Intel
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KAIST to Host ITTP Conference in Tunisia
KAIST"s Global IT Technology Program (ITTP) will host an international conference at Hammamet Hotel in Tunisia in cooperation with its counterpart at Seoul National University (SNU) on Nov. 23, university authorities said on Wednesday (Nov. 18).
The event is a pre-conference for the ICT4All Forum on Nov. 24-25 which the Tunisian government is organizing with the ADB, World Bank, Arab Society for Intellectual Property and the UTICA to deal with developing information and communication technologies.
KAIST"s ITTP which started in 2006 is designed to build global network of IT leaders around the world. The program supported by the Korean Ministry of Knowledge and Economy offers a customized master"s and doctoral degree program for foreign government officials, employees of public institutions and senior researchers at national research centers working in the IT fields. Scholarships are provided for all trainees, for up to 2 years for master"s students and up to 3 years for doctoral students.
The program focuses on transferring advanced technologies and business strategies of Korea to the global IT leaders of the next generation.
During the conference, seven government officials from as many countries currently under the KAIST or SNU programs will present international cooperation cases based on their own experiences in the IT fields. KAIST ITTP organizers will also provide an educational session on the mobile government for Tunisian experts and conference participants in the information and communications fields.
2009.11.20 View 14489 -
KAIST to Join Forces with Northwestern School of Law in MIP Program
KAIST has agreed to collaborate in its Master of Intellectual Property (MIP) program with Northwestern University School of Law, the university authorities said on Wednesday (Nov. 11).
KAIST President Nam-Pyo Suh and Northwestern Univ. School of Law Dean David Van Zandt signed a memorandum of understanding for the establishment of the certificate and degree programs of the Anglo-American law in February 2010, at the president"s office Wednesday.
The latest agreement represents an expansion of the existing KAIST-Northwestern Executive LLM program that the two schools have successfully operated for the past eight years. It is aimed at boosting KAIST"s global intellectual property capabilities at a time when the strategic management of intellectual properties and capabilities to deal with international intellectual property disputes are gaining growing importance.
The newly-established two-year, six-semester program is designed to offer a certificate program in the Anglo-American and intellectual property laws to make students better armed with legal knowledge in a competitive global environment.
Northwestern University School of Law is regarded as one of the top law schools in the United States. American law schools are better positioned than any other institutions to prepare students to move from domestic to international practice in today"s complex global economy.
LLM is Latin for Legum Magister, signifying Master of Laws
. course and neto ba ... signing an agreement to run a joint masters degree program at the KAIST campus in Seou
2009.11.19 View 13489 -
Prof. Park to Receive HP's Annual Innovation Research Award
Prof. In-Kyu Park of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, KAIST, has been will receive an award from Hewlett-Packard"s second annual Labs Innovation Research Program, university authorities said on Wednesday (July 8).
Prof. Park was chosen as the winner of the research award for his paper entitled "Eco-friendly nanomanufacturing for intelligent environment sensing applications."
Sixty projects from 46 universities in 12 countries were selected as the recipients of the awards from HP Labs, the company"s central research arm. The program is designed to create opportunities for colleges, universities and research institutes to conduct collaborative research with HP.
HP Labs Innovation Research Awards provide project funding of up to $100,000 for one year to each of the chosen academic institutions, which is renewable for up to three years based on research progress and HP business requirements.
Prof. Park has conducted joint researches on nanoimprinting, nanosensors, and nanoelectronics with HP"s Information and Quantum Systems Lab since 2005. Starting from the later half of 2009, he is to receive research grants under the industry-academia cooperation program of the world"s information technology giant firm.
2009.07.09 View 14935 -
KAIST Collaborating with U.S. Universities to Advance Humanoid Robotics
Hubo, a life-size walking bipedal humanoid robot, is perhaps the best-known character in Korea that KAIST has ever produced. It was shown to the government heads of the Asia-Pacific region during the APEC held in Busan, Korea, in 2005 and appeared at the hit concerts of the pop singer Jang-Hoon Kim. The humanoid robot is soon likely to catch the fancy of Americans as a U.S. government-funded project seeks to create a Hubo that can work and interact with people in collaboration with Korean scientists.
