Stacy Kim

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About

Stacy Kim is a pioneering polar marine ecologist and roboticist whose work bridges deep-sea biology and autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) technology. Her research centers on benthic ecology in extreme environments, particularly under Antarctic ice shelves, and the development of robotic systems to explore these inaccessible habitats. Kim’s most notable contribution is the ARTEMIS under-ice AUV docking system (2017, 91 citations), which enables autonomous docking for sub-ice ocean and sub-glacial lake exploration—a critical innovation for both Earth-based polar research and planetary science missions to icy moons like Europa. This system allows AUVs to navigate through narrow, melted access shafts and recharge or upload data without human intervention, dramatically extending mission duration and data collection. Beyond this engineering feat, Kim has conducted foundational studies on seafloor community structure and disturbance recovery in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, with her work cited over 1,200 times. She has also led major NSF-funded projects integrating robotics with ecological monitoring, and her achievements include being a key scientist on the Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD) project, which first sampled a subglacial Antarctic lake. Kim’s interdisciplinary approach continues to shape how we explore and understand Earth’s last frontiers.