About

Byoung-Do (BD) Kim is an Adjunct Professor of Data Sciences and Operations at USC Marshall School of Business, where he also holds a courtesy appointment. He joined USC in August 2019 to lead the Center for Advanced Research Computing. Dr. Kim earned his PhD in Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering from Purdue University. He possesses over 20 years of experience in advanced computing and big data fields. Prior to his appointment at USC, he spearheaded advanced research computing programs at esteemed R1 universities, including Harvard Medical School and Virginia Tech. His research interests encompass large-scale parallel computational models and advanced system design for computation and data convergence models.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Psychology
• Political Science
• Clinical psychology
• Psychiatry
• Medical emergency
• Economics
• Environmental health
• Nursing
• Public relations
• Medical education
• Demography
• Developmental psychology
• Management science
• Public economics
• Business

Selected publications

• School Reentry: Exploring Healing-Centered Mechanisms for Formerly Incarcerated Transition-Age Black Males in an Urban Intensive, Asset-Based Alternative School

  Education Sciences · 2026-04-20

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  As schools take on more responsibility for promoting student mental health, there is an increasing focus on how educational policies and practices enhance psychological well-being. However, research has yet to fully examine how alternative school environments support student mental health, especially for those facing structural inequities related to exclusionary discipline and system involvement. This exploratory qualitative case study examined how an urban intensive, asset-based alternative high school supports the mental health of formerly incarcerated transition-age (18–25) Black male students during reentry. Drawing on interviews (n = 12), observations (n = 33), a focus group (n = 4), and document review, analyzed using thematic analysis with the Radical Healing Framework as an interpretive lens, four interconnected themes emerged: academic engagement and high school completion as sources of future orientation; employment preparation as a pathway to economic stability and purpose; social-emotional stability fostered through relational support and collective care; and liberation from system involvement as relief from racialized surveillance. These mechanisms were perceived as reducing psychological distress, supporting emotional regulation, and promoting a sense of belonging and agency within and outside the alternative school context. Implications for healing-centered, culturally responsive educational policy, practice, and future research are discussed.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Time Scarcity, Health Behaviors, and Unconditional Cash in Los Angeles

  American Journal of Public Health · 2025-07-09 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Unconditional cash interventions, such as guaranteed income, are a proposed solution for mediating the adverse health outcomes associated with financial scarcity. To test this, the City of Los Angeles, California, conducted a mixed-methods, randomized controlled trial in which they gave 3202 people $1000 with no strings attached for 12 months in 2022. Although the quantitative findings demonstrated mixed health effects, the qualitative findings highlighted how recipients viewed their well-being as an insurance policy against scarcity and reallocated time to preventive health behaviors when receiving a guaranteed income. ( Am J Public Health. 2025;115(8):1222–1225. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2025.308125 )

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• To Whom Do These Results Apply? Assessing Evidence for the Generalizability of Social and Emotional Learning Programs Among Specific Racial and Ethnic Groups

  Review of Educational Research · 2025-02-01 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  Social and emotional learning (SEL) programs are widely used, yet concerns have arisen about whether the evidence for these programs extends to students of color (SOC). The data in this study include published articles (n = 158) of trials (n = 97) of SEL interventions (n = 32) from the CASEL SELect list of evidence-based SEL programs. Using racial frames common in intervention research, we examined the extent of SOC representation in SEL intervention trials, how authors attend to race/ethnicity in their analyses, and whether and how these analyses show evidence that these programs benefit specific racial/ethnic groups. While doing so, we discuss the complex nature of race and racism in SEL research. Eight interventions provided some evidence that they benefit Black students and four showed some evidence that they benefit Hispanic/Latiné students. No trials provided evidence of benefit to any other groups of SOC. Findings suggest that while representation of SOC in SEL trials has improved, additional research is needed to understand to whom the evidence for SEL program effectiveness applies.

