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The MSE/CBE Int'l Workshop Explores Big Ideas in Emerging Materials
(KAIST President Sung-Chul Shin with scholars participated in the workshop)
The MSE/CBE International Workshop brought together editors from key academic journals in multidisciplinary materials science and scholars from leading universities at KAIST on Aug. 7.
The workshop hosted ten distinguished speakers in the fields of nanostructures for next-generation emerging applications, chemical and bio-engineering, and materials innovation for functional applications. They explored opportunities and challenges for reinventing novel materials that will solve complex problems.
(From left: Professor Buriak, Professor Swager and Professor Il-Doo Kim)
Speakers included: Chief Editor of Nature Materials Vincent Dusastre; Editor-in- Chief of ACS NANO and professor at UCLA Paul S. Weiss; Jillian M. Buriak, Editor-in-Chief of Chemistry of Materials; Associate Editor of Macromolecules and professor at MIT Timothy M. Swager; Coordinating Editor of Acta Materialia and Head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT Christopher A. Schuh; Editor-in-Chief of Biotechnology Journal and Metabolic Engineering and Distinguished Professor at KAIST Sang-Yup Lee; Associate Editor of Energy Storage Materials and professor at KAIST Sang Ouk Kim; Professor Jeffrey C. Grossman at MIT; Professor Zhenan Bao at Stanford University; and Professor Hyuck Mo Lee, head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at KAIST.
Interdisciplinary materials research holds the key to building technological competitiveness in many industrial sectors extending from energy, environment, and health care to medicine and beyond. It has also been the bedrock of KAIST’s scholarship and research innovation. More than 200 faculty members in the field of materials science produce about 800 SCI papers every year. The two departments of materials science and chemical biomolecular engineering are leading KAIST’s global reputation, as they were both ranked 13th and 14th in the QS World University Ranking by Subject this year.
(Professor Il-Doo Kim fromt he Department of Materials Science Engineering)
Professor Il-Doo Kim from the Department of Materials Science Engineering has been the chair of this workshop from 2016. In hosting the second one this year, he said that he hopes this year’s workshop will inspire many materials scientists to have big ideas and work to make those big ideas get noticed in order to have a real impact.
(KAIST President Sung-Chul Shin)
President Sung-Chul Shin, who is a physicist specializing in materials physics, expressed his keen interest in the workshop, saying innovative materials made of unthinkable and noble combinations will be the key factor in determining the competitiveness of new technology and new industries. He lauded international collaborations for making new materials and the scholarly passion to evaluate the materials’ characteristics that made this significant progress possible.
Dr. Vincent Dusastre, chief editor of Nature Materials, presented recent trends in materials for energy. He described how the rational design and improvement of materials’ properties can lead to energy alternatives which will compete with existing technologies. He pointed out that given the dramatic fundamental and practical breakthroughs that are taking place in the realization of solar cells with high energy-conversion efficiency, the improvement of batteries for electric vehicles and the grid is also a major challenge. He stressed, “Key advances in sustainable approaches beyond Li-ion batteries and control of redox processes are also greatly needed.”
Meanwhile, ACS NANO Editor-in-Chief Paul S. Weiss spoke on the importance of heterogeneity in the structure and function of molecules and nanoscale assemblies. He stressed that such extensiveness of multi-interdisciplinary research will accelerate a greater impact as indicated when the fields of neuroscience and microbiome converged with nanoscience and nanotechnology.
Editor-in-Chief of Chemistry of Materials Professor Jillian M. Buriak from the University of Alberta described how predictive models and machine learning can replace time consuming empirical device production and screening. By understanding and pinpointing the frustrating bottlenecks in the design of stable and efficient organic photovoltaics, much faster throughput can be obtained to enable a more direct pathway to stability, efficiency, and finally commercialization.
2018.08.13 View 10963 -
An Electron Cloud Distribution Observed by the Scanning Seebeck Microscope
All matters are made of small particles, namely atoms. An atom is composed of a heavy nucleus and cloud-like, extremely light electrons.
Korean researchers developed an electron microscopy technique that enables the accurate observation of an electron cloud distribution at room-temperature. The achievement is comparable to the invention of the quantum tunneling microscopy technique developed 33 years ago.
