A Korean-American businessman has been appointed to head the largest research and development organization in the United States.

Lucent Technologies announced Thursday the appointment of the Chief Operating Officer of Lucent's Optical Networking Group, Kim Jeong-hoon, to head Bell Labs. Bell Labs is a research arm of Lucent which has produced eleven Nobel Prize winners.

Lucent Technologies CEO Pat Russo said she is confident that Kim's wide range of experience, his entrepreneurial mind, and his ability to commercialize new technologies will further boost the competitiveness of Bell Labs.

Referred to as the Bill Gates of South Korea, the 39-year-old Kim joined Lucent Technologies in 1998 when Lucent acquired Yurie Systems, a global leader in data networking access technology.

Kim founded Yurie Systems in 1992, took the company public in 1997 and made it into Business Week's Number One Hot Growth Company for 1997. He was also cited in Forbes Magazine as one of the 400 richest people in the United States.