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Professor Suk-Joong Kang Receives the Richard Brook and Helmholtz Awards
Professor Suk-Joong Kang of KAIST’s Department of Materials Sciences and Engineering received the Richard Brook Award from the European Ceramic Society at its 14th conference held on June 21, 2015, in Toledo, Spain. The award is presented to the most distinguished academic or engineer in ceramics from a non-European country. Professor Kang gave the commemorative lecture after the award ceremony.
Professor Kang is an expert in the field of sintering and microstructural evolution in ceramics and metals. He suggested a new model for grain growth and identified the principles of microstructural evolution.
He also received the 2015 Helmholtz Fellow Award in June. The Helmholtz Association, the largest scientific organization in Germany, confers the award on outstanding senior scientists based outside Germany who have made great academic and research achievements in their fields.
Professor Kang said of the Brook Award, “It is such an honor to receive an award from an eminent global institution. I take this opportunity to thank my students and colleagues for their support, and I will work harder for my research.”
2015.07.20 View 6726 -
KAIST Undergraduates Organize the Largest Interdisciplinary Conference in Asia
The largest interdisciplinary conference in Asia hosted by KAIST undergraduates for students around the world will be held in KAIST. The organizing committee of International Conference for the Integration of Science, Technology and Society (ICISTS) will hold the ICISTS-KAIST 2015 in KAIST and Hotel ICC from August 3-7, 2015, with around 300 Korean and international participants.
ICISTS-KAIST was established in 2005 to provide an annual platform for students to discuss the integration and the convergence of science, technology and society, regardless of their academic background.
This year’s theme is "Shaping the Future" and the topics for the conference are robotics, medicine, and science communication.
The keynote speakers are Vitalic Buterin, the winner of the World Technology Award in 2014 for the co-creation and invention of Ethereum and Alan Irwin, a well-known scholar of science, technology and society as well as the Dean of Research at the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark.
Other notable speakers include Adam Marcus, a professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Emory University School of Medicine; Stefan Lorenz Sorgner, the Director and co-founder of Beyond Humanism Network; Hideto Nakajima, a professor in the Department of History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science and Technology at Tokyo Institute of Technology; Wendell Wallach, a lecturer at the Yale University Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics; Jinil Lee, a professor in the Division of Biological Science and Technology at Yonsei University; and Sangwook Kim, an editor of APCTP web journal Crossroads and a professor in the Department of Physics Education, Pusan National University.
Last year, more than 300 students from 50 different countries attended the ICISTS-KAIST 2014 as delegates to exchange their thoughts and ideas on science, technology, and society.
To register for the event, please visit www.icists.org.
2015.07.14 View 8440 -
KAIST Startups Annually Engage 33,000 People, and Their Sales Total Nearly 10 Billion Dollars
According to a recent study, KAIST startups annually engage 33,000 people, and their sales total nearly 10 billion US dollars. Also amongst 1,245 companies, 50 were listed in stock markets including KOSDAQ and KONEX. President Kang of KAIST commissioned an evaluation of KAIST startups last year. The report consisted of six chapters: current status of entrepreneurs and companies, cross analysis based on individuals’ background and academic degree, annual performance analysis, and current status of startup assistance.
The report categorized the startups with respect to the founders’ background. Of 1,245 companies, KAIST alumni founded 929 (74.6%) of the companies under study: 191 (15.3%) were located within the KAIST campuses, 91 (7.3%) were founded by enrolled students, and 74 (2.7%) by professors. The startup founders had different levels of education: 515 (41.4%) founders had master’s degree, 443 (35.6%) Ph.D. degree, and only 213 (17.1%) had only bachelor’s degree as the highest level of education attained. The reason behind the majority of founders having a master’s degree or higher degree is that many people established a startup after obtaining specialized knowledge and skills.
Focusing on the founders’ college majors, 719 (70.6%) founders were from the engineering department, 111 (10.9%) from the business administration department, 103 (10.1%) from the natural science department, and 86 (8.4%) from other departments. Looking at the companies' locations, 462 (37.5%) were placed in Seoul, 355 (28.8%) in Daejeon, and 273 (22.2%) in Gyeonggi.
By the end of 2013, the total asset of 1,069 companies came to 12 billion and 444 million dollars. Their total sales figure was 10 billion and 13 million dollars, and annual employments summed up to 33,000 people. The companies generated a significant portion of gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in each region. They formed 0.49% of GRDP of Seoul, took up 1.67% GRDP of Gyeonggi, and 5.53% of that of Daejeon.
