Since Dr. Kim joined the Natural Space Environments Group of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology In 2007, He has been working on the modeling of planetary and inter-planetary space environments (radiation, meteoroid, and plasma, etc.) and their impact analyses on Spacecraft systems and components. He is an expert in natural space environment assessment including TIGER, NOVICE, GEANT4, and MCNP (Monte Carlo energetic particle transport codes), and NUMIT 2.0 and 3D NUMIT (internal discharge simulation code), and has hands-on experience on electron and proton beam radiation testing, MEMS, and high vacuum systems. He participated in generating the Internal ElectroStatic Discharge (ESD) guidelines and requirements for Juno mission. Also, he developed the ESD Control Plan and led the ESD Working Group for Europa Clipper mission. He revised the NASA spacecraft charging handbook, NASA-HDBK-4002B, mitigating in-space charging effects – a guideline.

Dr. Kim serves as the Deputy for Ionizing Radiation to the NASA Space Environments Technical Fellow from 2026. Dr. Kim received a Ph.D. degree in physical chemistry from UCLA in 1998 and M.S. and B.S. degrees in physical chemistry from Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, in 1991 and 1989, respectively.