"We are going to give the brains to Hubo. (Japanese) Asimo can do only pre-programmed actions. We want to create a Hubo that can help people, interact with people," said Prof. Paul Oh of the Department of Mechanical Engineering & Mechanics at Drexel University in Philadelphia and leader of the five-year international project which was launched in November 2007.
The U.S.$2.5 million project is funded through the Partnership for International Research and Education (PIRE) Program of the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the United States. It brings together world-renowned experts in humanoid design and information technologies.
"Dr. Jun-Ho Oh"s lab at KAIST (that has created Hubo) is the world"s leader in humanoid design and the U.S. has advanced technologies in the areas such as artificial intelligence, mechanical learning and robot vision. Combining the strengths of the two countries can create a synergy effect and develop a more advanced humanoid robot," said Paul Oh. He is currently serving as Program Director of Robotics of the NSF which is overseeing robotics research (non-military) in the U.S. consisting over 150 robotics faculty.
Paul Oh"s research team consists of experts from five U.S. universities -- Drexel, Bryn Mawr College, Colby College, the University of Pennsylvania and Virginia Tech -- and KAIST.
Leading a delegation of six professors and eight students, Dr. Paul Oh made a two-day visit to KAIST on Nov. 18-19 to review the progress of the project and have a technical meeting with participants.
"The U.S. universities participating in this program are scattered across the nation. So we decided to have a technical meeting here in Korea," he said.
Asked the reason why he chose KAIST as a partner for the program, Dr. Oh said that KAIST is willing to open Hugo to international researchers, whereas in Japan only Honda engineers are allowed to touch Asimo, which is a humanoid robot created by Honda Motor Company.
The project is to establish no barrier for roboticists anywhere in the world to pursue the humanoid research; a suite of humanoid platforms will be available for researchers to develop and advance capabilities like locomotion and human-robot interaction.
The team has been initially involved in development of three tools, all of which are based on the Hubo platform, in order to kick-start humanoid research in the U.S. They are the Mini-Hubo (a small, light-weight and affordable humanoid purchasable at the price lower than $8,000), On-Line Hubo (a program to operate Hubo online) and Virtual Hubo (a simulation program to do researches in cyberspace). As the first outcome of the project, the Mini-Hubo is expected to be released in the U.S. around next April.
Another important purpose of the PIRE program is to seek transformative models to train scientists and engineers to effectively work in global multi-disciplined design teams. To this end, an aggregate number of 20 students from U.S. universities are to stay at the KAIST during the next five years, with two students taking turns on a six-month term.
"I was really amazed how much work is done with small funding here. This is really an excellent example to learn," said Roy Gross, an undergraduate from Drexel who has been staying at Prof. Oh"s Lab for the past three months.
2008.11.21 View 19108 -
SoC Robot War 2008 Wraps Up 4-Day Competition
The 2008 Intelligent SoC Robot War hosted by KAIST wrapped up its four-day competition on Sunday, Oct. 19, at the Indian Hall of Convention & Exhibition Center (COEX) in southern Seoul.
At the annual contest featuring battles between mechanical robots utilizing System on Chip (SoC) technology, Seoul National University of Technology"s "Fiperion" won top award in the Tank Robot category and Chungbuk National University"s "What is FPGA?" was the champion in the Taekwon Robot category.
In the Tank Robot contest, robots in the form of tanks engaged in duels with laser beams through visual recognition, wireless communication, and audio recognition. On the other hand, the Taekwon Robot contest was a hand-to-hand fight. The robots had to be capable of recognizing the opponent, defending and attacking without external control.
A total of 20 teams in the Tank Robot category and 10 teams in the Taekwon Robot category passed through the preliminary assessments and vied in the final competition. The annual event started seven years ago.
The preliminary assessments conducted between July and September drew a total of 150 teams nationwide. Any team consisting of more than two people and under six undergraduate or graduate students are eligible to take part in the competition.
This year"s event was co-sponsored by Altera, a U.S.-based leading semiconductor manufacturer. Each of the two top-award winning teams received U.S.$1,000 in cash and 10 pieces of DE2 board which is worth $2,700.
2008.10.22 View 11607
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Research University Presidents Discuss Global Network to Increase Cooperation
Presidents and leaders of research universities participating in the 2008 International Presidential Forum on Global Research Universities (IPFGRU) held at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul, Korea on Sept. 8, 2008 exchanged views and ideas on how to build and effectively utilize a global research network in order to increase cooperation and exchanges among institutions of science and technology across the world.