Along with the performance analysis, the report also took a survey of suggestions on future startup assistance and opinions on current startup assistance policies. To a question asking what constituted the most difficult part of startup, 31.7% of respondents answered “attraction of investment,” 22.8% chose “a lack of human resources,” and 16.8% said “consulting” amongst 214 respondents. The study showed that major and medium enterprises face difficulty in finding human resources whereas small businesses experience obstacles attracting investment. Some startups had help from KAIST: 44 startups were provided with the office space, 21 had educational supports, and 18 were supported in research and development.
The report demonstrates that startups established by KAIST alumni and members play a key role in the South Korean economy despite KAIST’s short startup history, which began only since the end of 1990s. Based on this report, KAIST plans to listen continuously to the needs of alumni founders, and use those responses as a guide to entrepreneurship education for current students.
The Dean of the Office of University and Industry Cooperation, Joongmyeon Bae, who oversaw the publication of this report, said, "As this report is the first in Korea to study the status of alumni startups, it will be incredibly valuable in modifying the startup assistance policies.”
To spread an entrepreneurial spirit and start-up cultures in the campus and enhance the startup supporting system, KAIST has founded various startup centers on and off the campus.
2015.07.14 View 8606 -
Dong-Young Lee, a Doctoral Candidate, Receives the Best Paper Award
Dong-Young Lee, a Ph.D. candidate in the Mechanical Engineering Department, KAIST, received the Best Paper Award at the 18th International Conference on Composite Structures (ICCS). The event was held in Lisbon, Portugal, on June 15-18, 2015. Mr. Lee’s adviser is Professor Dai-Gil Lee of the same department.
The ICCS is held every other year, and is one of the largest and long-established conferences on composite materials and structures in the world. At this year’s conference, a total of 680 papers were presented, among which, two papers were chosen for the Best Paper Award, including Mr. Lee’s.
The paper, entitled “Gasket-integrated Carbon and Silicon Elastomer Composite Bipolar Plate for High-temperature PEMFC,” will be published in the September issue of Composite Structures which is one of the top journals in mechanical engineering as judged by the Google Scholar Metrics rankings.
Mr. Lee dropped the conventional method of PEMFC (Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells) assembly and instead developed a gasket-integrated carbon and silicone elastomer composite bipolar plate. This technology significantly increased the energy efficiency of fuel cells and their productivity.
Mr. Lee said, “I would like to thank the many people who supported me, especially my Ph.D. adviser, Professor Dai-Gil Lee. Without their encouragement, I would have not won this award. I hope my research will contribute to solving energy problems in the future.”
In addition, Professor Joon-Woo Im from Chonbuk National University, Senior Researcher Il-Bum Choi from the Agency for Defense Development, and a fellow doctoral candidate Soo-Hyun Nam from KAIST participated in this research project.
2015.07.09 View 9905 -
3D Plasmon Antenna Capable of Focusing Light into Few Nanometers
Professors Myung-Ki Kim and Yong-Hee Lee, both of the Physics Department at KAIST, and their research teams have developed a three dimensional (3D) gap-plasmon antenna which can focus light into a space a few nanometers wide. Their research findings were published in the June 10th issue of Nano Letters.
Focusing light into a point-like space is an active research field with many applications. However, concentrating light into a smaller space than its wavelength is often hindered by diffraction. To tackle this problem, many researchers have utilized the plasmonic phenomenon of a metal where light can be confined to a greater extent by overcoming the diffraction limit.
Many researchers have focused on developing a two dimensional (2D) plasmon antenna and were able to focus a light under 5 nanometers wide. However, this 2D antenna revealed a challenge: the light disperses to the opposite end regardless of how small its beam was focused. To solve this difficulty, a 3D structure had to be employed to maximize the light's intensity.
Adopting the proximal focused-ion-beam milling technology, the KAIST research team developed a 3D four nanometer wide gap-plasmon antenna. By squeezing the photons into a 3D nano space of 4 x 10 x 10 nm3 size, the researchers were able to increase the intensity of light by 400,000 times stronger than that of the incident light. Capitalizing on the enhanced intensity of light within the antenna, they intensified the second-harmonic signal and verified that the light was focused in the nano gap by scanning cathodoluminescent images.
The researchers anticipate that this technology will improve the speed of data transfer and processing up to the level of a terahertz (one trillion times per second) and to enlarge the storage volume per unit area on hard disks by 100 times. In addition, high definition images of submolecule size can be taken with actual light, instead of with an electron microscope, while improving the semiconductor process to a smaller size of few nanometers.
