Dr. Yim graduated from Rice University (Houston, TX) with a BS degree in Civil Engineering with the highest honor (Summa Cum Laude). He did his graduate studies at the University of California at Berkeley and received his MS and PhD in Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials in addition to a MA degree in Mathematics. The focuses of his M.A. and Ph.D. were on computational fluid dynamics and structural mechanics, respectively. Dr. Yim taught and conducted research at Berkeley as a Visiting Lecturer (1982-84) before joining Exxon Production Research Company as a Senior Research Engineer (1984-87).

Dr. Yim joined Oregon State University in 1987 and is current professor of structural and ocean engineering, and acting director of the O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory (HWRL). At Oregon State University, Dr. Yim received several research awards including the US Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, the Oregon State University College of Engineering Research Leadership Award and the Alumni Professor Award. He was selected US Navy/ASEE Research Fellow (1993 and 2010) and the Royal Norwegian Research Council Senior Visiting Research Scientist (1994). Dr. Yim is a Fellow of both the American Society of Mechanical Engineering and the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Dr. Yim served on the State of Oregon Governor's Task Force on Shear-Cracked Bridges. He is a chair of the Task Committee on Storm Surge and Tsunamis of the US-Japan Natural Resources Panel (UJNR) on Wind and Seismic Effects. Dr. Yim served on the CUREE Board of Director and was a member of the Board of the NSF NEES Consortium.

In addition to being the Prinicpal Investigator (PI) of Office of Naval Research (ONR) and Naval Laboratory projects, Dr. Yim is the PI of the $5M NSF Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulations (NEES) Tsunami Wave Basin Construction (TWBC) Project (FY2000-04). He is also the PI of the follow-up NEES Site Maintenance, Operation and Mangement (MOM) Project (FY2005-14) with approximately $1M per year for 10 years.

Before becoming the Editor in Chief in 2007, Dr. Yim served as an Associate Editor of the ASME Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering for seven years. He is also an Associate Editor of the Journal of Ocean Engineering and serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal on Advances in Civil Engineering. Dr. Yim was a member of the Editorial Board of the ASCE Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering Division for 9 years.