Sangtae “Sang” Kim, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Sangtae “Sang” Kim was appointed executive director of the new, private not-for-profit Morgridge Institute for Research in September 2008. In this position, he is building a world-class interdisciplinary biomedical research organization from the ground up. Located on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, it is intended to become the Midwest’s premier, private medical research institute.
Prior to his appointment at the Morgridge Institute, he was the Donald W. Feddersen Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University. His past work experience includes serving the National Science Foundation as director of the division of shared cyberinfrastructure, as well as six years of executive industry experience gained at Lilly Research Laboratories, Pfizer Global Research and Development and Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research.
Kim joined the UW-Madison faculty in 1983 and served as chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering from 1995-1997. During his tenure at UW-Madison, he also was granted a courtesy appointment in the Department of Computer Sciences, and was recognized as an exceptional teacher, scholar and intellectual leader.
He earned a Ph.D. in chemical and biological engineering from Princeton University in 1983, following concurrent bachelor's and master's of science degrees from the California Institute of Technology in 1979. In 2001, he was elected a member of the prestigious National Academy of Engineering for his contributions to microhydrodynamics, protein dynamics, and drug discovery through the application of high-performance computing.
Kim currently serves on the science board of the Food and Drug Administration and on the scientific advisory board of Venture Investors of Wisconsin. He has provided advice and technical support to a number of start-up companies, including Alien Technology, a California maker of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags for inventory tracking, and Indigo Biosystems, a software and information management company spun off from Eli Lilly & Co. in 2004.
He has earned numerous professional awards and honors, published and lectured widely as a researcher, contributed to variety of boards and committees and is proud of his many successful graduate students.
Born in Korea, Kim was raised in Canada. He enjoys spending time with his wife and two daughters, both currently in medical school. When not exploring and pushing the boundaries of the intersections of science and technology, he is an amateur historian who especially enjoys reading about the history of science.