Professor Kim said, “A simple yet ingenious idea has shifted the research paradigm from 2D gap-plasmon antennas to 3D antennas. This technology will see numerous applications including in the field of information technology, data storage, imaging medical science, and semiconductor processes.”
The research was sponsored by the National Research Foundation of Korea.
Figure 1: 3D Gap-Plasmon Antenna Structure and Simulation Results
Figure 2 – Constructed 3D Gap-Plasmon Antenna Structure
Figure 3 – Amplified Second Harmonic Signal Generation and Light Focused in the Nano Gap
2015.06.24 View 10449 -
Professor Kyoungsik Yu Receives the Young IT Engineer Award from IEEE and IEIE of Korea
Professor Kyoungsik Yu of KAIST’s Department of Electrical Engineering is the recipient of this year’s Young IT (Information Technology) Engineer Award that was co-hosted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea (IEIE), and Haedong Science Culture Foundation in Korea. The award was presented on June 22, 2015 at The Ramada Plaza Jeju Hotel on Jeju Island, Korea.
The Young IT Engineer Award is given to emerging scientists who have made significant contributions to the advancement of technology, society, environment, and creative education.
Professor Yu's main research interests are IT, energy, and imaging through miniaturization and integration of optoelectronic devices. His contribution to academic and technological development is reflected in his publication of more than 100 papers in international journals and conferences, which were cited over 2,200 times.
Professor Yu said, “I’m honored to receive this award and am encouraged by it. I also find the award meaningful because the United Nations has designated this year as the “International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies,” the field I have been involved in as a researcher.”
In addition to Korea, the IEEE has jointly hosted and presented this award to researchers in countries such as Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Singapore, and Italy.
2015.06.22 View 12241 -
Professor Jinwoo Shin of the Electrical Engineering Department Receives the 2015 ACM SIGMETRICS Rising Star Research Award
Professor Jinwoo Shin of the Electrical Engineering Department at KAIST was selected as the recipient of the 2015 ACM SIGMETRICS Rising Star Research Award.
As a computer systems performance evaluation community, SIGMETRICS annually awards a junior researcher. He was selected as the 8th annual recipient, being the first from an Asian university.
Professor Shin was recognized for his work in theoretical analysis of stochastic queueing networks and machine learning. He said, “I would like to contribute to the expansion of computing and network theory in Korea wherein those fields are unrecognized.”
He has received numerous awards including Kennneth C. Sevcik (Best Student Paper) Award at SIGMETRICS 2009, George M. Sprowls (Best MIT CS PhD Thesis) Award 2010, Best Paper Award at MOBIHOC 2013, Best Publication Award from INFORMS Applied Probability Society 2013, and Bloomberg Scientific Research Award 2015.
2015.06.21 View 9743 -
Professor Jeong-Guon Ih Is Appointed the Vice President of the International Commission for Acoustics
Professor Jeong-Guon Ih of the Mechanical Engineering Department at KAIST has been elected to serve as the Vice President of the International Commission for Acoustics (ICA) from June 2015 to the end of 2016. The appointment was made at the meeting of the ICA Board held on June 1, 2015, in Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Professor Ih currently also chairs the Asia-Pacific Acoustics Commission.
Instituted in 1951, the ICA is an academic society that promotes international development and collaboration in all fields of acoustics including research, advancement, education, and standardization. It has a membership of 44 national acoustical societies worldwide and four observer countries.
2015.06.17 View 7187 -
KAIST and Sejong City Goverment Agree to Establish a Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering
KAIST and the government of Sejong City will cooperate to establish a graduate school of medical science and engineering. On June 11, 2015, President Steve Kang of KAIST and Mayor Choon-Hee Lee of Sejong City signed a memorandum of understanding at the city hall of Sejong to establish the school.
Under the agreement, the two organizations will work out details to establish the graduate school in Sejong on such issues as administrative assistance, financial support, curriculum development, and the creation of an environment conducive to the growth of medical science.
President Kang said, “Once this graduate school is established, KAIST will be able to offer Korea and the world top-notch researchers in the field of medical science. I have high hopes that the school will produce high-impact research breakthroughs and lead in the advancement of interdisciplinary studies in biotechnology.”
In the picture below, President Steve Kang of KAIST (third from the left) holds the signed memorandum of understanding with Mayor Choon-Hee Lee of Sejong (fourth from the left).