The participants agreed on the need to promote the sharing of expertise and facilities, conduct joint researches and positively implement dual degree, roaming professorship and other programs that help institutions in societies at different stages of scientific and technological development maximize the fruits of their research activities.
As a major goal, the participants agreed to create alliances for research and education that can become a new paradigm for global cooperation, with the outcome of discussions at the 2008 IPFGRU providing the guidelines for future endeavors in this direction.
Through the day-long symposium, participants reached general agreements on the following points:
--The concept of sharing faculty or roaming professorship should be actively promoted in order to accelerate global dissemination of academic expertise with the institutions and state authorities concerned easing existing restrictions to such arrangements and ensuring maximum academic freedom of professors involved.
--Dual degree programs especially those involving institutions of different countries need to be further encouraged in view of their benefits of resources sharing, expansion of knowledge and cultural exchanges and that educational authorities should try to remove various forms of limitations.
--As competitions over university ranking would grow intensive as institutions seek to attract better students and more donations, there is need to institutionalize a fairer, globally recognized national, regional and international assessment systems.
--In view of rapid expansion of interdisciplinary researches which calls for the sharing of facilities and expertise among different institutions, it is necessary to establish national or regional hubs to make state-of-the-art facilities and equipment available for researchers and research programs experiencing limitations in financial and material resources.
--National governments and political leaders should better recognize the importance of science and technology for societal and global prosperity and the science and technology community needs to make more communicative approaches to politicians so that greater trust may be built between them.
--Arrangements to conduct joint research involving international industries, academia and government should be accelerated with a view to addressing the common problems facing the mankind in the 21st century, including energy, environment, water, food and sustainability. The United Nations and other international organizations need to provide stronger support for research universities’ efforts in this direction.
--Research universities across the world should make concerted efforts to establish a global cooperative network that can facilitate the flow of information, resources and research personnel to realize universal advancement of science and technology and, ultimately, enhance the quality of human life.
Keynote speakers and panelists and the subjects of their presentations were:
Participants" List
Topic
Name of University
Speaker
Position
1. Roaming Professorships: To Whose Benefit?
Illinois Institute of Technology
John L. Anderson
President
Improving the Competitiveness of Global University Education
National University of Sciences and Technology
Muhammad Mushtaq
Pro-Rector
Improving the Competitiveness of Global University Education
Tianjin University
Fuling Yang
Director of International Cooperation Office
Sharing Differences in Culture and Environment for Sustainable Education for the Future Generation
Kumamoto University
Tatsuro Sakimoto
President
Sharing Differences in Culture and Environment for Sustainable Education for the Future Generation
Odessa National I. I. Mechnikov University
Sergiy Skorokhod
Vice Rector for International Cooperation
Promoting Science and Engineering Education among Secondary Students
Czech Technical University of Prague
Miroslav Vlcek
Vice Rector
Promoting Science and Engineering Education among Secondary Students
South China University of Technology
Xueqing Qiu
Vice President
Preserving and Utilizing Expert Knowledge for Better Education
Eotvos Loran University
Jösef Nemes-Nagy
Vice Dean
2. Dual Degree Programs: Future Potential & Challenges
University of Queensland
Paul Greenfield
President and Vice Chancellor
Benefits of Dual Degree Program
Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon
Martin Raynaud
Director, International Relations
Benefits and Limitations of Dual Degree Program
National Institute of Development Administration
Pradit Wanarat
Vice President for Academic Affairs
The Role of Dual Degree Program Easing Brain Drain
Nanyang Technological University
Lam Khin Yong
Associate Provost, Graduate Education & Special Projects
International Dual Degree Programs and Strategies
Georgia Institute of Technology
Steven W. McLaughlin
Vice Provost, International Initiatives
Dual Degree Program and Global Learning Networks
City University of Hong Kong
Richard Yan-Ki Ho
Special Advisor to the President
Raising International IQs of Scientists and Engineers for Global Enterprise
Technion, Israel Institute of Technology
Moshe Shpitalni
Dean,
Graduate Studies
Luncheon Speech
“Beneficial Relationships between Academia and Companies”
Medical Information Technology
A. Neil Pappalardo
