Advisor

Advisor

S. Sonny Kim, Ph.D, P.E., F.ASCE

 

Professor and Distinguished Faculty Fellow 
Associate Chair for Civil Engineering | Global Engagement
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

Adjunct Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), South Korea

Research Interests

  • Use of Nondestructive Testing, Remote Sensing, and Machine Learning for Resilient/Sustainable Infrastructure Health Monitoring
  • AI-Based Infrastructure Asset Management 
  • Climate Resilient Infrastructure 
  • Transportation Geotechnics | Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design

Honors/Awards/Achievements

  • Best Paper Award, TranSoilCold 2025 Conference – 2025
  • President’s Award, Korean Geotechnical Society – 2023
  • Georgia Engineer of the Year, Georgia Society of Professional Engineers (GSPE) – 2021
  • Civil Engineer of the Year, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Georgia Section (2020-2021)
  • Distinguished Faculty Fellow Award, College of Engineering, University of Georgia – 2019
  • Appreciation Plaque, Egyptian Housing and Building National Research Center – 2018 & 2019
  • UGA PSO Fellowship Award, Public Service and Outreach, University of Georgia – 2018
  • Fellow, Geosynthetics Institute – 2018
  • Fellow, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) – 2017
  • Outstanding Faculty Award, KSU Foundation, Inc – 2015

Service to Professional Society

  • Voting Member, International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE) TC202 Transportation Geotechnics
  • Board of Directors, Falling Weight Deflectometer User Group (FWDUG)
  • Academic Representative, FHWA’s Asphalt Pavements and Materials Technical Feedback Group (APM-TFG)
  • Member, ASCE Geo-Institute Pavement Committee
  • Member, ASCE T&DI Highway Pavement Committee
  • Member, TRB AKM 80 Aggregates
  • Member, TRB AKP 20 Design and Rehabilitation of Concrete Pavements
  • Editorial Board, International Journal of Geomechanics and Engineering

Courses Taught

  • CVLE 8410 Inelastic Behavior of Construction Materials
  • CVLE 8420 Geomechanics
  • CVLE 8460 Soil Improvement
  • CVLE 8470 Advanced Pavement System Design
  • CVLE 3420 Introduction to Soil Mechanics
  • CVLE 3450 Civil Engineering Lab – Soils
  • CVLE 4450 Geotechnical Structures
  • CVLE 4470/6470 Pavement Design