2015.06.16 View 6956 -
Professor Sung Yong Kim Presents a Keynote Speech at the International Ocean Color Science Meeting (IOCS) 2015
Professor Sung Yong Kim of the Mechanical Engineering Department at KAIST delivered a keynote speech at the International Ocean Color Science Meeting (IOCS) 2015 held in San Francisco on June 15-18, 2015. His speech was entitled “Research and Applications Using Sub-mesoscale GOCI (Geostationary Ocean Color Imager) Data.”
The IOCS, organized by the International Ocean Color Coordinating Group (IOCCG), is a community consultation meeting providing communication and collaboration between space agencies and the ocean color community, building strong ties among international representatives of the ocean color communities, and providing a forum for discussion and the evolution of community thinking on a range of issues.
Professor Kim was recognized for his contribution towards the development of remote exploration of sub-mesoscale processes including eddies, fronts, and environmental fluid dynamics.
He also attended the 26th General Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) in Prague, the Czech Republic, on June 22, 2015 and gave a presentation on the sub-mesoscale eddies circulation research.
2015.06.12 View 9471 -
Science and Technology Policy Professor Chihyung Jeon Awarded Rachel Carson Fellowship
KAIST Graduate School of Science and Technology Policy Professor Chihyung Jeon has been awarded the Rachel Carson Fellowship 2015-2016.
Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society is a research center for environmental humanities and social sciences, supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. It was founded by Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany and the Deutsches Museum as a joint initiative in 2009.
Rachel Carson Center supports researches in humanities and social sciences on the interactions between the environment and the society, following the footsteps of Rachel Cason, who raised awareness on the chemical environmental damage and started global environmental movement through her published book “Silent Spring” in 1962.
The center is awarding Rachel Carson Fellowships to established researchers to fund their writing and promote exchange of research. This year, 31 fellowships were awarded.
Professor Jeon will conduct research on "A Dredged Nation: The Four Rivers Restoration Project and the Envirotechnical Transformation of South Korea" and will also hold an additional post of International Curatorial Fellow at the Deutsches Museum.
2015.06.11 View 10148 -
KAIST to support the Genetic Donguibogam Research Project for global market entry of a new natural drug produced by Green Cross Corporation HS
In the wake of the spread of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), sales of immune-enhancing products in Korea such as red and white ginseng have risen dramatically. Ginseng is one of Korea’s major health supplement it exports, but due to the lack of precise scientific knowledge of its mechanism, sales of ginseng account for less than 2% of the global market share.
The Genetic Donguibogam Research Project represents a group of research initiatives to study genes and environmental factors that contribute to diseases and to discover alternative treatments through Eastern medicine. The project is being led by KAIST’s Department of Bio & Brain Engineering Professor Do-Heon Lee.
Professor Lee and Chief Executive Officer Young-Hyo Yoo of Green Cross Corporation HS, a Korean pharmaceutical company, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU), as well as a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) to develop a naturally derived drug with an enhanced ginsenoside, pharmacological compounds of ginseng, for the global market entry of BST204 on June 10, 2015.
Donguibogam is the traditional Korean source for the principles and practice of Eastern medicine, which was compiled by the royal physician Heo Jun and first published in 1613 during the Joseon Dynasty of Korea.
Cooperating with Green Cross Co., HS, KAIST researchers will use a multi-component, multi-target (MCMT)-based development platform to produce the new natural drug, BST204. This cooperation is expected to assist the entry of the drug into the European market.
Green Cross Co., HS has applied a bio-conversion technique to ginseng to develop BST204, which is a drug with enhanced active constituent of aginsenosides. The drug is the first produced by any Korean pharmaceutical company to complete the first phase of clinical trials in Germany and is about to start the second phase of trials.
Professor Do-Heon Lee, the Director of the project said, “Genetic Donguibogam Research Project seeks to create new innovative healthcare material for the future using integrated fundamental technologies such as virtual human body computer modelling and multi-omics to explain the mechanism in which natural ingredients affect the human body.” He continued, “Especially, by employing the virtual human body computer modelling, we can develop an innovative new technology that will greatly assist Korean pharmaceutical industry and make it the platform technology in entering global markets.”
Young-Hyo Yoo, the CEO of Green Cross Co., HS, said, “For a new naturally derived drug to be acknowledged in the global market, such as Europe and the US, its mechanism, as well as its effectiveness and safety, should be proven. However, it is difficult and costly to explain the mechanism in which the complex composition of a natural substance influences the body. Innovative technology is needed to solve this problem.”
Professor Do-Heon Lee (left in the picture), the Director of Genetic Donguibogam Research Project, stands abreast Young-Hyo Yoo (right in the picture), the CEO of Green Cross Co., HS.
2015.06.10 View 9184