Chairman and CEO
3. Sharing Facilities and Expertise
KAIST
Nam Pyo Suh
President
Promoting International Sharing of Research Facilities and Expertise to Strengthen Research Outcomes
Griffith University
Ian O"Connor
President
Economic Benefits of Sharing Research Facilities and Expertise
POSTECH
Sunggi Baik
President
Economic Benefits of Sharing Facilities and Expertise: National NanoFab Center
National NanoFab Center
Hee Chul Lee
President
Communicating Science and Technology to Political Leaders
Office of the President of KOREA
Chan Mo Park
Special Advisor to the President for Science and Technology
Filling the Gap of University Resources
Bandung Institute of Technology
Djoko Santoso
Rector
4. An Approach to Joint Research Ventures with NASA
NASA
Yvonne Pendleton
Deputy Associate Center Director
Benefits of International Joint Venture Research Projects
University of Adelaide
Martyn J. Evans
Director, Community Engagement
Benefits of International Joint Projects
Mahidol University
Sansanee Chaiyaroj
Vice President
International Joint Research Projects
University of Iowa
P. Barry Butler
Dean, College of Engineering
Joint Research: University of Technology Malaysia’s Experience at National and International Level
University Technology of Malaysia
Tan Sri Mohd Ghazali
Vice-Chancellor
Sharing Intellectual Property Rights
Paris Institute of Technology
Cyrille van Effenterre
President
Global Economic and Social Contribution of International Joint Project Cooperation
Kyushu University
Wataru Koterayama
Vice President
5. Globalization through Interfacing with Existing Networking
Technical University of Denmark
Lars Pallesen
Rector
Establishing Global Science and Technology Networking
National Cheng Kung University
Da Hsuan Feng
Senior Executive Vice President
Establishing Global Science and Technology Networking
University of Technology of Troyes
Christian Lerminiaux
President
The Role of Global Science and Technology Network for Higher Education in the 21st Century
Iowa State University
Tom I-P. Shih
Department Chair
Regionalized or Globalized Science and Technology Networking
Babes-Bolyai University
Calin Baciu
Dean, Faculty of Environmental Sciences
Globalized Science and Technology Networking
Harbin Institute of Technology
Shuguo Wang
President
Connecting Regional Science and Technology Networks for the Global Networking
Ritsumeikan University
Sadao
Kawamura
Special Aide
to the Chancellor
How Can a Publisher Strengthen the Global Network of Universities?
Elsevier
Youngsuk Chi
Vice Chairman
2008.09.18 View 22310
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KAIST to hold 2008 Int
KAIST, Korea"s premier science and technology research university, will hold the 1st International Presidential Forum on Global Research Universities at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul on Sept. 8, 2008. Presidents of research universities in all regions of the world have been invited to the conference aimed primarily at identifying common issues and opportunities in strengthening globalization of higher education and research.
Participants in the forum will exchange views and ideas on how to build and utilize global research network to promote the sharing of expertise and facilities, conduct joint researches and effectively implement dual degree and roaming professorship programs.
KAIST President Dr. Nam P. Suh said of the purpose of the conference: "Research universities have become global enterprises. Collaborations that were once primarily between individual researchers are now increasingly occurring at institutional and international levels. Similarly, educating students which used to be the responsibility of a single university has now become a multi-institutional undertaking, involving many universities in different countries.
"Now leading research universities in many countries depend on the continuous supply of outstanding graduate students form the "feeder" schools of developing nations. There are concerns that the current system may not be serving the interest and need of some institutions, especially those in developing nations. This should be examined and understood to devise international mechanisms that can accentuate the positive aspects of globalization.
"Through this forum, we hope to forge an international network of universities that will strengthen the effort of individual universities and create alliances for research and education that can become a new paradigm for global collaboration."
Keynote presentations will be made on the following five major subjects: -- Roaming Professorship-- Dual Degree Program-- Sharing Facilities and Expertise-- Joint Research, and-- Globalization through Interfacing with Existing Networking
Leaders of the world"s major education and research institutions have been asked to lead panel discussions with their rich experiences in globalization programs.
Following the conference in Seoul, participants are invited to come to the KAIST campus in Daejeon, about 150 kilometers from Seoul, where a symposium on EEWS (environment, energy, water and sustainability) will be held to examine the progress in interdisciplinary research activities in these vital problems facing the mankind and look for a new direction in international collaboration.
