Kil-Wan Ko, Ph.D.

CAREER SUMMARY

Kil-Wan Ko is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at KAIST. He completed his M.S. (2017) and Ph.D. (2020) programs at KAIST. From 2021-2025, he worked at UC Davis, USC, and UC Berkeley as a postdoctoral researcher. His interests, skills, and experience in areas of geohazards assessment, geotechnical earthquake engineering, and soil dynamics were mainly shaped by his Ph.D. and postdoc research experiences. His research primarily focuses on dynamic soil-foundation-structure interaction (SFSI), rocking shallow foundations, soil liquefaction, soil erosion in earthen dams and levees. His multidisciplinary experiences cover a broad array of fields and geotechnical skill sets, including geotechnical earthquake engineering, foundation engineering, and structural dynamics using experimental (geo-centrifuge), numerical, and analytical modeling. Based on the insights gleaned from his Ph.D. and postdoc research, he aspires to further assess hazards faced by urban areas; specifically, (1) structure-soil-structure interaction; (2) energy-based soil liquefaction evaluation as well as its impact on the seismic responses of structures; and (3) crack propagation and concentrated leak erosion in earthen dams due to surface fault rupture and differential settlement.

EDUCATION

• Ph.D., Civil and Environmental Engineering                                                 2020

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)

• M.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering                                                   2017

KAIST

• B.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering                                                           2015

KAIST

ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE

• KAIST 2025 – Present

Assistant Professor - Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

• KOCED Geotechincal Centrifuge Testing Center @ KAIST 2025 – Present

Associate Director

• University of California, Davis (UC Davis) 2023 – 2025

Postdoctoral Scholar - Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

• University of Southern California (USC) 2022 – 2023

Postdoctoral Scholar - Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

• University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) 2021 – 2023

Visiting Scholar - Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

• KAIST                                     2020 – 2021

Postdoctoral Scholar - Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

HONORS AND AWARDS

• Young Researcher Award 2025

Korean Society of Civil Engineers, KSCE

• Editor's Choice Paper 2025

Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, ASCE 

• Bright Spark Lecture Award 2022

International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 

• Top Cited Article 2022

Wind Energy 

• The Presidential Science Scholarship - Mathematics 2010

Korea Student Aid Foundation