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Six Professors Recognized for the National R&D Excellence 100
Six KAIST professors were listed among the 2018 National R&D Excellence 100 announced by the Ministry of Science and ICT and Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning.
Professor Il-Doo Kim from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering was recognized for his research on developing source technology for manufacturing a highly sensitive gas sensor with low power consumption. His work was recognized as most excellent in the field of mechanics and materials.
Additionally, Professor Ho Min Kim from the Graduate School of Medical Science & Engineering was listed as most excellent in the field of life and marine science for providing structural insights into the mechanism of proteins that regulates synapse development.
Meanwhile, Professor Byong-Guk Park from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering was listed as excellent in the field of mechanics and materials for his work on thermal spin current.
In the field of energy and environment, Professor Jae Woo Lee from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering was listed as excellent for his work on CO₂ conversion to carbon materials.
Last but not least, Professor Min H. Kim from the School of Computing and Professor Kyung Cheol Choi from the School of Electrical Engineering were recognized as being excellent in the field of information and electronics. Professor Kim was recognized for image processing technology that reconstructs interlaced high-dynamic range video while Professor Choi was lauded for realizing flexible displays on fabrics.
A certificate from the Minister of Ministry of Science and ICT will be conferred to the scientists and their names will be listed on a special 2018 National R&D Excellence 100 plaque to celebrate their achievement.
These six professors will be nominated for merits including the Order of Merit, the President’s commendation, and the Prime Minister’s commendation and given privileges during the process of new R&D project selection.
2018.10.18 View 5748 -
Dr. Sejeong Kim Recognized as Excellent Young Scientist
(Dr. Sejeong Kim)
Dr. Sejeong Kim, a postdoctoral research associate in the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of Technology Sydney was honored to receive the Excellence Award for a Young Scientist by the Korea Federation of Women’s Science & Technology Association (KOFWST). The award ceremony will be held on October 31 in Seoul.
KOFWST recognizes ten promising young female scientists and engineers every year who show significant potential, passion, and remarkable achievement in their work. The awardees are selected among those who finished their degree within the previous five years. Dr. Kim earned her Ph.D. in physics at KAIST in 2014 and was selected as the winner in the field of physics in recognition of her outstanding research activities in photonics.
Dr. Kim conducted various research activities in the field of photonics and was published in high impact journals including Nano Letters and Advanced materials. In July, she developed the first photonic cavity from van der Waals materials and published the study in Nature Communications titled “Photonic Crystal Cavities from Hexagonal Boron Nitride.” At UTS, she carries out research activities supervised by Professor Igor Aharonovich and has engaged in many science outreach activities.
2018.10.18 View 7007 -
Skin Hardness to Estimate Better Human Thermal Status
(Professor Young-Ho Cho and Researcher Sunghyun Yoon)
Under the same temperature and humidity, human thermal status may vary due to individual body constitution and climatic environment. A KAIST research team previously developed a wearable sweat rate sensor for human thermal comfort monitoring. Furthering the development, this time they proposed skin hardness as an additional, independent physiological sign to estimate human thermal status more accurately. This novel approach can be applied to developing systems incorporating human-machine interaction, which requires accurate information about human thermal status.
Professor Young-Ho Cho and his team from the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering had previously studied skin temperature and sweat rate to determine human thermal comfort, and developed a watch-type sweat rate sensor that accurately and steadily detects thermal comfort last February (title: Wearable Sweat Rate Sensors for Human Thermal Comfort Monitoring ).
However, skin temperature and sweat rate are still not enough to estimate exact human thermal comfort. Hence, an additional indicator is required for enhancing the accuracy and reliability of the estimation and the team selected skin hardness. When people feel hot or cold, arrector pili muscles connected to hair follicles contract and expand, and skin hardness comes from this contraction and relaxation of the muscles. Based on the phenomenon of changing skin hardness, the team proposed skin hardness as a new indicator for measuring human thermal sensation.
With this new estimation model using three physiological signs for estimating human thermal status, the team conducted human experiments and verified that skin hardness is effective and independent from the two conventional physiological signs. Adding skin hardness to the conventional model can reduce errors by 23.5%, which makes its estimation more reliable.
The team will develop a sensor that detects skin hardness and applies it to cognitive air-conditioning and heating systems that better interact with humans than existing systems.
Professor Cho said, “Introducing this new indicator, skin hardness, elevates the reliability of measuring human thermal comfort regardless of individual body constitution and climatic environment. Based on this method, we can develop a personalized air conditioning and heating system that will allow affective interaction between humans and machines by sharing both physical and mental health conditions and emotions.”
