Dong-Kwan Kim is a professor of architectural engineering at Cheongju University in South Korea. As a visiting scholar at Cal State Fullerton, he is conducting a collaborative research project aimed at improving the design of earthquake-resistant buildings.
Before teaching at Cheongju University, Dong-Kwan worked at a structural design company. He participated in the seismic performance evaluation of the 1,819-foot Lotte World Tower, which is the tallest building in Korea and sixth tallest building in the world. He gained valuable experience in the dynamics of structural and seismic design, which he was able to bring to his teaching position. However, with large earthquakes being rare in Korea, he sought opportunities to broaden his research.
An opportunity arose when a coworker introduced him to Uksun Kim, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at CSUF.
“I have always been interested in international collaborative research,” said Uksun. “I invited Dong-Kwan Kim with the expectation that he could bring about significant synergy effects in terms of research and teaching in the area of earthquake engineering.”
Through CSUF’s J-1 Visiting Scholars Program, Uksun has served as Dong-Kwan’s host faculty member. Uksun provides an environment where the visiting scholar can conduct research, receive constructive feedback and gain a diverse U.S. experience.
Dong-Kwan specializes in studying soil-structure interaction. While he agrees that the seismic load of a building should be considered when it comes to earthquakes, he points out that both Korean and United States building codes don’t account for the dynamic characteristics of soil deposits in their design response spectrum. This is where his research comes into play.
“When conducting earthquake-resistant design, some researchers focus only on the behavior of buildings, while others study input seismic ground motions depending on soil conditions. Both of these areas are very important, and Dong-Kwan has the relevant knowledge to integrate these areas,” said Uksun.
So far, the research has already proven successful. Dong-Kwan’s recent research paper was accepted to the Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea. He’s currently working on another paper for the Science Citation Index Journal, which he hopes to submit before the end of the year.
Looking ahead, Dong-Kwan plans to implement his research findings back in South Korea, helping to improve Korean building codes and enabling safer and more economical building designs.
Dong-Kwan is just one of many visiting scholars who found valuable experiences abroad at CSUF. To learn more about the J-1 Visiting Scholars Program and opportunities to study, teach or conduct research at CSUF, visit the International Students and Scholars webpage.