The International Facility Management Association Foundation (IFMA) has awarded School of Building Construction Doctoral Student, Sungjin Kim with a prestigious scholarship. Kim has received the 2016 Pat Harris Scholarship from the IFMA Foundation.

Kim has been invited by IFMA to receive the scholarship at the annual IFMA World Workplace event held in San Diego in October. As part of his scholarship, IFMA has provided full conference access including the education sessions, networking, keynote address, travel expenses and receptions. The FM Academic Awards Reception and Scholarship Presentations will take place on the evening of Thursday, October 6th at the Marriott Marquis Marina Ballroom in San Diego.

Sungjin Kim is a 3rd year Ph.D. student in School of Building Construction, and has been working as a Graduate Research Assistant at CONECTech Lab. His research focuses on integrating Information Technologies (ITs) on Construction Management (CM) process, particularly investigating Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) and Building Information Modeling (BIM) in current. He is working with Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) in order to analysis the implication of UAS technology on GDOT's operations. He is also concentrating on the development of a data exchange system between BIM and UAS for automated target-based visual monitoring during construction process.

"Sungjin is an exemplar Ph.D. student and his research interests will yield benefits to the construction and facility management industries in the near future. We are very proud of Sungjin and look forward to his bright future ahead. The support of the IFMA foundation is greatly appreciated and helps to make possible the success of students like Sungin." Explained Sungjin’s Ph.D Advisor, Javier Irizarry, Associate Professor School of Building Construction and Director, CONECTech Lab @ Georgia Tech.

Students and Faculty in the School of Building Construction are engaged with IFMA at the local level too. The IFMA Atlanta Chapter encourages student participation at their meetings and forums. IFMA Atlanta mentors students and provides access to local professionals, buildings, student memberships, building data, and encourages the students to apply for the foundation scholarships. School of Building Construction faculty attend local meetings and bridge the gap between academia and the professional associations.

“We are pleased that Ph.D. student Sungjin Kim is the recipient of his prestigious IFMA Scholarship, which shows the determined interest from the industry on applied research conducted in the School of Building Construction.” Said Daniel Castro, Professor and Chair, School of Building Construction.