Professor Yong-Hyun Kim of the Graduate School of Nanoscience and Technology at KAIST and Dr. Ho-Gi Yeo of the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) developed the Scanning Seebeck Microscope (SSM). The SSM renders clear images of atoms, as well as an electron cloud distribution. This was achieved by creating a voltage difference via a temperature gradient.
The development was introduced in the online edition of Physical Review Letters (April 2014), a prestigious journal published by the American Institute of Physics.
The SSM is expected to be economically competitive as it gives high resolution images at an atomic scale even for graphene and semiconductors, both at room temperature. In addition, if the SSM is applied to thermoelectric material research, it will contribute to the development of high-efficiency thermoelectric materials.
Through numerous hypotheses and experiments, scientists now believe that there exists an electron cloud surrounding a nucleus. IBM's Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) was the first to observe the electron cloud and has remained as the only technique to this day. The developers of IBM microscope, Dr. Gerd Binnig and Dr. Heinrich Rohrer, were awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physics.
There still remains a downside to the STM technique, however: it required high precision and extreme low temperature and vibration. The application of voltage also affects the electron cloud, resulting in a distorted image.
The KAIST research team adopted a different approach by using the Seebeck effect which refers to the voltage generation due to a temperature gradient between two materials.
The team placed an observation sample (graphene) at room temperature (37~57℃) and detected its voltage generation. This technique made it possible to observe an electron cloud at room temperature.
Furthermore, the research team investigated the theoretical quantum mechanics behind the electron cloud using the observation gained through the Seebeck effect and also obtained by simulation capability to analyze the experimental results.
The research was a joint research project between KAIST Professor Yong-Hyun Kim and KRISS researcher Dr. Ho-Gi Yeo. Eui-Seop Lee, a Ph.D. candidate of KAIST, and KRISS researcher Dr. Sang-Hui Cho also participated. The Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning, the Global Frontier Initiative, and the Disruptive Convergent Technology Development Initiative funded the project in Korea.
Picture 1: Schematic Diagram of the Scanning Seebeck Microscope (SSM)
Picture 2: Electron cloud distribution observed by SSM at room temperature
Picture 3: Professor Yong-Hyun Kim
2014.04.04 View 12937 -
KAIST rated 1st consistently for four years running, according to the Korean universities ranking compiled by Joongang Daily
KAIST scored 293 points out of a possible 350 points in the 2011 Joongag Daily survey on the assessment of Korean universities and solidified its position as the nation’s best university by being ranked “number one” for four consecutive years.
POSTECH, Seoul National University, Yonsei University, Korea University, and SungKyunKwan University followed.
The Joongang Daily Korean Universities Assessment began in 1994, which covers all four-year universities. KAIST has been rated 1st in Korea a total of nine times, and it is KAIST’s second time being rated 1st four years in a row. KAIST was assessed especially highly in quality of education, finances, and professor research categories.
Joongang Daily assessed a total of 100 universities (compared to 93 of last year). The maximum number of points is 350 points comprising of quality of education (110 points), globalization (60 points), professor research (110 points), and public reputation/interaction with public (70 points).
2011.10.10 View 8233 -
Self-Made Businessman Donates $24 Mil. Worth of Property to KAIST
Byeong-Ho Kim, a self-made businessman, has donated land worth 30 billion won ($25 million) to KAIST, the university"s authorities said on Thursday (Aug. 13).
The 68-year-old businessman said his aim is to give students from lower-income families a chance at a decent education and, ultimately, make Korea richer and powerful through development of science and technology. He runs the Seojeon Farm in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.
Kim visited KAIST on Wednesday (Aug. 12) with his wife and 36-year-old son to finalize details of the donation with KAIST President Nam-Pyo Suh. He signed papers to certify the deed to donate 94,380 square meters of land in a ceremony.
"I promised my family I"d invest our money for a good purpose. Now I hope KAIST can educate students who can"t afford to pay tuition fees. I wasn"t able to study
further than elementary school due to poverty," Kim said, wishing that his donation could be used in fostering talented students and great scholars from around the world.
Kim"s wife, Sam-Yeol Kim, 60, sent an e-mail to KAIST last July 27, on behalf of her husband who suffered a stroke in 2004, to inform the university of her husband"s intent to make the donation.
Kim had pledged to his wife and son that some day he would return all his assets to society before his death. He began to look for the right beneficiary five years ago and chose KAIST as he was impressed by reformatory and innovative efforts at the university where its president was donating all his extra earnings to the university.
