Campus/People
-
The 10th KINC Fusion Research Awardees
The KAIST Institute for NanoCentury (KINC) recognized three distinguished researchers whose convergence studies made significant impacts. The KINC presented the 10th KINC Fusion Research Awards during a ceremony that took place at KAIST’s main campus in Daejeon on May 19.
This year’s ‘best’ convergence research award went to a joint research group led by Professor Hee Tak Kim from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Professor Sang Ouk Kim from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Their research, featured in the December 27 issue of Advanced Materials as a front cover article last year, introduced the world’s first high-energy efficiency, membraneless, flowless, zinc-bromine battery. This study, in which research professor Gyoung Hwa Jeong, postdoctoral researcher Yearin Byun, and PhD candidate Ju-Hyuck Lee took part as co-lead authors, is deemed as an example of a best practice in convergence research in which two groups’ respective expertise in the fields of carbon materials and electrochemical analysis created a synergistic effect.
Professor Bumjoon Kim from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering was also recognized for having published the most interdisciplinary research papers on polymer electronics and nanomaterials at home and abroad.
Professor Hee-Tae Jung, the Director of KINC and the host of the KINC Fusion Research Awards, said, “The KINC is happy to announce the 10th awardees in nano-fusion research this year. Since convergence is crucial for making revolutionary changes, the importance of convergence studies should be recognized. Our institute will spare no effort to create a research environment suitable for convergence studies, which will be crucial for making a significant difference.”
The KINC was established in June 2006 under the KAIST Institute with the mission of facilitating convergence studies by tearing down boarders among departments and carrying out interdisciplinary joint research. Currently, the institute is comprised of approximately 90 professors from 13 departments. It aims to become a hub of university institutes for nano-fusion research.
(END)
2020.05.19 View 11547 -
New Charter of Respect and Loyalty between Professors and Graduate Students
KAIST established a ‘Charter of Respect and Loyalty between Professors and Graduate Students’. This new charter states measures to build trust between professors and graduate students, and improve the working conditions of graduate students.
KAIST President Sung-Chul Shin and President of the KAIST Graduate Student Association (GSA) Hye-Jeong Han signed the charter as representatives of the professors and graduate students on May 18.
KAIST has become the first university in Korea to officially proclaim a promise between the school and the student council for the betterment of conditions for graduate students, and the first to specifically guarantee full-time graduate students’ vacations.
Graduate students have a unique status as both students receiving education and employees performing lab research. The GSA explained that “however, in reality, this unique status places them in a blind spot where they are not being fully entitled to their rights neither as employees nor students.”
The newly established charter is a set of promises made between professors and graduate students to uphold the values of respect and loyalty, and to establish trust in each other. Professors should treat each student not only as someone they should teach thoroughly, but also as a human being who should be respected. The graduate student should also respect the professor, and diligently perform their educational and research duties.
The charter also includes provisions stating that professors should provide minimum grants for the encouragement of research and education to the graduate students transparently and reasonably. In addition, professors must define a fixed number of hours that graduates students have to participate in education and research projects, and guarantee vacation leave for graduate students. Degree and graduation requirements should be clearly defined, and graduate students should devote themselves to education and research, and adhere to research ethics and safety measures.
(END)
2020.05.18 View 4129 -
Hubo Debuts as a News Anchor
HUBO, a humanoid robot developed by Professor Jun-Ho Oh’s team, made its debut as a co-anchor during the TJB prime time news 8 on May 14.
“Un-contact" became the new normal after Covid-19 and many business solutions are being transformed using robotics. HUBO made two news reports on contactless services using robots in medical, manufacturing, and logistics industries. HUBO 2, the second generation of HUBO, appeared as a special anchor on the local broadcasting network’s special program in celebration of its 25th anniversary.
HUBO is the champion of the 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge held in the USA. Its FX-2 riding robot also participated in the Olympic torch relay during the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
Click here to watch a full video of HUBO anchoring the news.
