On May 1^st, CCEE’s Dr. Richard Kim, Jimmy D. Clark Distinguished University Professor, received the Alexander Quarles Holladay Medal for Excellence, the highest honor bestowed by NC State and the university’s Board of Trustees. Kim was recognized by Chancellor Randy Woodson during the Celebration of Faculty Excellence, and was also recognized at the University-wide spring commencement ceremony.

Kim earned his Ph.D. in civil engineering from Texas A&M University. He joined our faculty in 1989 as an assistant professor and was promoted to full professor in 2000. He was appointed as a Distinguished University Professor in 2012 and was named the Jimmy D. Clark Professor in 2015. The overall focus of Kim’s research is to develop fundamental and mechanistic-based test methods and models for the performance prediction of asphalt materials and pavements. He has made significant strides in implementing these methods and models in routine design methods and specifications that are used nationally and internationally by highway agencies and contractors. FlexMAT^TM and FlexPAVE^TM, computer programs developed by Kim’s research team are currently used by over 120 researchers all over the world. He has received extensive research funding from national and international agencies, and has published more than 300 papers in technical journals and proceedings.

Kim has won numerous awards, including the Alcoa Foundation Engineering Research Achievement Award, the NC State Alumni Association Outstanding Research Award, the Alcoa Foundation Distinguished Engineering Research Award, inaugural membership of the NC State Research Leadership Academy, and the 2018 R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research, and Extension – the most prestigious award which the College of Engineering can bestow upon a faculty member. He was elected as one of the 100 Changjiang Scholars in 2016, which is the highest academic award bestowed upon an individual in higher education by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China.

The award was named in honor of Alexander Quarles Holladay, NC State’s first professor of history and its first president. This year’s award winners have made outstanding and sustained contributions to the university through achievements in research, teaching, or extension and engagement. Honorees receive an engraved medal and framed certificate, and are recognized at spring commencement.