Dr. Chris Kim receives $409,500 NSF Career Grant- Chapman’s 1st
Christopher Kim, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry, has received the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious award for early-career, tenure-track teachers and scholars.
The NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program has awarded Dr. Kim a grant of $409,542 to support his research on arsenic and other mining waste for the next five years. Dr. Kim, 36, is the first professor at Chapman to receive an NSF CAREER grant. Other schools receiving NSF CAREER grants this year include MIT, Harvard, Stanford and the California Institute of Technology.
“It’s a really great honor and a reflection of the work the students and I have been doing for a couple of years now,” Dr. Kim said. “It’s also a reflection of how Chapman has created an environment for the sciences where we can do this type of work successfully.”
Dr. Kim’s research examines arsenic and other metals waste from mines in Southern California. He’s interested in the particle size of metals because finer-grained particles are more likely to be inhaled or ingested if the particles stick to hands or unwashed food. (See video below to hear him talk about his research.)
So far, his research has shown that as the particle size decreases, the concentrations of metals, including arsenic, lead, copper, chromium and zinc increase. That means the smaller particles of mine waste are more “metal-enriched,” making them potentially more hazardous if people inhale or ingest them, Dr. Kim says.
The CAREER award honors scholars who are likely to become academic leaders in the future. The NSF also looks at how those scholars will share their work on a broader level. Dr. Kim will work with schools, where he will invite grade-school students and teachers to his Chapman lab to show them his research and also get them excited about science. He also regularly schedules town halls in communities where there is a heavy presence of old mines, to discuss the implications of the waste.
Dr. Kim received his B.A. in geology from Princeton University. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University, Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, in 2002.
Dr. Chris Kim receives $409,500 NSF Career Grant- Chapman’s 1st