(END)
2020.05.14 View 9677 -
Dr. Dong-Hyun Cho at KARI Receives the 16th Jeong Hun Cho Award
Dr. Dong-Hyun Cho, a senior researcher at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), was honored as the recipient of the 16th Jeong Hun Cho Award. The award recognizes young scientists in the field of aerospace engineering.
Dr. Cho earned his MS and PhD degrees from the KAIST Department of Aerospace Engineering in 2012, and served as a researcher at the Satellite Technology Research Center (SaTReC) at KAIST, before joining the Future Convergence Research Division at KARI. He won this year’s award and received 25 million KRW in prize money.
Jeong Hun Cho, who was a PhD candidate in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at KAIST, passed away in a tragic lab accident in May 2003 and was awarded an honorary doctorate posthumously. His family endowed the award and scholarship in his memory. Since 2005, the scholarship has selected three young scholars every year who specialize in aerospace engineering from Cho’s alma maters of KAIST, Korea University, and Kongju National University High School.
Dr. Dong-Hyun Cho was selected as this year’s awardee in recognition of his studies on the development and operation of KARISMA, a comprehensive software package for space debris collision risk management. Dr. Cho built a terrestrial testbed and produced a model for the development of a space debris elimination algorithm. He published six papers in SCI-level journals and wrote 35 symposium papers in the field of space development. He also applied or registered approximately 40 patents both in Korea and internationally.
The Award Committee also selected three students as scholarship recipients: PhD candidate Yongtae Yun from the Department of Aerospace Engineering at KAIST received 4 million KRW, MS-PhD candidate Haun-Min Lee from the School of Mechanical Engineering at Korea University received 4 million KRW, and Seonju Yim from Kongju National University High School received 3 million KRW.
(END)
2020.05.13 View 8745 -
Professor Sukyung Park Named Presidential Science and Technology Adviser
Professor Sukyung Park from the Department of Mechanical Engineering was appointed as the science and technology adviser to the President Jae-in Moon on May 4. Professor Park, at the age of 47, became the youngest member of the president’s senior aide team at Chong Wa Dae.
A Chong Wa Dae spokesman said on May 4 while announcing the appointment, “Professor Park, a talent with a great deal of policymaking participation in science and technology, will contribute to accelerating the government’s push for science and technology innovation, especially in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector.”
Professor Park joined KAIST in 2004 as the first female professor of mechanical engineering. She is a biomechanics expert who has conducted extensive research on biometric mechanical behaviors. Professor Park is also a member of the KAIST Board of Trustees. Before that, she served as a senior researcher at the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) as well as a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology.
After graduating from Seoul Science High School as the first ever two-year graduate, Professor Park earned a bachelor and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering at KAIST. She then finished her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.
(END)
2020.05.06 View 10976 -
Long Economic Depressions and Disparities Loom in the Wake of the COVID-19
"Global Cooperation for Managing Data Key to Mitigating the Impacts Around the World"
<Full recorded video of the GSI-IF2020>
The COVID-19 pandemic will lead to long economic depressions around the entire world. Experts predicted that the prevalent inequities among the countries, regions, and individuals will aggravate the economic crisis. However, crises always come with new opportunities and international cooperation and solidarity will help creating a new normal in the post-coronavirus era.
In a very basic but urgent step, global cooperation for managing data is the key to respond to COVID-19 since medicine and healthcare are intertwined with data science, said experts during an online international forum hosted by the Global Strategy Institute at KAIST on April 22.
KAIST launched its think-tank, the Global Strategy Institute (GSI), in February. The GSI aims to identify global issues proactively and help make breakthroughs well aligned with solid science-based policies.
The inaugural forum of the GSI focused on how the COVID-19 pandemic would impact socio-economic, scientific, and political landscapes, under the theme “Global Cooperation in the Coronavirus Era.”
In his opening remarks, KAIST President Sung-Chul Shin stressed that future global governance will be dominated by the power of science and technology. “If we can implement efficient policies together with troubleshooting technology for responding to future crises, we will emerge stronger than before,” he said.