Co-sponsors of the International Presidential Forum include the Dong-A Ilbo, a major national daily, and the Dong-A Science Magazine.
Message from KAIST President Suh:
Research universities have become global enterprises. Collaborations that were once primarily between individual researchers are now increasingly occurring at institutional and international levels. Similarly, educating students used to be the responsibility of a single university but has now become a multiinstitutional undertaking, involving many universities in different countries.
These changes are a consequence of globalization and integration of the world’s economy. Temporal andgeographical separations are no longer barriers to the collective generation and transfer of knowledge andenlightened education. It is also a natural response to the demand for educated workforce who can functionin any country.
Current globalization was preceded by the migration of graduate students who were seeking to fulfill theiraspirations for better education at the world’s leading universities. This international movement of studentshas benefited not only students but research universities as well. Now leading research universities in manycountries depend on the continuous supply of outstanding graduate students from the “feeder” schools ofdeveloping nations.
There are some concerns that the current system may not be serving the interest and need of some institutions,especially those in developing nations. This should be examined and understood to devise institutionalmechanisms that can accentuate the positive aspects of globalization.
The purpose of the International Forum of Research University Presidents, which will be held on Sept. 8 inSeoul, Korea, is to identify common issues and opportunities for research universities that further strengthenglobalization of higher education and research. Participants will hear diverse views and ideas and will learnfrom those who have been active in global education and research. Participants also will examine dualdegree programs that are already in place among many universities and the effective implementation of aglobal research network.
Through this process, we hope to forge an international network of universities that will strengthen the effortof individual universities and create alliances for research and education that can become a new paradigm forglobal collaboration.
Looking forward to meeting you in Seoul,
Prof. Nam P. SuhPresidentKAIST
Tentative Program(Theme: Global Science and Technology Networking)
Sept. 7, 2008, Sunday 17:00 - 18:30 RegistrationSept. 8, 2008, Monday09:00 - 09:10 Opening Ceremony09:10 - 09:40 I. Keynote Presentation: Roaming Professorship09:40 - 10:20 Panel Presentations:- Improving the competitiveness of global university education- Sharing differences in culture and environment for sustainable education for the future generation- Promoting science and engineering education among secondary students- Preserving and utilizing expert knowledge for better education10:20 - 10:40 Open Discussion10:40 - 11:00 Coffee Break11:00 - 11:30 II. Keynote Presentation: Dual Degree Program11:30 - 12:10 Panel Presentations:- Benefits of dual degree program- The role of dual degree program easing brain drain- Global branch campus or dual degree program?- Raising international IQs of scientists and engineers for global enterprises12:10 - 12:30 Open Discussion12:30 - 14:00 Luncheon14:00 - 14:30 III. Keynote Presentation: Sharing Facilities and Expertise14:30 - 15:10 Panel presentations:- How to spin off international joint ventures from the sharing of research facilities and expertise- Economic benefits of sharing research facilities and expertise- How to communicate science and technology agenda to political leaders- Easing the gap between the developed and less developed regions through science and technology cooperation15:10 - 15:30 Open Discussion15:30 - 16:00 IV. Keynote Presentation: Joint Research16:00 - 16:40 Panel Presentations:- Benefits of international joint project- Ways to formulate the international joint projects- Sharing intellectual property rights- Global economic and social contributions of international joint project cooperation16:40 - 17:00 Open Discussion17:00 - 17:30 Coffee Break17:30 - 18:00 V. Keynote Presentation: Globalization through Interfacing with Existing Networking18:00 - 18:40 Panel Presentations:- Establishing global science and technology networking- The role of global science and technology networking for the higher education of the next century- Regionalized or globalized science and technology networking- Connecting regional science and technology networks for the global networking18:40 - 19:00 Open Discussion19:00 - 19:15 Closing Remarks by President Suh19:15 - 21:30 Banquet
Venue: Westin Chosun Hotel, Seoul
2008.07.17 View 19701
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Int'l Conference for Integration of Science & Technology into Society Opens
The 2008 International Conference for the Integration of Science and Technology into Society (ICISTS-KAIST) opened a four-day meeting on Tuesday (July 15) at Daejeon KAIST campus. The conference is an annual event organized by a group of KAIST undergraduate students.
