Daehyeok Kim

Daehyeok Kim is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at The University of Texas at Austin, where he co-leads the UT Networked Systems Research Group and participates in the Wireless Networking and Communications Group and 6G@UT. He serves as co-PI for the LDOS NSF Expeditions in Computing project, a major initiative rethinking operating systems through AI.

His educational background includes a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University under advisors Vyas Sekar and Srinivasan Seshan, where his dissertation introduced abstractions for elastic in-network computing. He also earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in Computer Science and Engineering from POSTECH, South Korea, followed by research scientist work at KAIST prior to his Ph.D.

Kim's research centers on hardware-software co-design for cloud and edge data centers, targeting speed, efficiency, and resilience. Key projects include resource management for programmable infrastructure, robust cellular network design, end-to-end network transport frameworks, and learning-directed operating systems. His work bridges computer networks, operating systems, distributed systems, and 5G/6G technologies, with emphasis on virtualized radio access networks (vRAN) and edge computing challenges.

Analysis of his recent publications reveals a dominant focus on enhancing 5G/6G infrastructure reliability—particularly in virtualized RANs—through innovations in failover mechanisms, integrity protection, and latency-sensitive resource allocation. His research consistently addresses critical industry pain points like sub-second availability requirements, fronthaul security vulnerabilities, and end-to-end service-level objective (SLO) guarantees for mobile-edge applications.

Notable scientific awards include:

• NSF CAREER Award (2025) for advancing cloud hardware efficiency
• Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship (2019)
• Bronze Award at Samsung HumanTech Paper Awards (2018)
• Qualcomm Innovation Awards (2016)

His grant portfolio features leadership in the $10M+ LDOS NSF Expeditions project and the NSF CAREER award, both driving transformative work in AI-integrated operating systems and resilient network infrastructure. These projects demonstrate strong industry-academia collaboration with Microsoft Research, wireless vendors, and cloud providers.

Kim co-leads the UT Networked Systems Research Group, which operates within the Wireless Networking and Communications Group and 6G@UT consortium. These labs maintain a 5G/6G testbed for Open RAN validation and focus on solving real-world problems in cellular infrastructure, edge computing, and network security through close partnerships with industry leaders.