President Shin said ‘the Korean model’, which is being recognized as a shining example for dealing with the pandemic, is the result of collaborations combining the creativity of the private sector, the public sector’s strong infrastructure, and the full support of the citizens. He added, “Without the technological prowess coming from the competent R&D power of Korea, we could not achieve these impressive results.”
“Creative collaboration among the private and public sectors, along with research universities from around the world, will help shore up global resilience against the epidemic. We should work together to build a world of growing prosperity,” President Shin said.
Prime Minister Sye-Kyun Chung, who is in charge of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters in Korea, stressed global solidarity in his welcoming remarks, saying that “We need to share information and rely on the strength of our connections, rather than retreating into nationalistic isolation.”
Peter Lee, Vice President of the Microsoft Healthcare, pointed out in his welcoming remarks three critical sectors for global cooperation: medicine and healthcare, public health and prevention, and life and the economy. He emphasized the rule of thumb for managing data, saying that data in these fields should be open, standardized, and shared among countries to combat this global pandemic.
During a keynote session, Director General of the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) Jerome Kim described the challenges that go along with developing a vaccine. Dr. Kim said that only 7% of vaccine candidates go through the clinical trial stages, and it will take five to 10 years to completely prove a new vaccine’s safety after completing three stages of clinical tests.
“It’s very challenging to develop the vaccine for COVID-19 within 12 to 15 months,” said Dr. Kim. He added that 78 out of 115 candidates are currently undergoing clinical trials around the world.
There are five groups, including Moderna, Inovio, Jenner Institute, CanSino, and the Beijing Institute of Biological Products, who are doing clinical trials in phases 1 and 2. “Given the fact that COVID-19 is a totally new type of virus, various stakeholders’ participation, such as the National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups, the WHO, and UNICEF, is needed to work together to benefit the entire world,” he pointed out.
Professor Edward Yoonjae Choi from the Graduate School of AI at KAIST shared how AI and data sciences are being utilized to interpret the major trends of the epidemic. His group mainly focuses on deep learning to model electronic health records (EHR) for disease predictions. Professor Choi said AI and machine learning would be crucial solutions and collaborative research projects will surely accelerate how quickly we can overcome the pandemic.
In addition, Dr. Kijung Shin’s group is interpreting the SIR (Susceptible, Infected, and Recovered) model in Korea to predict the number of infections and when people were infected. However, researchers noticed that they could not see the typical modeling in Korea for predicting the number of infections since the model disregarded the new variable of humans’ efforts to stop the spread the virus.
According to research by Professor Steven Whang’s group on social distancing and face mask distribution among vulnerable age groups, people in their 20s, 60s, and 70s followed the social distancing guidelines the most strictly. The research team analyzed the data provided by SK Telecom in the Gangnam district of Seoul. The data provided on people in their 70s, a group that accounted for half of all fatalities, showed that masks were generally well distributed nationwide.
Dr. Alexandros Papaspyrids, Tertiary Education Industry Director of the Asia region of Microsoft, said that despite all the disadvantages and problems related to remote education, we shouldn’t expect to return to the days before the COVID-19 any time soon. “We should accept the new normal and explore new opportunities in the new educational environment,” he said.
Hongtaek Yong, Deputy Minister at the Office of R&D Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT presented the Korean government’s disease prevention and response policy and how they tried to mitigate the economic and social impact.
He stressed the government’s fast testing, tracing, and openness for successfully flattening the curve, adding that the government used an ICT-based approach in all aspects of their response. From early this year when the first patient was reported, the government aggressively encouraged the biotech industry to develop diagnostic kits and novel therapeutic medications.
As a result, five companies were able to produce genetic diagnostic reagents through the emergency approval. More notably, four of them are conducting massive R&D projects sponsored by the government and this is the result of the government’s continuous investment in R&D. Korea is the leader in R&D investment among the OECD countries.
According to Yong, the government’s big data project that was launched in 2017 continuously traces the trends of epidemics in Korea. The epidemiological studies based on the paths taken by suspected patients using credit card transaction made the difference in predicting the spread of the coronavirus and implementing countermeasures. The data has been provided to the Korea’s Center for Disease Control (CDC).
