Sol Lim honored with endowed fellowship
Known for her work in ergonomics and human-robot collaboration, Lim has earned over $3.1 million in funding from leading federal research agencies.
Sol Lim, assistant professor of industrial and systems engineering in the College of Engineering, has been named to a Grado Early Career Faculty Fellowship in Industrial and Systems Engineering by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.
The Grado Faculty Fellowships were established in 2022 by the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and are supported by the John Grado Industrial and Systems Engineering Excellence Fund endowment. These faculty fellowships enable the department to retain and attract outstanding faculty, contributing to the scholarly and research productivity of faculty in the department as well as to the department’s external reputation.
A member of the Virginia Tech community for more than four years, Lim has made significant research contributions to ergonomics and human factors, occupational health and safety, human-robot collaboration, and inclusive design.
In addition, Lim has published more than 21 journal papers and 26 refereed conference papers. Her work has been cited 374 times, and she has delivered 24 invited presentations.
Lim has served on the department’s Invited Seminar Series Committee and its Honors and Awards Committee. She is an active reviewer for seven journals and has served on grant review panels for the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. She also has chaired multiple sessions at the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society annual conferences.
Lim has secured more than $3.1 million in external funding with a personal share of $1.3 million. She has received 21 external grants, serving as principal investigator on 15 of them. She received the Outstanding New Assistant Professor Award from the College of Engineering in 2025. Her teaching has been recognized with the Outstanding Industrial and Systems Engineering Graduate Instructor Award from the Alpha Phi Mu honor society. She received the Faculty of the Year Award in 2023 and 2024 from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society student chapter for exemplary teaching and mentoring.
Throughout her career, Lim has served as a mentor and advisor for many undergraduate and graduate students. She has graduated one Ph.D. student and is currently advising three Ph.D. students who have all published at least one journal article. Three of her Ph.D. students have received national recognition.
She significantly revised the curriculum in graduate human factors engineering courses by integrating more experiential learning opportunities, including lab sessions, interactive activities, and real-world applications of wearable sensing systems.
Lim received her bachelor’s degree in clothing and textiles from Yonsei University, master's degrees in industrial engineering from Seoul National University and biomedical engineering from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. in industrial and operations engineering from the University of Michigan.
Written by Emily Southern, a senior majoring in multimedia journalism and student writer for Virginia Tech Marketing and Communications
