Youngmoo Kim, PhD, professor of electrical and computer engineering and
director of the Expressive and Creative Interaction Technologies
(ExCITe) Center
, has been appointed vice provost for University and Community
Partnerships, effective April 1, 2023.
Regarded as a leader in music technology research and STEAM (Science,
Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) education, Kim has worked to build
the ExCITe Center into a hub of learning and innovation that is committed
to the intersections of technology, creative and performing arts, and
digital equity. The ExCITe Center regularly hosts researchers, events, and
programs that foster creative endeavors integrating the arts and STEM.
Through a transdisciplinary approach, the ExCITe Center, under his
direction, has established partnerships with community, cultural, and
educational organizations throughout the city, including the Science
Leadership Academy (SLA) and SLA Middle School (SLAMS), the City of
Philadelphia’s Office of Innovation and Technology, Opera Philadelphia, the
United Way of Greater Philadelphia, and many others. ExCITe has been a
prominent participant in Drexel’s West Philadelphia Promise Neighborhood
initiatives, hosting Action for Early Learning (AFEL) and developing the
Young Dragons Summer STEAM camp that has served hundreds of West Philly
middle school students since 2018.
“We are confident that [Kim] is the ideal leader to build upon Drexel’s
infrastructure for neighborhood and community partnerships and continue the
work of establishing Drexel as the most civically engaged university in the
United States, across all three dimensions of engagement: academic; student
and employee volunteerism; and institutionally supported neighborhood
investment,” said President John Fry.
Kim’s education research has more recently focused on revealing implicit
bias and other exclusionary structures at the core of technology-centered
learning. His TEDxPhiladelphia talk in May 2019 focused on the stunning
lack of progress in terms of diversity, equity and inclusion in the
technology fields in both higher education and industry. This research has
helped establish the ExCITe Center as the home of Drexel’s efforts to
advance digital equity, particularly in West Philadelphia, spearheaded by
ExCITe’s Digital Navigators team and supported by the City of Philadelphia
and industry partners. The program provides a community help desk for
technical assistance and has refurbished and distributed more than 400
computers to local community members and organizations. The Digital
Navigators team also coordinates Digital Literacy programs at the Beachell
Family Learning Center of the Dornsife Center for Neighborhood
Partnerships.
Kim joined Drexel in 2005 and established the ExCITe Center in 2013. He has
co-authored more than 100 peer-reviewed research publications and has been
awarded $16M in external research funding as principal or co-investigator,
supported by the National Science Foundation, the John S. and James L.
Knight Foundation, and the Barra Foundation, among others. He served on the
National Academies committee for “Branches from the Same Tree,” a highly
impactful report on the integration of the Humanities & Arts with
Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Higher Education. At Drexel, among
other honors he received the 2012 Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching
and the College of Engineering’s 2021 Inclusive Excellence Award. Most
recently, he served as a member of the Anti-Racism Task Force, as co-chair
of the subcommittee on Graduate and Doctoral Student Life.
Kim succeeds Lucy Kerman, PhD, who concluded her 12-year tenure as Drexel’s inaugural senior vice provost for University
and Community Partnerships in December 2022.