“In addition to the epidemics, we have so many other pending issues arising from digital and social equities, un-contact services, and job security. We are very open to collaborate and cooperate with other countries to deal with this global crisis,” Yong said.
During the subsequent panel discussions, David Dollar, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said, “The global economy in the coronavirus era will not have a rapid V-shaped recovery, but rather will fall into a long depression for at least two years.” He pointed out that if countries practice protectionism like they did during the Great Depression, the recession will be even worse. Hence, he urged the international community, especially developed nations, to avoid protectionism, consider the economic difficulties of developing countries, and provide them with financial support.
Co-Director of the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution Rebecca Winthrop raised concerns over the recent shift to online teaching and learning, claiming that insufficient infrastructures in low-income families in developing nations are already causing added educational disparities and provoking the inequity issue around the world. “The ways to provide quality education equally through faster and more effective means should be studied,” she said.
Professor Joungho Kim, the director of the KAIST GSI and the forum’s organizer, concluded the event by saying that this forum will be a valuable resource for everyone who is providing assistance to those in need, both during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
(END)
2020.04.22 View 18028 -
14-Day Drawing Challenge Helps Maintain a Sense of Connection Amid Prolonged Social Distancing
- “You need space, but you also need connections.” -
Schools and workplaces have closed and people are staying at home around the globe. Governments across the world have urged their people to keep a distance from others as a measure to slow the spread of the pandemic.
With the Korean government’s decision to extend the intensive social distancing campaign until at least April 19, people in Korea are advised to avoid nonessential trips, public facilities, and social gatherings for another two weeks or so.
This unprecedented prolonged social distancing drive leads people to feel fatigue and frustration. Such emotional stress is worse for those who live alone in a foreign country.
The International Scholar and Student Services (ISSS) Team at KAIST has been working around the clock to build a dedicated COVID-19 Mental Health Support Service to support the university’s international community on campus and abroad and help get them connected online.
As the COVID-19 situation lingers, there has been a growing demand for mental health support from many KAIST international members including 299 students who have been staying in Korea on their own and away from their families, as well as from those who could not return to campus from their overseas homes.
In response to this, the KAIST ISSS Team has been offering some special online events and programs that can help the KAIST international community stay feeling connected whereever they are, while still keeping a safe distance from each other.
For instance, the team is running an art-therapy program called ‘The 14-day Drawing Challenge’ March 30 through April 12. This program is online and individual-based, so it does not require any physical contact between participants.
Each participant is asked to draw a picture at home using the daily topics previously set by the ISSS Team over 14 days. The topics include (Day 1) self-portrait, (Day 2) spring flowers, (Day 3) if you could become anything…, (Day 4) funniest memory you have, (Day 5) animals at KAIST, (Day 6) something you love, (Day 7) country or city you want to visit, (Day 8) what’s for dinner? (Day 9) person you miss, (Day 10) your favorite place at KAIST, (Day 11) your feeling today, (Day 12) things in your favorite color, (Day 13) song lyrics, and (Day 14) your future self in 10 years.
Once all 14 pieces have been completed, submissions can be made online by sending an e-mail to the ISSS Team after scanning or taking a photo of each drawing. Selected submissions will be awarded small prizes for participation and shared through the university’s official website and SNS channels.
“All the participants need is paper, coloring tools, and their creativity and imagination. They don’t have to be a great artist to join this challenge. There is no right or wrong or good or bad. They just need to have fun drawing every day for two weeks, ease their coronavirus anxiety, and remain emotionally stable just like they did back in the normal days,” said Su-yeon Ahn, the manager of the KAIST ISSS Team. She added, “In times like these, you need space, but you also need connections. Our team wants our international students, professors, and researchers to build strong connections with each other, even online.”
Katherine Michelle Pena Santana, an M.S. candidate from the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering who is taking part in ‘The 14-day Drawing Challenge,’ looked back and said, “Lately with the new coronavirus spreading around Korea and the entire world, I was feeling very anxious. I didn't get out of my room and lived by just looking at the same walls and creating some kind of a psychological burden on myself.”
