# Young-Kee Kim

Young-Kee Kim is a South Korea-born American physicist and Albert Michelson Distinguished Service Professor of Physics at the University of Chicago. She is 2024 President of the American Physical Society.

## Education

Young-Kee Kim was born and raised in South Korea.
* 1984 B.S. Physics, Korea University
* 1986 M.S. Physics, Korea University
* 1990 Ph.D. Physics, University of Rochester

## Career

As an experimental particle physicist, she has devoted much of her research work to understanding the origin of mass for fundamental particles by studying the W boson and the top quark, two of the most massive elementary particles, at the Tevatron’s CDF experiment, and by studying the Higgs boson that gives mass to elementary particles at the LHC’s ATLAS experiment. She also works on accelerator science, playing a leadership role in NSF's Science and Technology Center, the Center for Bright Beams.
She was co-Spokesperson of the CDF collaboration between 2004 and 2006 and Deputy Director of Fermilab between 2006 and 2013. She chaired the Department of Physics at the University of Chicago between 2016 and 2022. She was President of the Korean-American Scientists and Engineering Association in 2022-2023 and President of the American Physical Society in 2024.
She is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Foreign Member of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. She received the Ho-Am Prize in Science, the Korea University Alumni Award, the Rochester Distinguished Scholar Medal, and the Arthur L. Kelly Faculty Prize for Exceptional Service from the University of Chicago.

## Work

Young-Kee Kim is an experimental particle physicist. She has devoted much of her research work to understanding the origin of mass for fundamental particles by studying the W boson and the top quark, two of the most massive elementary particles, at the Tevatron’s CDF experiment, and by studying the Higgs boson that gives mass to elementary particles at the LHC’s ATLAS experiment.
* 1990–1995: Postdoc Fellow, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
* 1996–2000: Assistant Professor of Physics, University of California, Berkeley
* 2000–2001: Associate Professor of Physics, University of California, Berkeley
* 2002–2002: Professor of Physics, University of California, Berkeley
* 2003–Present: Professor of Physics, University of Chicago
* 2006–2013: Deputy Director, Fermilab
* 2011–2016: Louis Block Professor of Physics, University of Chicago
* 2016–2022: Chair, the Department of Physics, University of Chicago
* 2017–2024: Louis Block Distinguished Service Professor of Physics, University of Chicago
* 2024–2024: Albert Michelson Distinguished Service Professor of Physics, University of Chicago
* 2025–Present: Interim Director, Fermilab

## Awards

* 1987: Rush Rhees Fellow
* 1997: Alfred P. Sloan Fellow
* 2004: Fellow, American Physical Society
* 2005: Ho-Am Prize in Science
* 2010: Distinguished Scholar Medal, University of Rochester
* 2012: Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
* 2012: Alumni Award, Korea University
* 2012: Leadership Award, Women in Science, Chicago Council of Science and Technology
* 2017: Elected Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
* 2019: Scientist of the Year Award, Korean American Scientists and Engineers Association
* 2022: Elected Member, National Academy of Sciences
* 2022: Elected Foreign Member, Korean Academy of Science and Technology
* 2022: Arthur L. Kelly Faculty Prize for Exceptional Service, Physical Sciences Division, University of Chicago

## Research Leaderships

* 1993–1999: Leader, CDF W Mass Analysis Group
* 1995–1996: Co-Leader, CDF Electroweak Physics Group
* 2000: Associate Project Manager, CDF Run II Upgrade
* 2001: Associate Head, CDF Run II Detector Operations
* 2002: Co-Leader, CDF Level-3 Trigger System
* 2003–2004: Co-Leader, CDF Top Mass Analysis Group
* 2004–2006: Co-Spokesperson, CDF Collaboration at the Tevatron proton-antiproton collider at Fermilab
* 2013-Present: Theme Leader, Center for Bright Beams (NSF's Science and Technology Center)