  PublisherDOI

• Miracle friends and miracle money in California: a mixed-methods experiment of social support and guaranteed income for people experiencing homelessness

  Trials · 2024-04-29 · 7 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: This paper describes the protocols for a randomized controlled trial using a parallel-group trial design that includes an intervention designed to address social isolation and loneliness among people experiencing homelessness known as Miracle Friends and an intervention that combines Miracles Friends with an economic poverty-reduction intervention known as Miracle Money. Miracle Friends pairs an unhoused person with a volunteer "phone buddy." Miracle Money provides guaranteed basic income of $750 per month for 1 year to Miracle Friends participants. The study will examine whether either intervention reduces social isolation or homelessness compared to a waitlist control group. METHODS: Unhoused individuals who expressed interest in the Miracle Friends program were randomized to either receive the intervention or be placed on a waitlist for Miracle Friends. Among those randomized to receive the Miracle Friends intervention, randomization also determined whether they would be offered Miracle Money. The possibility of receiving basic income was only disclosed to study participants if they were randomly selected and participated in the Miracle Friends program. All study participants, regardless of assignment, were surveyed every 3 months for 15 months. RESULTS: Of 760 unhoused individuals enrolled in the study, 256 were randomized to receive Miracle Friends, 267 were randomized to receive Miracle Money, and 237 were randomized to the waitlist control group. In the two intervention groups, 360 of 523 unhoused individuals were initially matched to a phone buddy. Of the 191 study participants in the Miracle Money group who had been initially matched to a volunteer phone buddy, 103 were deemed to be participating in the program and began receiving monthly income. DISCUSSION: This randomized controlled trial will determine whether innovative interventions involving volunteer phone support and basic income reduce social isolation and improve housing outcomes for people experiencing homelessness. Although we enrolled unhoused individuals who initially expressed interest in the Miracle Friends program, the study team could not reach approximately 30% of individuals referred to the study. This may reflect the general lack of stability in the lives of people who are unhoused or limitations in the appeal of such a program to some portion of the unhoused population. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05408884 (first submitted on May 26, 2022).

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Monitoring the growth of social and emotional competence to guide practice decisions

  Social and Emotional Learning Research Practice and Policy · 2024-03-13 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  To facilitate social and emotional learning (SEL) in schools, assessments must be suitable for progress monitoring, which includes being sensitive to short-term changes in students’ social and emotional competence (SEC) and providing useful and timely information to educators. This paper discusses evidence criteria to help determine whether an instrument is suitable for progress monitoring of student SEC. To illustrate how action-oriented research can help further guide the development of evidence standards and inform SEL practice in schools, the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment-mini (DESSA-mini) is highlighted through two empirical case studies. Data for both case studies are derived from a district-wide implementation of an evidence-based SEL program, Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies (PATHS), that used the DESSA-mini to assess the SEC of 7,681 students in Grades K-5 at three time points over a school year. Multilevel models estimated the growth in student SEC under different implementation conditions and by different student characteristics (i.e., grade, gender, SEC at baseline). Findings suggest significant growth in SEC with some meaningful variation. Results are interpreted to illustrate how routine-practice studies can be used to infer how much growth is typical, among which students, and under what conditions, to facilitate real-time practice decisions. Impact Statement: To facilitate social and emotional learning in schools, educators need to monitor progress in students’ acquisition of social and emotional competence. Two case studies are presented to illustrate how studies can be used to infer how much growth is typical, among which students, and under what conditions, to facilitate real-time decisions by educators to adjust instruction.

  PublisherDOI

• Miracle Friends and Miracle Money in California: A mixed-methods experiment of social support and guaranteed income for people experiencing homelessness

  Research Square · 2023-09-06 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Developing and Testing a Measure of “Multiform Dosage” to Support the Implementation of School-based SEL Interventions

  Contemporary School Psychology · 2023-08-27 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Promise of Racial Healing to Achieve Health Equity Through School-Based Prevention

  American Journal of Public Health · 2023-06-01 · 3 citations

  editorialOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Universal School-Based Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) for Diverse Student Subgroups: Implications for Enhancing Equity Through SEL

  Prevention Science · 2023 · 17 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Psychology
  • Developmental psychology
  • Clinical psychology