Santana added that these kinds of activities could give many foreign members of KAIST an opportunity to not only relieve fear and stress, but also share each other’s experiences dealing with this pandemic. She explained that this is why she decided to participate in this challenge.
An undergraduate student from the Department of Physics, Ada Carpenter, appreciated the KAIST ISSS Team’s efforts to provide a variety of special online mental health support services to help the university’s international community socialize, while strictly following the government’s guidelines for social distancing. She expressed excitement about participating and said, “I’m so looking forward to the challenge of things that I wouldn’t normally draw.”
< Short Self-interview Video Clip Filmed by Ada Carpenter >
The COVID-19 Mental Health Support Service by the KAIST ISSS Team will be continually updated with new information and enhanced with other tools and support over the coming weeks and months. Some of the upcoming events and programs include ‘The Online Guitar Lessons’, ‘The Growing Houseplants Challenge’, and ‘The Any Song Challenge*’.
* The song titled “Any Song” by Korean rapper Zico has been gaining attention on social media thanks to many celebrities taking on the ‘Any Song Challenge’, performing a short dance to the chorus of the song and sharing it on social media.
(END)
2020.04.08 View 8765 -
Former Minister of Science and Technology Woo Sik Kim Elected as New Chairman of Board of Trustees
Dr. Woo Sik Kim, former Minister of Science and Technology and Deputy Prime Minister, was elected as the new chairman of the KAIST Board of Trustees on March 26. Dr. Kim will succeed Chairman Jang-Mu Lee, whose three-year term expired last month.
Dr. Kim is a chemical engineering professor who spent most of his academic career at Yonsei University from 1968. In 2000, he held the office of president of Yonsei University for four years before moving to the Presidential Office of President Roh Moo-Hyun as his chief of staff in 2004. After serving in the Blue House for two years, he served as the Minister of Science and Technology from 2006 to 2008.
An emeritus fellow of the National Academy of Engineering of Korea (NAEK), Chairman Kim also taught at KAIST as an invited distinguished professor from 2008 to 2010. He is currently the chairman of the Creativity Engineering Institute (CEI).
(END)
2020.04.06 View 9744 -
COVID-19 Update: Reaching Out to Help Local Schools’ Online Classes
After the Ministry of Education decided that all schools would conduct online classes from April 9, schools began to ramp up online education tools and systems. On March 30, the Ministry announced a three-phased opening for the schools, putting online classes for third-year middle and high school students first. The online classes will expand to first and second-year middle and high schoolers and the upper grades of elementary schools on April 16, followed by first to third graders of elementary schools on April 20.
Although some schools have already introduced online teaching and learning into the curriculum, most schools are still unprepared, raising concerns over possible educational disparities caused by insufficient infrastructures and a lack of training for teachers.
To counter these issues, KAIST rolled up its sleeves to help teachers from 38 local middle and high schools in the Yuseong District of Daejeon better prepare for their interactive online classes by providing a special training course from April 7 through 29. Following the course, approximately 40 undergraduate and graduate students will be assigned to schools to help them set up and better utilize the online educational program.
On April 3, Professor Youngsun Kwon, the Dean of KAIST Academy and the Director of the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, gave a two-hour online interactive tutorial session on the utilization of the real-time video conferencing platform ‘Zoom’ for online classes. He shared best practices for checking attendance, running classes, and giving and marking quizzes and assignments. A total of 102 local middle and high school teachers attended this session.
“We feel very fortunate to reach out to teachers who are so passionate about learning online education methodology. We were pleasantly surprised to see this many educators show up for the tutorial session,” said Dean Kwon. He also appreciated KAIST students’ strong interests and support in the community outreach project in response to COVID-19 during these challenging times when social distancing is so critical.
He said more than 150 student volunteers signed up for this project 10 hours after his office posted the opening for volunteers on the KAIST intranet. “We will help front-line school teachers, strictly following the government’s guidelines for social distancing,” he added.
