engineering Software (2024-present)

Editorial Board Member, Computers and Geotechnics (2024-present)

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

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)

TU Dresden, Institute for Structural Analysis (Apr 2025)

CouFrac2024: 4th International Conference on Coupled Processes in Fractured Geological Media (Nov 2024)

IWACOM-IV: 4th International Workshops on Advances in Computational Mechanics (Sep 2024)

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)

Journal Reviewer