Professor, Department of Mathematical Sciences
Adjunct Professor at Graduate School of AI for Mathematics
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
Email: mklim(at)kaist.ac.kr
(Last Update: 2026-July-24)
I am a Professor of Mathematical Sciences at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). I received a Bachelor’s degree in 1998, a Master’s degree in 2000, and a Ph.D. in Mathematics in 2003, all from Seoul National University, Republic of Korea. Before moving to KAIST, I was a Postdoctoral Researcher at Ecole Polytechnique, France (2004–2007) and an Assistant Professor at Colorado State University, USA (2007–2008). I received the MediaV Young Researcher Award in 2014. I was appointed as KAIST Endowed Chair Professor (2019–2021).
These are core of my research (Google Scholar):
Partial differential equations/numerical computation for composite materials and inverse problems
Spectral analysis of differential and integral operators
Optimization/Bayesian/Machine Learning approach for inverse problems
Group Grant
Analysis Guided Neural Operator for Inverse Problems (역문제 해결을 위한 해석적 방법 기반 Neural Operator 연구)
Global Basic Research Laboratory (BRL, 글로벌 기초연구실), Funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), June 2025 – May 2028
Members: Mikyoung Lim (임미경, PI), Hyeuknam Kwon (권혁남), Jaeyong Lee (이재용), Sangwoo Kang (강상우)
Positions
2019–Present: Full Professor of Mathematical Sciences, KAIST
2021–2022: Director of Graduate Studies, the Department of Mathematical Sciences, KAIST
2012–2019: Associate Professor of Mathematical Sciences, KAIST
2009–2011: Assistant Professor of Mathematical Sciences, KAIST
2007–2008: Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Colorado State University, USA
2004–2007: Postdoctoral Researcher, Ecole Polytechnique, France
Visiting Positions
MSRI (2001, Visiting Scholar), IPAM (2003, Visiting Post-doc), Columbia University (2014, Visiting Professor), IMA (2017, Long-term visitor), University of Utah (2020, Visiting Professor)
Awards and Honors
Invited speaker at the EASIAM Conference 2026
Plenary speaker at AIP 2025 (Applied Inverse Problems Conference), FGV EMAp, Rio de Janeiro (homepage)
SIAM One World IMAGing and INvErse problems (IMAGINE) seminar speaker, 2022.04 (homepage)
KAIST Endowed Chair Professor, 2019-2021
The MediaV Young Researcher Award, Awarded in the 7th International Conference on Inverse Problems and Related Topics (ICIP), 2014, Taiwan
TJ park Junior Faculty Fellowship, 2010, POSCO TJ Park Foundation
Editorial Services
Since 2021 Editorial Board Member of Analysis and Mathematical Physics
2015–2021 Editorial Board Member of the Bulletin of the Korean Mathematical Society
Academic Services
2026–2027 Steering Committee Member of the Eurasian Association on Inverse Problems (EAIP)
2024–Vice president, East Section of IPIA
2024–2025 Vice president, KAIST Women Professors' Council
2024–2026 Chair, KMS Activity Group on Applied Mathematics, including AI/Data science (대한수학회 응용수학분과 위원장)
2023–2025 Advisory committee for the Executive Committee of the Inverse Problems International Association (IPIA)
2021–2023 Review Board, National Research Foundation of Korea (한국연구재단 전문위원)
2022–2023 Chair, KSIAM Activity Group on Inverse problems (한국산업응용수학회 역문제분과 위원장)
2022 Executive Committee Member, the Inverse Problems International Association (IPIA)
2018 Organizing Committee Member of International Conference on Inverse Problems and Related Topics
2015–2016 Director of Academic Affairs, the Korean Women in Mathematical Society (KWMS)
2015–2016 Director of General Affairs, the Korean Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (KSIAM)