The fifth-year gathering is designed to provide participants with an opportunity to broaden their scientific perspectives by sharing ideas and experiences in related topics, as well as building an international human network. This year"s event has drawn about 200 students from 40 countries.
The centerpiece of the conference is three workshops on the following themes; Human-Robot Symbiotic Society, Neo-brain Science and Trafficmatics. Myung-Ja Kim, former Korean Environment Minister, will appear as a keynote speaker.
In the workshop sessions, two speakers will discuss specific issues and arrive at a tentative conclusion. Participants will have the opportunity to participate in the debate through Q&A for each session.
The first theme "Human-Robot Symbiotic Society" delves into the current trend that robot is being transformed into a perceivable and touchable concept from an abstract one. Guests for the workship include June-Ho Oh, professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, KAIST; James Dater, professor at the Department of Political Science, University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Director of the Hawaii Research Center for Future; Michael Pollitt, CEO of Shadow Robot Company; and Steven Dubowsky, professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT.
The second theme "Neo-Brain Science" focuses on attempts to shed light on brain from diverse perspectives including psychology, economics and art. Among invited speakers are Prof. Jai-Seung Jung at the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, KAIST; Prof. Un-Jung Kang at the University of Chicago Medical Center; and Peter Geyer, a consultant for the Association for Psychological Type.
The third workshop on "Traffimatics" will deal with "intelligent transport systems (ITS)" which will discusst new paradigm in transportation policy and traffic engineering. On the list of speakers are Assaf Biderman, assistant director, SENSEable City Laboratory, MIT; Prof. Richard Tay, at the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Calgary; Prof. Shoshi Mizokami at Kumamoto University; and Ho-Jong Baik, research associate professor of Virginia Tech.
2008.07.16 View 20302 -
Prof. Sang-Yup Lee Co-Editor-in-Chief of Biotechnology Journal
Prof. Sang-Yup Lee of KAIST"s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering has been appointed as co-editor-in-chief of Biotechnology Journal published by Wiley-VCH, a German-based leading technical publisher, university authorities said Tuesday, April 15.
Launched in January 2006, Biotechnology Journal has covered biological process, brain ailments, biological medicine, protein design and other applied bio-sciences.
Starting in May, Lee will be responsible for setting and overseeing editorial direction of the journal along with Prof. Alois Jungbauer of Austria.
Professor Lee has been gaining recognition in and outside the country for his research on metabolic engineering. In 2002, he was chosen as one of Asia"s next generation leaders by the World Economic Forum. In 2007, Lee was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world"s largest general scientific society. He is also serving as an editorial member of more than ten international journals including Biotechnology & Bioengineering.
Awards and honors include the First Young Scientist"s Award from the President of Korea, the Scientist of the Month Award from the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology, the Best Patent Award from Korean Intellectual Property Office, the Citation Classic Award from ISI, USA, and the First Elmer Gaden Award (1999 Best Paper Award) from Biotechnology and Bioengineering (John Wiley & Sons, USA) at the ACS National meeting.
2008.04.16 View 14427 -
KAIST Receiving Applications for Intelligent SoC Robot War
KAIST is receiving applications to participate in the 2008 Intelligent SoC Robot War through the annual contest"s homepage at www.socrobotwar.org. Application deadline is May 1.
The annual contest features battles between mechanical robots utilizing System on Chip (SoC) technology. The annual robot competition, which began in 2002, is scheduled for Oct. 15-19 this year at the Indian Hall of Convention & Exhibition Center (COEX) in southern Seoul.
The Intelligent SoC Robot War Contest has two sections, Tank Robot and Taekwon Robot. In the Tank Robot contest, robots in the form of tanks engage in duels with laser beams through visual recognition, wireless communication, and audio recognition. On the other hand, the Taekwon Robot contest is a hand-to-hand fight. The robots had to be capable of defending, recognizing the opponent, and attacking without external control.
Any team consisting of more than two people and under six undergraduate or graduate students are eligible to take part in the competition.
Prior to the contest, preliminary assessments and the final selection will be made between July and September.
2008.04.14 View 14264
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2008 New Year's Message from President
New Year’s Greeting
I would like to wish you and your family a prosperous and happy New Year. I also hope that 2008 will be a great year for KAIST.
