By Guy Spriggs

UK Geography professor Daehyun Kim was recently named the recipient of the J Warren Nystrom Award, a prize presented every year by the Association of American Geographers (AAG).

The award, funded by geographer and former AAG Executive Director John Warren Nystrom, is given for the best dissertation paper presented by a recent doctoral graduate in geography.

Judging for the award began back in August of 2011. Kim was named a finalist for the Nystrom Award, and presented his paper at the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers in February 2012.

“To be honest, I was not very confident,” Kim explained. “During the presentation I saw a lot of good research, so I was not sure about the selection.”

Nevertheless, Kim was contacted by the Nystrom Committee Chair, who told him that he had won the 2012 J Warren Nystrom Award. “It’s a very prestigious award, so I am very happy. I was excited to inform my family and our department here at UK about the award,” he said.

After winning the award, Kim was invited to submit his paper for publication in Professional Geographer, the journal of the Association of American Geographers.

Kim’s academic interests involve the complex interrelations between soils, vegetation, geomorphology, and hydrodynamics. His award-winning paper investigated soil and vegetation patterns resulting from the formation and destruction of landforms by water flow in a Danish salt marsh.