“I believe that KAIST can make my dream come true. It is to have advanced science and technology education turn Korea into a country where everyone can live happily,” said Kim at the ceremony.
He recalled his early life, saying, “I left for Seoul when I was 17 years old with just 76 won. I had to save money so much it was scary. Even when the weather was stifling, I refused to buy myself cold soft drinks just to save 1 more won.”
Even though he grew up in a difficult environment, Mr. Kim maintained a firm conviction in familial ties and education. Being the oldest of seven children, he had to support his younger siblings’ education, but never complained about his own lack of opportunity. When his father died, he took money that had been left over from funeral expenses and donated it to relatives as scholarships for their children. He believed that such kindness was the best way to make his father’s passing meaningful. In addition, he donated one billion won to a scholarship fund that helps those like him, who never had a chance to study or learn.
Mr. Kim’s favorite phrase is, “Earning money takes skill, but to spend it is an art.” This mirrors his philosophy of saving and economizing in order to make as much money as possible, then donating generously to the upbringing of future generations.
The decision to donate was also heavily influenced by the support of his wife, and his family. When he first hinted at his intention to donate, his family simply accepted the decision, saying that they were proud of him. Kim had always emphasized that wealth should be given back to society, and as such, his son Se-Yoon Kim donated to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other charity organizations every month, saying that his actions were an obvious duty.
KAIST officials said they were emotionally moved to learn that Mr. Kim donated the fortune to a university, which is completely unrelated to him or anyone in his family, simply for the sake of the nation’s future. They said that Kim is a figure that all of Korean society should follow, and that everyone in KAIST will etch his wish into their hearts, and try their hardest to make sure future generations will prosper.
2009.08.18 View 10564 -
Lecture Hall Named After Venture Businessman Min-Hwa Lee
A lecture hall in the Alumni Start-Up Building on the KAIST campus was named Min-Hwa Lee Hall in a ceremony on Tuesday to pay tribute to KAIST alumnus Min-Hwa Lee"s contributions to the development of Korean venture business.
On hand at the ceremony were Sung-Woo Hong, head of the Small and Medium Business Administration, KAIST President Nam-Pyo Suh, dozens of KAIST alumni representatives, and figures from government research institutes.
Lee, who obtained his M.S. (1978) and Ph.D. (1985) in Electrical Engineering from KAIST, established a fund of 10 billion won along with other KAIST alumni in 2001 and donated it for the construction of the Alumni Start-Up Building for aspiring entrepreneurs. To remember his lofty vision, KAIST decided to name a lecture hall after him.
As a venture businessman, Lee founded the Madison, Ltd., one of the earliest venture companies in Korea, in 1985. Lee then played a leading role in the creation of the Korea Venture Industry Association in 1995, and in the establishment of KOSDAQ and the enactment of a special law for venture enterprises.
KAIST will appoint Lee as an adjunct professor in recognition of his expertise in venture business and commercialization of new inventions. Lee will teach entrepreneurship at the Graduate School of Management and the Institute for Gifted Students, a KAIST affiliate.
"Dr. Lee has made a great contribution to the development of Korean venture business. At a time when commercialization of new inventions was at an infant stage, he nurtured technology ventures and built the foundation for the proliferation of technology venture," President Suh said. "We expect that he will strive to open the generation of technologies which will lead the development of Korea in the future and become a mentor of aspiring entrepreneurs," Suh added.
2009.06.30 View 13997 -
KAIST ranked first place in National University Assessment 2006 by ChungAng Daily
KAIST ranked first place in National University Assessment 2006 by ChungAng Daily
KAIST is ranked at the first place in the National University Assessment 2006 performed by ChungAng Daily. KAIST occupies the top place in the sections of globalization, faculty researches, and improvement. Particularly, university innovation and globalization, which have been promoted by KAIST, played substantial roles in taking the top place in the assessment. KAIST is evaluated the best at the items in the section of education atmosphere and finance such as the amount of scholarship per student, the rate of scholarship beneficiaries, and the rate of scholarship to tuition fee, and at the items in the section of faculty researches such as the number of papers published in SCI by professor, and the number of intellectual properties possessed by professors. In the section of globalization, KAIST gained high scores throughout the four items such as the rate of foreign professors, the rate of English-spoken class, and so on.
2006.09.27 View 11897