Hyungsoo Kim, associate professor in the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, recently received a prestigious award from the American Council on Consumer Interests.

The organization recently awarded Kim the Mid-Career Award. The award is given to an active member in the organization who has worked in the field of family finance for less than 15 years and excels at research and teaching. He received the award during the organization’s annual conference in Milwaukee.

In the UK Department of Family Sciences, Kim focuses on research related to family financial security over a lifetime, specifically how chronic health conditions later in life affect financial security and personal motivation tools geared toward middle-aged individuals to increase their retirement savings to mitigate and better plan for chronic health problems later in life. Kim has published 24 peer-reviewed articles in various journals on this topic including three that appeared in the council’s Journal of Consumer Affairs.

“Dr. Kim’s current research interest uses a theory from behavioral economics designed to increase retirement savings and investment amounts for individuals nearing retirement,” said Claudia Heath, professor in the UK Department of Family Sciences who is working with Kim on several projects. “His work in this research area is very promising for changing the way scholars view and practitioners approach developing financial self-sufficiency.”

Kim also teaches undergraduate and graduate students in the areas of personal and family finance.

As a member of the council, Kim served as a member of the group’s board of directors from 2010 to 2013, and helped increased international activities and participation. He has also served a reviewer for the Journal of Consumer Affairs.