This research, led by researchers Sunghyun Yoon and Jai Kyoung Sim, was published in Scientific Reports, Vol.8, Article No.12027 on August 13, 2018. (pp.1-6)
Figure 1. Measuring human thermal status through skin hardness
Figure 2. The instrument used for measuring human thermal status through skin hardness
2018.10.17 View 7513 -
Scientist of October, Professor Haeshin Lee
(Professor Haeshin Lee from the Department of Chemistry)
Professor Haeshin Lee from the Department of Chemistry received the ‘Science and Technology Award of October’ from the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Research Foundation of Korea for his contribution to developing an antibleeding injection needle. This novel outcome will fundamentally prevent the problem of secondary infections of AIDS, Ebola and Hepatitis viruses transmitting from patients to medical teams.
This needle’s surface is coated with hemostatic materials. Its concept is simple and the key to this technology is to make materials that are firmly coated on the needle so that they can endure frictional force when being injected into skin and blood vessels. Moreover, the materials should be adhesive to skin and the interior of blood vessels, but harmless to humans.
Professor Lee found a solution from natural polymer ingredients. Catecholamine can be found in mussels. Professor Lee conjugated catechol groups on the chitosan backbone. He applied this mussel-inspired adhesive polymer Chitosan-catechol, which immediately forms an adhesive layer with blood, as a bioadhesion for the antibleeding injection needle.
Professor Lee said, “Chitosan-catechol, which copies the adhesive mechanism of mussels, shows high solubility in physiological saline as well as great mucoadhesion. Hence, it is perfectly suitable for coating the injection needle. Combining it with proteins allows for efficient drug delivery to the heart, which is a challenging injection location, so it will be also useful for treating incurable heart disease.”
2018.10.05 View 13073 -
The 1st Korea Toray Science and Technology Awardee, Prof. Sukbok Chang
(Distinguished Professor Sukbok Chang from the Department of Chemistry)
The Korea Toray Science Foundation (KTSF) awarded the first Korea Toray Science Technology Award in basic science to Distinguished Professor Sukbok Chang from the Department of Chemistry on September 19.
KTSF was established in January 2018, and its award goes to researchers who have significantly contributed to the development of chemistry and materials research with funds to support research projects.
Distinguished Professor Chang has devoted himself in organocatalysis research; in particular, his work on catalysts for effective lactam formation, which was an intricate problem, received great attention.
The award ceremony will take place in The Federation of Korean Industries Hall on October 31. KTFS board members, judges, and the CEO of Toray Industries Akihiro Nikkaku will attend the ceremony. Also, Dr. Ryoji Noyori, the Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, will give a talk on the role of chemistry and creative challenges as a researcher.
2018.10.04 View 11094 -
President Shin Presents Opportunities & Challenges of the 4IR at the Summer Davos Forum
(President Shin makes a keynote speech at the 2018 Summer Davos Forum in China on Sept.20.)
KAIST co-hosted the Asia Session with the World Economic Forum during the 2018 Summer Davos Forum in Tianjin, China from September 18 through 20. The session highlighted regional collaboration in Asia to promote inclusive growth in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
KAIST is working closely with the WEF to take the lead in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Last July, KAIST established the Fourth Industrial Revolution Information Center (FIRIC) at the KAIST Institute and signed an MOU with the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) at the WEF in October. The session is a follow-up event KAIST and the C4IR agreed to last year during the Roundtable Session held in Seoul.
Many experts in new emerging industries as well as many project directors, including Director Murat Sonmez of the C4IR, attended the session KAIST hosted. Director Chizuru Suga at the C4IR in Japan, Director Danil Kerimi in China, and Director Shailesh Sharda in India also attended the session and discussed ways to expand collaboration and networks among the countries.
In his keynote speech at the session on September 20, President Sung-Chul Shin presented how the Korean government is trying to drive the economy by strategically investing in focused industries in the new global industrial environment. President Shin introduced the government’s strategic roadmap to build the competitiveness of emerging technologies such as AI, blockchain, and precision medicine.
He also stressed that the three components of innovation, collaboration, and speed should be prioritized in all sectors for the successful realization of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. For instance, innovation in education, research, and technology commercialization, expansive domestic and international collaboration beyond the private and public sectors, speedy deregulation, and efficient governance will all be critical.
He also said that KAIST will launch new pilot collaboration projects along with the WEF soon. “We paved the way for leading the network with major countries including Japan and India for advancing the Fourth Industrial Revolution through this session,” President Shin said.
