The Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association (KSEA), a non-profit Korean professional organization based in the United States with over 6,000 registered members, bestowed upon President Steve Kang of KAIST the 2015 Outstanding Contribution Award.
The award is presented to a person who has made significant contributions to the development of KSEA.
The award ceremony took place during the 2015 US-Korea Conference on Science, Technology, and Entrepreneurship (UKC), which was held on July 30, 2015, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia.
The UKC is the flagship conference of KSEA, which takes place every year, and covers science, engineering, technology, industry, entrepreneurship, and leadership. It attracts more than 1,200 participants from the US and Korea. The UKC 2015 was held on July 29-August 1, 2015.
President Kang has participated in UKC conferences over the past few years as a plenary speaker, addressing major issues in science and technology for both nations, and provided generous support for the activities of UKC and KSEA. He also promoted discussions and exchanges of professional knowledge in his field, microelectronics, by organizing fora and symposia.
He addressed the UKC 2015 as a plenary speaker with a speech entitled “Pursuing Excellence with a Servant’s Heart.” President Kang said that good leadership should bring out synergistic contributions from all constituents and achieve excellence under all circumstances. He mentioned one example of good leadership, known as humble leadership, and explained how such leadership played an important role in the development of scientific breakthroughs, such as the world’s premier high-end microprocessor chip sets first produced by his team under extremely high pressure.

Every summer, algal blooms turn rivers and lakes green. Although they are widely known as a major form of water pollution that makes the water murky, a KAIST research team has now shown for the first time that algal bloom conditions can make discarded plastics, such as plastic bags, more prone to breaking apart, potentially accelerating the formation of microplastics. The study points to a new direction for the era of climate change: water pollution and plastic pollution need to be managed tog
2026-07-29Building next-generation semiconductors and low-power electronic devices requires precisely stacking materials with different functions. In this process, it is essential to preserve each material's intrinsic properties, as well as the interface where the two materials meet, without damage. Layered van der Waals materials, including transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), have attracted considerable attention as next-generation semiconductor platforms because their layers interact through weak
2026-07-27A new era of Physical AI is taking shape, enabling wearable robots and humanoids to understand and predict human movement and achieve more precise control. KAIST, which possesses world-class research capabilities in wearable robotics, and NVIDIA will collaborate to develop a Human Motion Foundation Model that enables AI to learn human movement and physical intelligence. KAIST, led by President Choongsik Bae, announced on July 25 that it will establish a NVIDIA AI Technology Center (NVAITC) wi
2026-07-26No wires. No actuators. Shine light on the metal surface, and it rises like a button. KAIST researchers have developed a metal structure that changes shape using light, without any light-absorbing coating. This technology could open new possibilities for tactile interfaces with physical pop-up buttons, shape displays, next-generation wearable devices, and soft robots. KAIST (President Choongsik Bae) announced on the 20th of July that a research team led by Professor Il-Kwon Oh from the De
2026-07-20Researchers have uncovered a clue to why immune checkpoint inhibitors—cancer therapies that release the immune “brakes” exploited by tumors to evade attack—show limited efficacy in some brain tumors. A KAIST research team found that B cell and antibody responses initiated in tumor-draining lymph nodes, rather than T cells alone, are critical to the antitumor effects of anti-CTLA-4 therapy, opening a new avenue for treating intractable brain tumors. KAIST (President
2026-07-20