Around the world, businesses are making record investments in artificial intelligence tools as they simultaneously grapple with the opportunities and disruptions posed by AI.
On the AU campus in Washington, the Kogod School of Business is investing in its faculty, as part of a larger push to prepare the next generation of business leaders for a business landscape where AI fluency will be essential.
This fall semester, the school welcomes two new faculty members to its growing Department of Information Technology and Analytics: Sun Joo Kim and Henry Heo, both accomplished scholars at the intersection of business and AI.
Kim and Heo join Kogod at a time when the school has embarked on an ambitious transformation: adding AI-focused courses, infusing the technology into existing curricula, and hiring new faculty members—including Heo and Kim—with deep experience in AI and machine learning.
This duo of new professors will bolster a faculty in the IT and analytics program that prepares students for careers in fields that will increasingly be in high demand in the coming years—from IT consulting to technology management, statistics, and operations management. AI is now a part of all core business verticals.
Sun Joo Kim will serve as a professor in the IT and Analytics Department after earning his PhD in Management Information Systems at Purdue University earlier this year.
While this may be your first introduction to Kim himself, it’s quite possible you’ve heard about his work.
During his doctoral program in Indiana, Kim developed a machine learning application that aims to predict how a firm’s performance might be impacted by its CEO. A paper on the concept, “Revisiting the CEO Effect Through a Machine Learning Lens,” appeared in Management Science in 2024.
Kim has also extensively studied digital commerce platforms, including a deep dive into the impact that home-sharing site Airbnb has on local real estate markets.
For Kim, part of the allure of Kogod was its Washington, DC location—just miles from Capitol Hill and critical policy discussions over the future of AI regulation.
“I thought there would be so many opportunities for me, not just in academia, but also with a lot of interaction with people in DC,” Kim said. “Whether it’s a think tank or government—especially since I’m doing a lot of research in terms of AI policy, and the impact of policy.”
A native of Korea, Kim is the son of a tenured college professor who first studied abroad in the US while completing his undergraduate studies at Korea University, where he majored in business administration.
He’ll be teaching Kogod’s business analytics courses, and hopes to continue his own AI learning journey alongside his students.