2018.09.21 View 9940 -
Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee Announced as the Eni Award Recipient
(Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee)
Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering will be awarded the 2018 Eni Advanced Environmental Solutions Prize in recognition of his innovations in the fields of energy and environment. The award ceremony will take place at the Quirinal Palace, the official residence of Italian President Sergio Mattarella, who will also be attending on October 22.
Eni, an Italian multinational energy corporation established the Eni Award in 2008 to promote technological and research innovation of efficient and sustainable energy resources. The Advanced Environmental Solutions Prize is one of the three categories of the Eni Award. The other two categories are Energy Transition and Energy Frontiers. The Award for Advanced Environmental Solutions recognizes a researcher or group of scientists that has achieved internationally significant R&D results in the field of environmental protection and recovery. The Eni Award is referred to as the Nobel Award in the fields of energy and environment.
Professor Lee, a pioneering leader in systems metabolic engineering was honored with the award for his developing engineered bacteria to produce chemical products, fuels, and non-food biomass materials sustainably and with a low environmental impact. He has leveraged the technology to develop microbial bioprocesses for the sustainable and environmentally friendly production of chemicals, fuels, and materials from non-food renewable biomass.
The award committee said that they considered the following elements in assessing Professor Lee’s achievement: the scientific relevance and the research innovation level; the impact on the energy system in terms of sustainability as well as fairer and broader access to energy; and the adequacy between technological and economic aspects.
Professor Lee, who already won two other distinguished prizes such as the George Washington Carver Award and the PV Danckwerts Memorial Lecture Award this year, said, “I am so glad that the international academic community as well as global industry leaders came to recognize our work that our students and research team has made for decades.”
Dr. Lee’s lab has been producing a lot of chemicals in environmentally friendly ways. Among them, many were biologically produced for the first time and some of these processes have been already commercialized. “We will continue to strive for research outcomes with two objectives: First, to develop bio-based processes suitable for sustainable chemical industry. The other is to contribute to the human healthcare system through development of platform technologies integrating medicine and nutrition,” he added.
2018.09.12 View 9509 -
Center for Industrial Future Strategy Takes Off at KAIST
(Professor Wonjoon Kim from the School of Business and Technology Management)
Professors from KAIST and major international universities launched a mega-scale research center focusing on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, named the Center for Industrial Future Strategy (CIFS).
This center is funded by the National Research Foundation Korea and will receive 2.25 billion KRW over four years.
Directed by Professor Wonjoon Kim from the School of Business and Technology Management, the center is comprised of ten top-tier researchers and four research associates, including Professor Hawoon Jeong (KAIST), Professor Scott Stern (MIT), Professor Aaron Chatterji (Duke University), Dr. Yong Suk Lee (Stanford University) and Professor Hyejin Youn (Northwestern University).
The center will conduct research on technical, social, and economic changes derived by a new paradigm of technological innovation.
Moreover, they will study policies and strategies in relation to innovation in the corporate and government sectors to achieve economic growth in a sustainable manner. The center will also propose policies and strategies in a variety of economic and industrial settings to establish a sustainable and global innovation ecosystem.
To carry out these studies successfully, CIFS will further expand the AIEA-NBER Conference with the Asia Innovation and Entrepreneurship Association (AIEA) and the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) in which numerous Nobel Laureates in Economics are affiliated. They will also comprise thematic research teams with co-founding universities to build stronger cooperation with one another.
Besides the academic cooperation, the center will also build partnerships with international organizations, including the Asian Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank to carry out their missions at multilateral levels.
Their research topics include changes to value chains in a new paradigm of technological innovation, labor market changes in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, sharing economies and social interests, big data, artificial intelligence & privacy policy, and innovation & ethical and institutional countermeasures to AI technology.
Professor Kim said, “The new paradigm of technological innovation is evolving social, economic, and industrial structures, such as R&D, industry, technology, labor, finance, and institutions. The Center will contribute to proposing policies and strategies so that Korea, as well as the international community, can take appropriate measures to these big changes.”
2018.09.11 View 12827 -
Electron Heating in Weakly Ionized Collisional Plasmas
(from left: Professor Wonho Choe and Research Professor Sanghoo Park)
A KAIST research team successfully identified the underlying principles behind electron heating, which is one of the most important phenomena in plasmas. As the electric heating determines wide range of physical and chemical properties of plasmas, this outcome will allow relevant industries to extend and effectively customize a range of plasma characteristics for their specific needs.
Plasma, frequently called the fourth state of matter, can be mostly formed by artificially energizing gases in standard temperature (25°C) and pressure (1 atm) range. Among the many types of plasma, atmospheric-pressure plasmas have been gaining a great deal of attention due to their unique features and applicability in various scientific and industrial fields.
