8/30/2024 Eleanor Wyllie
Professor Harrison Hyung Min Kim has received a Design Automation Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) recognizing sustained meritorious contribution to research in Design Automation.
Written by Eleanor Wyllie
Professor Harrison Hyung Min Kim has received a Design Automation Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) recognizing sustained meritorious contribution to research in Design Automation.
A Professor and Donald Biggar Willett Scholar in Industrial & Enterprise Systems Engineering at The Grainger College of Engineering, Kim also holds appointments with the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, the Carle Illinois College of Medicine and the Computational Science and Engineering Program. He is Academic Co-Director of the Hoeft Technology and Management (T&M) Program.
To design complex products or systems like aircraft, vehicles and heavy-duty equipment, automation is key. Kim looks at how we can automate the engineering design process to create products that not only perform well but are also environmentally sustainable and economically viable.
The ASME Design Automation Award is one of the most significant awards in this area, and Kim feels honored by this recognition in the design automation community. Many previous awardees are pioneers in the field, and they include Kim’s own Ph.D. advisor Professor Panos Papalambros and postdoctoral advisor Professor Wei Chen.
Kim has worked at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for 20 years. In the earliest part of his career, he focused on engineering performance aspects, but over the past 15 years he has led research and industry partnership efforts in sustainable engineering design. Environment, sustainability and governance (ESG) has become increasingly important for companies and government partners. His collaborations with partners like John Deere, Brunswick and the US Department of Energy have put sustainability at the center of their product design practices.
Kim is very conscious of the societal impact of his work and the responsibility that comes with it. “We can't just stay within the boundary of engineering design and manufacturing processes – what we do has far-reaching significance in terms of environment, societal benefits and economic benefits,” Kim comments. “Those are all part of the consideration when I think about sustainability.”
His research group has been providing guidance for industry partners to follow environment, sustainability and governance guidelines in their products, and he’s excited by these long-term collaborations with partners. However, not everyone has embraced the idea of sustainability, particularly companies who are more driven by short-term profitability. As Kim points out: “Sustainability, by definition, you have to look at long term. The gap between the research and the industry practice can be a challenge.”
In recent years, Kim is also focusing on applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning in the context of design automation. He says: “Combining design automation with AI and machine learning is a great marriage between the two domains. But we’re just scratching the surface of what it can do in the context of design automation and research and how we design products and systems. I want to really show academic leadership in this area in the years to come.”