  School-based, universal social and emotional learning (SEL) has been widely practiced and promoted as a promising approach to prevent youth mental, emotional, and behavioral problems. Although prior research has accumulated robust evidence of the average effects of universal SEL, it remains unclear whether it works similarly or differentially across diverse sociocultural subgroups of students. Investigating subgroup effects has implications for understanding the impact of universal SEL on possible subgroup disparities in student social-emotional competence (SEC). This study examined whether the effects of a universal SEL program on student SEC development differed across diverse student subgroups classified by gender, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, disability status, and English learner status. Data came from student SEC progress monitoring collected during a 1-year quasi-experimental study of a universal SEL program (N = 1592; Grades K-2). The results of multigroup latent growth modeling suggest that (a) the intervention effects were slightly larger for Black students, compared to White or other racial-ethnic subgroups, and (b) the effects were not different across other examined subgroups. This study also found that in the comparison condition, the SEC disparities between Black and White students tended to widen throughout the year, whereas in the intervention condition, Black students showed a similar rate of growth as their White peers. Findings suggest that universal SEL may be similarly beneficial across many diverse student subgroups, while it may yield larger benefits among some racially marginalized subgroups, preventing racial disparities from further widening. Yet the benefits of SEL may not be sufficient to reduce existing subgroup disparities. These findings suggest a need for more studies to examine differential effects of universal preventive programs by diverse subgroups to better inform practices that enhance equity in youth outcomes.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• TOOLBOX Effects on K-2 Student Growth in Social-Emotional Competence: Evidence from a Quasi-Experimental Study

  Contemporary School Psychology · 2022-11-12 · 6 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract TOOLBOX is a school-based social and emotional learning (SEL) program to teach and reinforce 12 tools (e.g., Breathing Tool, Courage Tool) for healthy youth development. Although TOOLBOX has been broadly adopted, it remains largely untested. This quasi-experimental study aims to examine the relationship between TOOLBOX implementation and the growth of social-emotional competence (SEC) among K-2 students. First, we compare the growth trajectories of SEC between TOOLBOX and non-TOOLBOX conditions during one academic year. Then, within the TOOLBOX condition, we compare two implementation directives—TOOLBOX Standard and TOOLBOX Primer—to assess (a) the extent to which TOOLBOX was implemented and (b) the SEC growth trajectories among youth. Two district schools were given an implementation directive and materials to implement TOOLBOX Standard curriculum (full, structured lesson plans and strategies with higher dosage anticipated), and two district schools to implement TOOLBOX Primer (basic, introductory lesson plans and strategies with lower dosage anticipated). There were no dosage benchmarks available for either condition. Two additional district schools practiced as usual (non-TOOLBOX). The study sample consisted of 1766 K-2 students and their 80 classroom teachers. Student SEC was measured three times using the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment-Mini, a teacher-completed brief behavioral rating scale. Implementation dosage and quality were measured three times using teacher self-reports. Latent growth modeling and t tests were conducted. In Fall, SEC did not differ between TOOLBOX and non-TOOLBOX conditions. TOOLBOX students, however, showed a greater increase in SEC over the year. Within the TOOLBOX condition, Standard teachers incorporated the “tools” into academic instruction more frequently in Spring compared to Primer teachers. For most other implementation variables, no statistical difference was found between TOOLBOX implementation directives. Student SEC growth trajectories did not differ between Standard and Primer schools. Quasi-experimental evidence supports the overall benefits of TOOLBOX on K-2 students’ social and emotional growth. We discuss possible reasons for non-differential outcomes between Standard and Primer implementation directives within the TOOLBOX condition (e.g., gap between implementation directives and actual implementation behaviors). The gap between implementation directives and behaviors may provide an impetus for practicing school psychologists to contribute to more robust forms of implementation leadership (e.g., remove obstacles for implementation) and offer implementation support (e.g., coaching, feedback loops).

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Valerie B. Shapiro

  University of California, Berkeley

  14 shared

• Eric Rice

  University of Southern California

  11 shared

• Patricia Logan‐Greene

  University at Buffalo, State University of New York

  10 shared

• Monique Holguin

  University of California, Los Angeles

  9 shared

• Hailey Winetrobe

  University of Southern California

  9 shared

• Chyna Hill

  University of Southern California

  9 shared

• Sara J. Landes

  University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

  8 shared

• Enola K. Proctor

  FrontLine Service

  7 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering

  Purdue University