Because plasma characteristics strongly depends on gas pressure in the sub-atmospheric to atmospheric pressure range, characterizing the plasma at different pressures is a prerequisite for understanding the fundamental principles of plasmas and for their industrial applications.
In that sense, information on the spatio-temporal evolution in the electron density and temperature is very important because various physical and chemical reactions within a plasma arise from electrons. Hence, electron heating has been an interesting topic in the field of plasma.
Because collisions between free electrons and neutral gases are frequent under atmospheric-pressure conditions, there are physical limits to measuring the electron density and temperature in plasmas using conventional diagnostic tools, thus the principles behind free electron heating could not be experimentally revealed.
Moreover, lacking information on a key parameter of electron heating and its controlling methods is troublesome and limit improving the reactivity and applicability of such plasmas.
To address these issues, Professor Wonho Choe and his team from the Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering employed neutral bremsstrahlung-based electron diagnostics in order to accurately examine the electron density and temperature in target plasmas. In addition, a novel imaging diagnostics for two dimensional distribution of electron information was developed.
Using the diagnostic technique they developed, the team measured the nanosecond-resolved electron temperature in weakly ionized collisional plasmas, and they succeeded in revealing the spatiotemporal distribution and the fundamental principle involved in the electron heating process.
The team successfully revealed the fundamental principle of the electron heating process under atmospheric to sub-atmospheric pressure (0.25-1atm) conditions through conducting the experiment on the spatiotemporal evolution of electron temperature.
Their findings of the underlying research data on free electrons in weakly ionized collisional plasmas will contribute to enhancing the field of plasma science and their commercial applications.
Professor Choe said, “The results of this study provide a clear picture of electron heating in weakly ionized plasmas under conditions where collisions between free electrons and neutral particles are frequent. We hope this study will be informative and helpful in utilizing and commercializing atmospheric-pressure plasma sources in the near future.”
Articles related to this research, led by Research Professor Sanghoo Park, were published in Scientific Reports on May 14 and July 5.
Figure 1. Nanosecond-resolved visualization of the electron heating structure. Spatiotemporal evolution of 514.5-nm continuum radiation,Te, Ar I emission
Figure 2. Nanosecond-resolved visualization of electron heating. Spatiotemporal evolution of neutral bremsstrahlung at 514.5 nm
2018.09.10 View 7855 -
There Won't Be a Singularity: Professor Jerry Kaplan
(Professor Jerry Kaplan gave a lecture titled, Artificial Intelligence: Think Again at KAIST)
“People are so concerned about super intelligence, but the singularity will not happen,” said Professor Jerry Kaplan at Stanford University, an AI guru and Silicon Valley entrepreneur during a lecture at KAIST. He visited KAIST to give a lecture on Artificial Intelligence: Think Again on September 6.
Professor Kaplan said that some people argue that Korea’s AI research is behind the US and China but he doesn’t agree with that. “Korea is the most digitally connected one and has the world’s best engineers in the field. Korean companies are building products the consumers really like at reasonable prices. Those are attracting global consumers,” he added.
Instead of investing loads of money on AI research, he suggested three tasks for Korea taking a better position in the field of AI: Collecting and saving lots of data; training engineers, not the research talents in AI; and investing in AI infrastructure and relieving regulations by the government.
Referring to AI hype, Professor Kaplan argued that machines are intelligent, but they do not think in the way humans can, and assured the audience that the singularity some futurists predict will not be coming. He said, “Machine learning is a tool extracting useful information, but it does not mean they are so smart that they are taking over the world.”
(Professor Jerry Kaplan gave a lecture titled, Artificial Intelligence: Think Again at KAIST)
But what has made us believing AI myths? He first began pointing out how AI has been mythicized by three major drivers. Those are the entertainment industry, the popular media, and the AI community all wanting to attract more public attention and prestige. The abovementioned drivers are falsely making robots more human and are adding human characteristics.
Instead of being captivated by those AI myths and thinking about how to save the world from robots, he strongly argued, “We need to develop standards for the unintended side effects from AI.” To provide machines socially and ethically mingling with the human world, he believed principles should be set as follows: Define the Safe Operating Envelope (SOE), “safe modes” when out of bounds, study human behavior programmatically, certification and licensing standards, limitations on machine “agency,” and basic computational ethics such as when it is okay to break the law.
Professor Kaplan gave a positive view of AI for humans. “The future will be bright, thanks to AI. They do difficult work and help us and that will drive wealth and quality of life. The rich might get richer, but the benefits will spread throughout the people. It is time to think of innovative ways for using AI for building better world,” he concluded.
