Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) alumnus Dr. Junyi Kim (Class of 2011) has been selected as the recipient of the Bosan Nuclear Physics Award presented as part of the 2024 Spring Korean Physical Society Awards. Dr. Kim graduated from JBNU and received his Ph.D. under the supervision of Professor Eunju Kim in the College of Education, Division of Science Education.

The Bosan Nuclear Physics Award of The Korean Physical Society is presented to young nuclear physicists whose research achievements are outstanding—such as publishing excellent papers in prominent domestic or international journals or producing exceptional theses—and who are expected to contribute to the future development of nuclear physics in Korea. This year marks the ninth presentation of the award.

Dr. Kim has been actively conducting research within the ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) located at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland. Through analysis of relativistic heavy-ion collision data, Dr. Kim has worked on charged-particle flow, the structure of light resonant particles, and related model studies.

In particular, Dr. Kim has been conducting in-depth, multifaceted studies to understand the internal structure of the f0(980) particle. Despite a brief research career, Dr. Kim has presented outstanding results at prominent international conferences such as the International Nuclear Physics Conference, Strangeness in Quark Matter, Hard Probes, Initial Stage, and the International Conference on High Energy Physics, and has published multiple first-author papers. Exceptional research activity is expected to continue.

In recognition of these research achievements, Dr. Kim was selected as a recipient of the CERN Fellowship, directly appointed by CERN, in December, 2023 and has been continuing nuclear physics research at CERN as a Fellow since April 1, 2024.

Selection as a CERN Fellow is very rare for researchers from Korea, and in particular Dr. Kim's direct application and selection by CERN underscores a high level of research competitiveness.

Dr. Junyi Kim stated, "As a proud JBNU alumnus who was educated and grew here, I will continue research to measure the light quarks and heavy quarks produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, and the interactions between produced quarks and the medium or among quarks, in order to elucidate the formation mechanisms and evolution of the quark–gluon plasma."