Biography
Jinwon Kim, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor and Interim Graduate Coordinator in the Department of Tourism, Hospitality, and Event Management at the University of Florida. He is a Director of the UF Community Spatial Lab. The overall goal of his research is to identify the role of recreation, park and tourism in the creation of an active, vibrant, healthy, sustainable and resilient community. To achieve his research goal, Dr. Kim’s research has focused on three areas: (1) community development, policy and sustainability; (2) tourism geographies; (3) applications of geographic information system (GIS) and spatial technologies (GPS, RS, LiDAR, RS) in tourism/recreation planning, development and management.
Dr. Kim is especially interested in applying geospatial concepts and methodologies to problems that tourism and recreation managers face in their everyday decision-making. His work has appeared in many top-tier tourism, leisure, recreation, sport, health, community, geography, environmental planning, and business journals including Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism Management, Journal of Travel Research, Journal of Business Research, Leisure Sciences, Journal of Leisure Research, Journal of Sport Management, Sport Management Review, Journal of Physical Activity and Health, The Professional Geographer, City & Community, Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, and Journal of Public Policy & Marketing. With a productive publication record, Dr. Kim was appointed as an Editorial Board Member for Tourism Economics, Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, and Journal of Park and Recreation Administration.
Dr. Kim has received many prestigious awards. He is a recipient of five “Best Paper” awards: one at the 2021 International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education (ICHRIE) Conference; one at the 2021 Southern Regional Science Association (SRSA) Conference; one at the 2017 Asia Pacific Tourism Association (APTA) Conference; one at the 2017 Korea American Hospitality & Tourism Educators Association (KAHTEA) Conference; one at the 2010 Tourism Sciences Society of Korea (TOSOK) Conference. In 2021-2024, Dr. Kim also received the University of Florida Term Professorship Academic Achievement Award as a recognition of research productivity, specifically, publications, extramural funding, and national and international presentations.
Dr. Kim has been awarded more than $700,000 in research grants from prestigious agencies and organizations, including the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), North America Society for Sport Management (NASSM), The Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS), National Research Foundation of Korea, Korea Geographical Society (KGS), Korea Energy Economics Institute (KEEI) and Korea National Park Service (KNPS).
Research Interests
1. Community development, policy and Sustainability
· Environmental justice
· Planning, development and management of parks, recreation, sport and tourism resources
· Contributions of parks, recreation, sport and tourism to community sustainability and well-being
· Community resilience
2. Tourism geographies
· Spatio-temporal behaviors
· Coastal tourism and recreation
· Tourism and regional economics
· Spatial modeling and spatial interaction of tourism phenomena
· Tourism destination planning and management
3. Location analysis and policy of recreation, park, tourism and business industry using:
· Big data spatial analytics
· GeoAI
· Agent-based modeling
· Spatial structural equation modeling
· Spatial data analysis
· Spatial econometric models and methods
· Geospatial technologies (GIS, GPS, LiDAR, RS)
Courses
Graduate Level
· LEI6931 Sustainable Coastal Tourism
· LEI5188 Trends in Tourism and Recreation Management
· LEI5122 Outdoor Recreation and Park Management
· HLP6535 Research Methods in HHP
· HLP6515 Evaluation Procedures in HHP
· HMG6448C GIS and Spatial Analysis for Tourism and Social Data
Undergraduate Level
· LEI2181 (online) Leisure and Contemporary Society
· LEI3843 entrepreneurship in Tourism, Recreation & Sport Management
· LEI3120 Introduction to Outdoor Recreation
· LEI3301 Principle of Travel and Tourism
· LEI4880 Research Method in Tourism, Recreation and Sport Management
Now Accepting Graduate Students!
Dr. Kim will be accepting a PhD student in the Fall of 2022. He also has opportunities for undergraduate and master’s students to get involved in research in his community spatial lab. Please contact him via email (jinwonkim@ufl.edu) for more information.