2018.09.10 View 6471 -
NEREC Summer Program Keeps Fellows Thinking, Engaged in Nuclear Nonproliferation
Nuclear technology is more than just technology. It is the fruit of the most advanced science and technology. It also requires high standards of policymaking and global cooperation for benefiting the technology.
As part of the fifth annual Nuclear Nonproliferation Education and Research Center (NEREC) Summer Fellows Program at KAIST, 24 students from 15 countries participated in six-week intensive education and training program. NEREC is the only university-based center dedicated to nuclear nonproliferation education and research established in 2014.
The program, which provides multidisciplinary lectures and seminars on nuclear technology and policy as well as international relations, was designed to nurture global nuclear technology experts well equipped in three areas: in-depth knowledge of technology, applicability gained from sound policy building, and negotiating for international cooperation. It now has grown into the most popular summer program at KAIST.
During the program from July 6 to August 18, participants were able to engage in enriching and stimulating learning experiences in tandem with policies and technology for the utilization and provision of peaceful and safe nuclear technology.
Participating fellows also had to conduct a group research project on a given topic. This year, they explored nuclear nonproliferation issues in relation to nuclear exports and brainstormed some recommendations for current policy. They presented their outcomes at the 2018 NEREC Conference on Nuclear Nonproliferation. After intensive lecture sessions and group research work, the fellows went off to key policy think-tanks, nuclear research institutes, and research power facilities in Korea, Japan, and China.
“NEREC emphasizes nuclear nonproliferation issues related to civilian nuclear power and the associated nuclear fuel cycle development from the point of technology users. I am very glad that the number of participants are increasing year by year,” said the Director of NEREC Man-Sung Yim, a professor in the Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering.
Participants’ majors vary from nuclear engineering to international relations to economics. The fellows divided into two groups of graduate and undergraduate courses. They expressed their deep satisfactory in the multidisciplinary lectures by scholars from KAIST, Seoul National University, and Korea National Defense University.
Many participants reported that they learned a lot, not only about policy and international relations but on the research they are conducting and what the key issues will be in dealing for producing meaningful research work.
Moad Aldbissi from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology is one of the students who shared the same view. He said, “Coming from a technical background in nuclear engineering, I managed to learn a lot about nuclear policy and international relations. The importance of integrating the technical and political fields became even clearer.”
Most students concurred that they recognized how important it was to make international collaboration in this powerful field for each country through this program.
“As an engineering student, I just approached this program like an empty glass in policy areas. While working with colleagues during the program, I came to understand how important it is to make cooperation in these fields for the better result of national development and international relations,” said Thanataon Pornphatdetaudom from the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
To Director Yim, this program is becoming well positioned to educate nuclear policy experts in a number of countries of strategic importance. He believes the continuous supply of these experts will contribute to promoting global nuclear nonproliferation and the peaceful use of nuclear energy while the use of nuclear technology continues.
2018.09.04 View 13153 -
Adding Smart to Science Museum
KAIST and the National Science Museum (NSM) created an Exhibition Research Center for Smart Science to launch exhibitions that integrate emerging technologies in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, including augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), Internet of Things (IoTs), and artificial intelligence (AI).
There has been a great demand for a novel technology for better, user-oriented exhibition services. The NSM continuously faces the problem of not having enough professional guides. Additionally, there have been constant complaints about its current mobile application for exhibitions not being very effective.
To tackle these problems, the new center was founded, involving 11 institutes and universities. Sponsored by the National Research Foundation, it will oversee 15 projects in three areas: exhibition-based technology, exhibition operational technology, and exhibition content.
The group first aims to provide a location-based exhibition guide system service, which allows it to incorporate various technological services, such as AR/VR to visitors. An indoor locating system named KAILOS, which was developed by KAIST, will be applied to this service. They will also launch a mobile application service that provides audio-based exhibition guides.
To further cater to visitors’ needs, the group plans to apply a user-centered ecosystem, a living lab concept to create pleasant environment for visitors.
“Every year, hundred thousands of young people visit the National Science Museum. I believe that the exhibition guide system has to be innovative, using cutting-edge IT technology in order to help them cherish their dreams and inspirations through science,” Jeong Heoi Bae, President of Exhibition and Research Bureau of NSM, emphasized.
Professor Dong Soo Han from the School of Computing, who took the position of research head of the group, said, “We will systematically develop exhibition technology and contents for the science museum to create a platform for smart science museums. It will be the first time to provide an exhibition guide system that integrates AR/VR with an indoor location system.”
The center will first apply the new system to the NSM and then expand it to 167 science museums and other regional museums.
2018.09.04 View 11552