The students’ online class support group will provide additional help to schools that are inexperienced users of Zoom. The students will be those who are very familiar with online lectures using Zoom, and are fully acquainted with how to operate them. One or two of the students will be assigned to each school that requests support, and will directly help solve complications that stem from preparing and running the classes through online measures for safety reasons. The expenses for the support group’s activities will be fully covered by KAIST, and the period of support may be extended upon request.
KAIST has been offering approximately 1,200 courses remotely since the spring semester opened on March 16 and will do so until the COVID-19 situation stabilizes. Along with the provision of pre-recorded one-way lecture contents, real-time two-way lessons are being delivered through various video conferencing platforms including Zoom, YouTube Live, and Microsoft Teams. There were both minor and major technical issues at the beginning of the semester, caused by the instability of servers and system overloads as well as from users being inexperienced with the tools and systems. However, the class procedures have gradually stabilized and are now running better.
KAIST President Sung-Chul Shin said, “As the COVID-19 situation lingers, this is a more difficult time than ever, where all educational establishments and educators must quickly learn and apply new methods of education, often in insufficient preparation conditions.” He added, “KAIST will provide support for secondary schools in the region to quickly resolve the inconveniences caused by new users of online classes so that they may provide high-quality education.”
(END)
2020.04.06 View 6798 -
Cyber MOU Signing with Zhejiang University
KAIST signed an MOU with Zhejiang University (ZJU) in China on March 25. This MOU signing ceremony took place via video conference due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
The collaboration with ZJU had already started with the signing of an MOU for cooperation in technology commercialization last December. Possible cooperation initiatives included facilitating joint start-up businesses, patent portfolios, and technology marketing.
With this general agreement signing, it is expected that the two institutes will expand mutual exchanges and collaborations at the institutional level for education and research.
President Sung-Chul Shin said, “We will work together to devise measures for the systematic advancement of cooperation in various directions, including education, research, and the commercialization of technologies.”
ZJU, a member of the C9 League known as China’s Ivy League, was established in 1897 and is located in the city of Hangzhou. Its population across 37 colleges and schools comprises 54,641 students and 3,741 faculty members. The university was ranked 6th in Asia and 54th in the world in the 2020 QS Rankings.
(END)
2020.03.30 View 10701 -
COVID-19 Update: Students and Professors Adjust to 1,200 Online Classes
- Approximately 1,200 online classes are being offered during the cyber semester. -
COVID-19 is transforming the way KAISTians live. Many restrictions imposed to contain the spread of the virus have us adjusting to a new environment swiftly. A cyber MOU signing ceremony with a foreign partner university took place on March 25, as did a cyber Board of Trustees Meeting on March 26. KAIST’s Main Campus is normally one of the most iconic picnic destinations for the citizens of Daejeon, but this is not the case this spring, as the campus has been temporarily closed to protect our own community as well as our neighboring communities.
KAIST has been offering approximately 1,200 courses remotely since this semester opened on March 16 and will do so until further notice. Students and faculty members are experiencing the newly emerging norms of remote education in this time of social distancing. This unexpected disruption might advance the new digital pedagogy at KAIST, which was already ahead of the curve with its online learning and teaching infrastructure.
Professor Youngsun Kwon, the Dean of KAIST Academy and the Director of the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, said, “We had already initiated the KAIST Learning Management System (KLMS) in 2011 for introducing flipped learning, a student-centric creative-learning pedagogy. Since then, about nine percent of all our classes have been run using this methodology. Students pre-study the online streaming lecture materials that professors have uploaded in advance outside the classroom, and in-class activities are mainly group discussions and problem-solving activities.”
According to Dean Kwon, the university was planning to further introduce real-time online education from this spring semester and were in the process of setting up the system started from last year. “Our plan was to connect the real-time video conferencing service Zoom to our existing remote educational platform KLMS. However, things related to COVID-19 all happened so rapidly that we didn’t yet have a full-fledged connection,” said Dean Kwon.
