Yongmin Kim: Setting the Pace for Bioengineers

Early in his career, Yongmin Kim adopted an interdisciplinary approach to research that a more ego-driven researcher would have shied away from. He teamed with statisticians, electrical engineers, medical doctors, computer scientists, and industry executives to produce a steady stream of around 450 publications and a slew of innovations to medical imaging equipment that he has often had the pleasure of seeing put to use in hospitals in as short as two years. But Kim did not sit back and bask in his accomplishments. The moment he reached a goal, he set his sights on the next one. Having helped build the University of Washington's Bioengineering Department, where he led students and faculty for 29 years, the IEEE Fellow and former Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) president resigned his tenured faculty position and set out to meet another challenge: serving as president of South Korea's Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH).