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Korea's First MOU between a University Education Volunteer Work Group and Local Government
- 200 Adolescents from Yuseong-gu to Receive Education Community Services
Midam Scholarship committee which is composed of KAIST"s students and graduates, will draw up a contract that states that it will work together with the Yuseong-gu municipality for the development of the district education services on the 14th at the Yuseong-gu office.
Both sides will together ▲mentor the local students, ▲cooperate to run and develop creative programs, ▲exchange work for the development of the KAIST Midam Scholarship Committee, ▲conduct various other projects.
From now, the Midam Scholarship Committee will teach about 200 students in Yuseong-gu. The drawing of this contract has much meaning in that it is the first of its kind.
The Midam Scholarship Committee was founded on 2009 by students in KAIST to teach math, english, and science to students from families with low income levels.
This committee has made educational pacts with middle and high schools located in Daejeong such as Chungnam High School and Beobdong High School, and has not only taught these students but also has given scholarships to the selected students.
On one hand, the Midam Scholarship Committee has also supported 10 students in KAIST who were in need with 300000won each on the 6th. This fund was raised through the donations of alumni and mentoring projects.
The Midam Scholarship Committee has been recognized for its positive impacts on the society and has received an award from the Yuseong-gu municipality office.
2012.05.10 View 8998 -
Op-Ed by MIT President, Manufacturing a Recovery, New York Times, August 29, 2011
New York Times carried an opinion piece of MIT President, Susan Hockfield. Dr. Hockfield put emphasis on the importance of recovering manufacturing to revive the US economy and suggested investments in the development of high technology and “tight integration of design production” through “networks of innovation, lab research to new production processes, and business models.” For the op-ed piece, please go to
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/30/opinion/manufacturing-a-recovery.html?_r=2.
2011.08.31 View 10436
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Displaybank, KAIST Develops Flexible Display Metal Wiring Technology, May 27, 2011
On May 26, Korea Advanced Institute of Science (KAIST) announced that team of Prof. Yang from the Department of Mechanical Engineering developed flexible display metal wiring manufacturing-technology. For the article, please follow the link,
http://www.displaybank.com/eng/info/sread.php?id=5877
2011.05.31 View 9018
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Remote Follows Your Thumb by Discovery News, May 19, 2011
The ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, an international conference of human-computer interaction, was held on May 7-12, 2011 in Vancouver, Canada. At the conference, KAIST’s research team presented a paper on the development of prototype, called "remote touch system," for manipulating a LED screen by putting user’s thumb’s shadow on a television or smart phone screen. Discovery News posted an online article on the technology, dated May 19, 2011. For the article, please copy and paste the following link in the address bar of Internet Explorer:
http://news.discovery.com/tech/shadow-remote-touchscreen-110519.html?print=true
2011.05.20 View 8999
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Genetic Cause of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) Found
The cooperative research team consisting research teams under Professor Kim Eun Joon and Professor Kang Chang Won of the department of Biological Sciences discovered that ADHD arises from the deficiency of GIT1 protein in the brain’s neural synapses.
ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) is found in around 5% of children around the world and is a disorder where the child becomes unable to concentrate, show over the top responses, and display impulsive behavior.
The research team found that the difference between children with ADHD and those without it is one base in the GIT1 gene. The difference of a single base causes the underproduction of this protein, and those children with low levels of the protein had a higher probability to develop ADHD.
In addition, further evidence was provided when the research team conducted mice experiments. Those mice with low levels of GIT1 exhibited impulsive and exaggerated reactions like humans with ADHD, had learning disabilities, and produced abnormal brain waves. And upon injecting these mice with cure for ADHD, the symptoms of ADHD disappeared.
The impulsive behavior of ADHD children disappears as the child enters adulthood and a similar pattern was found in mice. A mice with low levels of GIT1 showed impulsive behaviors when 2 months old, but these behaviors disappeared as it got older to around 7 months old (equivalent to 20~30 years old for humans).
Professor Kim Eun Joon commented that there has to be equilibrium between mechanisms that excite the neurons and mechanisms that calm the neurons, but the lack of GIT1 leads to the decrease in the mechanisms that calm the neurons which causes the impulsive behavior of ADHD patients.
In addition, Professor Kang Chang Won commented that the results of the experiment has been receiving rave reviews and is being seen as the new method in the production of the cure for ADHD.
The result of the experiment was published in the online edition of Nature Medicine magazine.
2011.04.30 View 11141
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Low Cost and Simple Gene Analysis Technology Developed
Professor Park Hyun Kyu of the Department of Biology and Chemical Engineering has developed a ‘real time CPR’ using Methylene Blue (nucleic acid bonding molecule with Electro-Chemical property).
The current gene analysis being used in the field is the real time PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) which takes advantage of the luminescent property of the gene and therefore requires expensive machines and chemicals to run.
By contrast, the electro-chemical method is easy to use and low cost and, most importantly, it allows the machine to become small and portable.
Professor Park’s research team used the decrease in the electro-chemical signal when the Methylene Blue reacts with nucleic acid and applied this to PCR which allowed for the real time analysis of the nucleic acid amplification process.
With the result of the experiment as the basis, the team was able to perform a trial with Chlamydia trachomatis, a pathogen that causes sexually transmitted disease.
The result showed that the electro-chemical method showed the same performance level as the real time PCR, which proved that the technology can be applied to diagnosing various diseases and gene research.
2011.04.30 View 10026
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The Irish Times: Gene link identified in ADHD, April 18, 2011
The Irish Times wrote an article on the recent research breakthrough made by a KAIST research team to identify a gene that triggers the syndrome of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) among children. Given the heightened attention to the syndrome across the world, the research result has received a great deal of attention not only from the academia but also from the media and public.
For the article, please visit http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0418/1224294910305.html. The research paper was appeared online April 17, 2011 in Nature Medicine, which will be printed in its May 2011 issue. For the paper, please click the link of http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nm.2330.html.
2011.04.18 View 10093
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MOU on Joint Research Program with KUSTAR
KAIST has signed a MOU on Joint Research Program with KUSTAR (Khalifa, University of Science, Technology, and Research).
The Signing ceremony was held in UAE Abu Dhabi with KAIST President Seo Nam Pyo and KUSTAR Presdient Tod Laursen in attendance.
The MOU contains agreements on seed money project, exchange professors and students program, seminars and workshops, and cooperative closely through funding joint research facilities among other key agreements.
The two universities are considering joint research on educational nuclear power plant simulator, research use nuclear reactor plans and nuclear reactor for saltwater desalination plants. In addition, the field of cooperation will not be limited to nuclear power, but will be broadened to electric and electronic, mechanical engineering, aeronautical engineering, industrial engineering, construction environment, and other fields by appointing KAIST professors to perform educational cooperation programs at KUSTAR.
The cooperation is part of the agreement made by the two respective countries in the Korea export of nuclear power plants to UAE in 2009. KAIST will be helping KUSTAR to develop into a world leading science and technology based education and research institute for the next 10 years.
2011.03.25 View 12547
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Cho Cheon Shik Graduate School of Green Transportation Initiated
KAIST established the Graduate School of Green Transportation in efforts to participate actively in the green transportation market and train experts in the field.
The opening ceremony was conducted in the KI building with President of KAIST Seo Nam Pyo and other dignitaries from Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, Korea Rail Network Authority, Korea Airports Corporation, Korea Railroad Research Institute, Land, Transport and Maritime Experts Training Institute, Seoul Development Institute, LG Innotech, Hyundai Rotem, and other major companies in the field of transportation attending.
The graduate school was founded with funding from donation made by Chairman Cho Cheon Shik. Developer of OLEV Professor Cho Dong Ho is the dean of the school and 16 other professors are a part of the school.
Courses offered include ‘Transportation Technology’ and ‘Transportation management’ and will focus mostly on allowing students to be a part of the graduate school with flexibility.
In terms of research there is the OLEV and mobile harbor and research will be done on electric and electronics, mechanics, materials, aeronautics, maritime, construction, environment, and etc. and will be an interdisciplinary research.
A memorandum of understanding was signed by the companies mentioned above which has now paved the way for experts to be trained and thus upgrade the level of technology in the field of green transportation.
Professor Seo of KAIST commented, ‘Korea is ranked top 10 in the world for greenhouse gas emissions and it has become hard to avoid global pressure. The results of researched performed at KAIST will allow Korea to form a green, sustainable society leading in the field of green transportation and dominate the market.
2011.02.23 View 16487
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Interdisciplinary Research on World Environmental Problems with Humanities
KAIST’s Professor Michael Pak (department of Humanities and Social Sciences) has published a paper in ‘Environmental Science and Technology, ES&T’ and was made Lead Feature.
His was the only paper published with a humanities background and his topic of discussion was ‘Environmentalism Then and Now: From Fears to Opportunities, 1970-2010’ in which he discussed the history of pro-environment activities, the patterns it showed, and its outlook.
Professor Park noted that the problems and concerns over the environment is not a recent phenomenon. It took over 50 years for the environmental problems to resurface after being the ‘hot issue’ of the time during the industrial revolution in the 19th century.
Professor Park deduced that there is a clear historical pattern.
Professor Park insisted that the two areas of Environmental Research ‘Global Warming’ and ‘Change in Weather’. Especially because these two areas are rife with uncertainty as it is, and making policies based on inaccurate information is taking a gamble.
Professor Park majored in history in UC Berkeley, received his masters’ and doctorate at Harvard University and was the professor at Massachusetts College of Art and Design before coming to KAIST at 2008.
2011.02.23 View 11592
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New Korean Robot Responds to Non-Verbal Commands
An online newspaper covering the latest headline news based on MS Windows, Internet and technology trends, Infopackets, posted an article on the research result of KAIST researchers: a robot prototype developed, which is able to respond to human’s non verbal communication.
Robots now can read human gestures and react to their subtle commands by “designing the robot’s main system to mimic the actions of a human in the same manner in which human brains function.” For details of the article, please click the link:
http://www.infopackets.com/news/technology/science/2011/20110125_new_korean_robot_responds_to_non_verbal_commands.htm
2011.01.26 View 9306
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Explanation for the polymerized nucleic acid enzyme's abnormal activation found
KAIST’s Professor Park Hyun Kyu of the Department of Bio Chemical Engineering revealed on the 23rd of December 2010 that his team had successfully developed the technology that uses the metal ions to control the abnormal activation of nucleic acids’ enzymes and using this, created a logic gate, which is a core technology in the field of future bio electrons.
The polymerized nucleic acid enzyme works to increase the synthesis of DNA and kicks into action only when the target DNA and primers form complimentary pairs (A and T, C and G).
Professor Park broke the common conception and found that it is possible for none complimentary pairs like T-T and C-C to initiate the activation of the enzyme and thus increase the nucleic acid production, given that there are certain metal ions present.
What Professor Park realized is that the enzymes mistake the uncomplimentary T-T and C-C pairs (with stabilized structures due to the bonding with mercury and silver ions) as being complimentary base pairs. Professor Park described this phenomenon as the “illusionary polymerase activity.”
The research team developed a logic gate based on the “illusionary polymerase activity’ phenomenon.” The logic gate paves the way to the development of future bio electron needed for bio computers and high performance memories.
Professor Park commented, “The research is an advancement of the previous research carried on about metal ions and nucleic acid synthesis. Our research is the first attempt at merging the concepts of the two previously separately carried out researches and can be adapted for testing presence of metal ions and development of a new single nucleotide polymorphic gene analysis technology.”
Professor Park added that, “Our research is a great stride in the field of nano scale electron element research as the results made possible the formation of accurate logic gates through relatively cost efficient and simple system designs.”
On a side note, the research was funded by Korea Research Foundation (Chairman: Park Chan Mo) and was selected as the cover paper for the December issue of ‘Angewandte Chemie International Edition’.
2011.01.18 View 11491