SNU Professor Jinhyun Choo Receives APACM Young Investigator Award


▲ Prof. Jinhyun Choo, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Seoul National University

Seoul National University College of Engineering announced that Prof. Jinhyun Choo of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has received the APACM Young Investigator Award, presented by the Asian Pacific Association for Computational Mechanics (APACM).

This recognition marks the first time a researcher specializing in civil and environmental engineering in Korea has received the award and is regarded as a meaningful example demonstrating that world-class computational mechanics research is being conducted within the civil and environmental engineering field at Seoul National University.

The award ceremony was held on December 8 at the Asia–Pacific Congress on Computational Mechanics (APCOM 2025) in Brisbane, Australia.

The APACM Young Investigator Award is presented to researchers under the age of 40 who are actively engaged in computational mechanics research, with the aim of encouraging their future academic development. Only approximately five recipients are selected every three years, and the award has become widely recognized as one that represents next-generation researchers within the Asia–Pacific computational mechanics community. As the first Korean civil and environmental engineering researcher to receive this honor, Prof. Choo’s selection is also viewed as further evidence of the global competitiveness of computational mechanics research at SNU’s College of Engineering.

Prof. Choo conducts research at the intersection of geotechnical engineering and computational mechanics, focusing on the development of computational simulation techniques to analyze and predict the large-deformation behavior, fracture processes, and multiphysics responses of porous and granular materials, such as geomaterials.

Going beyond traditional geotechnical engineering problems, his research addresses a wide range of engineering challenges, including energy and environmental infrastructure systems, soil–machine interaction, and mobility geomechanics, and is widely recognized for demonstrating the potential of interdisciplinary research. His work, which has been published extensively in leading international journals, has attracted significant attention from both academia and industry.

Prof. Choo commented, “It is a great honor to receive the APACM Young Investigator Award as the first researcher in Korea specializing in civil and environmental engineering.”

He added, “Despite the growing importance of numerical analysis in geotechnical engineering practice, systematic education and research in computational mechanics have remained insufficient in Korea, which has been disappointing. Guided by this awareness, I began studying the fundamentals of computational mechanics during my doctoral studies while exploring its integration with geotechnical engineering. I find it deeply meaningful that these efforts have now received international recognition.”

Looking ahead, Prof. Choo plans to contribute to the broader adoption of computational-mechanics-based systematic approaches across education, research, and engineering practice in the fields of civil and environmental engineering and geotechnical engineering in Korea.

▲ The APACM Young Investigator Award presented to Prof. Jinhyun Choo of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Seoul National University

[Contact Information]
Eunhee Lee, Administrative Office, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Seoul National University / +82-2-880-9147 / ehlee@snu.ac.kr