Professors had to choose either to conduct their lectures remotely in the form of a pre-made one-way lesson or a real-time two-way lesson. They could also modify them using both platforms. Professor Youngchul Kim from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering said, “I had to also make some changes in my class activities and assignments. I removed a group design project and some tutorial workshops that were meant to provide students with hands-on experience using design tools such a 3D printer and a laser cutting system. Ironically, I found that students seem to focus on online lectures more intensely than I expected. I feel like students give me their thoughts and respond much quicker as well.”
Unfortunately, the online learning and teaching infrastructure and resources that had been put in place could not handle the overwhelming volume of classes being uploaded over very short period of time.
To handle the new demand, IT technicians are setting up the technical environment with stable servers to improve network traffic. For professors, teaching assistants, and students to teach and learn better in an online space, department offices have been lending spare equipment such as laptops, tablets, headsets, and webcams to those who do not have their own, based on availability. Academic support staff have also been pitching in by developing the best guidelines for online training.
“Even in these uncharted waters, all of the members of KAIST are doing their best to keep the ship steadily sailing in the right direction. I am very grateful for everyone’s efforts to make things work,” said Dean Kwon.
About 60% of the courses currently offered online are being uploaded using the non-real-time KLMS, and the remaining 40% are run in real time via Zoom. Each class runs for 50 minutes per academic credit, and comprises at least 25 minutes of lecture, a Q&A session, and a group discussion.
Students enrolled in the 481 courses that include experiments are asked to conduct their experiments individually after watching a 50-minute online lecture. Experimental, practical, and physical courses that are impossible to provide online have been cancelled or postponed until the next semester or summer/winter breaks.
“I find the online lessons quite convenient for the courses that I am taking this semester, especially the non-real-time ones, because I can watch the lecture videos over and over again even after the class has finished to understand the contents better,” said Jaymee Palma, an undergraduate student from the Department of Chemistry.
Ada Carpenter, an undergraduate student from the Department of Physics, added, “Students who normally feel uncomfortable speaking in class raise their questions on an online Q&A board more easily. Besides, I saw many other students asking questions and leading a discussion verbally as well. I think, when students join a synchronous Zoom classroom, they are more engaged than when just attending a regular lecture in a conventional classroom. It’s like everyone can sit in the front row of the class.”
Still, there are reportedly pedagogical, logistical, and technological challenges to these extraordinary educational measures. Some students express concerns about keeping up with professors and other students if they don’t have sufficient technological knowledge and skills. Some also cite the disadvantage of online classes having much less interaction and engagement among students and between professors and students than offline ones. “Fortunately, I think my professors are all excellent, so I can immerse myself well during all my cyber classes,” said Sang-Hyeon Lee, a graduate student from the School of Computing.
(END)
2020.03.26 View 8018 -
‘OSK Rising Stars 30’ Recognizes Four KAISTians
Four KAISTians were selected as star researchers to brighten the future of optics in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Optical Society of Korea (OSK). As ‘OSK Rising Stars 30’, the OSK named 27 domestic researchers under the age of 40 who have made significant contributions and will continue contributing to the development of Korea’s optics academia and industry.
Professor YongKeun Park from the Department of Physics was selected in recognition of his contributions to the field of biomedical optics. Professor Park focuses on developing novel optical methods for understanding, diagnosing, and treating human diseases, based on light scattering, light manipulation, and interferometry. As a member of numerous international optics societies including the OSA and the SPIE and a co-founder of two start-up companies, Professor Park continues to broaden his boundaries as a leading opticist and entrepreneur.
Professor Jonghwa Shin from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering was recognized for blazing a trail in the field of broadband metamaterials. Professor Shin’s research on the broadband enhancement of the electric permittivity and refractive index of metamaterials has great potential in both academia and industry.
Professor Hongki Yoo from the Department of Mechanical Engineering is expected to create a significant ripple effect in the diagnosis of cardiovascular disorders through the development of new optical imaging techniques and applications.
Finally, Dr. Sejeong Kim, a KAIST graduate and a Chancellor’s postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), was acknowledged for her optical device research utilizing two-dimensional materials. Dr. Kim’s research at UTS now focuses on the introduction of micro/nano cavities for new materials.
(END)
2020.03.16 View 9650