2007: Year in Review
Thanks to all of your hard work and dedication, 2007 has been a productive year for KAIST. We have undertaken many difficult and challenging tasks in order to make KAIST one of the leading universities in the world. As president, I would like to express my deep appreciation to all members of our community for your many contributions. You have all worked effectively and with great dedication toward accomplishing many of our goals.
With your help, leadership, and support we have taken three major steps towards raising our standards. We have improved undergraduate education, created KAIST Institutes to undertake important interdisciplinary research, and improved our system of governance. I believe that these changes will make KAIST much stronger, increasing the intellectual productivity and performance of our students and faculty.
But our job is not done yet. We have far to go before reaching our goal of making KAIST one of the best universities in the world.
Goals of KAIST
KAIST is a great university. Its students are among the brightest young people in the world. We have a first-rate faculty. We have hard working staff, and KAIST benefits from the generous support of the Korean people. It is clear we have what it takes to be one of the leading universities in the world.
The history of science and technology teaches us that academia continually creates new intellectual fields to deal with emerging opportunities and to respond to societal needs. Universities that are most successful are those that are best at responding to our changing world. KAIST has the opportunity to become a leading university by searching for and solving important problems that require new approaches and new thinking.
There are many reasons KAIST should strive to be the best. Doing so will enable the university to attract the best students and resources, in an increasingly competitive and global academic environment. This will create an atmosphere of intellectual excitement and vigor benefiting both faculty and students. This environment will put our faculty and students in league with the world’s other leading universities’ experts.
Tasks Ahead
To this end, we still face formidable obstacles. However, we can overcome them through great resolve, ingenuity, planning, and sacrifice.
Without change, KAIST will of course continue to advance. But the world’s other leading universities are advancing exponentially faster. KAIST must do more to be in the same league. We must identify new opportunities in all areas, invest in innovative ideas, and lead the field in important areas of science and technology.
What we have done in 2007
We have already made progress towards these goals in 2007. Some of our efforts have been difficult and painful to implement.
a. Undergraduate education We introduced many measures to educate our students in a way that will prepare them to become future leaders. We have taken measures to make students more accountable for their actions, while also teaching them to be bi-modally functional in synthesis and analysis.
We have also pursued international collaborations by establishing dual degree programs, which will begin in 2008 with Carnegie Mellon and Georgia Institute of Technology. We are currently working to establish similar programs with European and Asian universities as well.
b. KAIST Institutes We have established research institutes to focus on KAIST’s current strengths. And we have also instituted “high risk/ high return” research-support programs to encourage creativity and innovation.
c. EEWS In order to address the most pressing concerns of the 21st century, we have begun major research support in areas related to energy, the environment, water and sustainability. These global problems require international collaboration, which we are actively seeking.
d. Governance We restructured KAIST into a department-centric system to enable those who know their fields best to be the primary decision makers. Departments will have the primary responsibility for personnel, finance, space, and education, all of which will be coordinated by the central administration for consistency and checks and balances. We will further develop this system, establishing deep roots in the years to come.
e. Buildings and Generous Donors We were extremely fortunate to find generous donors who were willing to provide the financial support for KAIST. I am personally very grateful to Dr. & Mr. Byiung Joon Park for the KI building, and Dr. & Mrs. Neil Papparlardo for the hospital and medical center. We are hoping to find other generous donors for the Sports Complex and other important undertakings of KAIST.
Tasks for 2008
In 2008, we must do the following:
1. Teach well.
2. Generate outstanding graduates who can function and compete in a global environment.
3. Produce outstanding research results by identifying important and challenging problems that require creative thinking, new ideas, and innovative paradigms to replace those that do not work any more.
4. Lead the field of science and engineering by anticipating future needs and opportunities.
5. Secure financial resources to compensate outstanding faculty and staff at a globally competitive scale and to maintain an infrastructure fit for research.
6. Increase the size of the faculty and student body to a more competitive level.
7. Recruit outstanding students, faculty and staff. 8. Build new facilities such as the Park Building for KAIST Institutes, the Pappalardo Hospital and Medical Center, the International House, and the Sports Complex.
To achieve these tasks, we have created the Five-Year Development Plan and have implemented new programs and policies with the support of the faculty, the students and the staff.
New Opportunities Ahead
We may have new opportunities to make major contributions in a number of different areas. Before implementing any new programs and policies, the faculty, staff, and administration must consider them carefully and evaluate them thoroughly.
I will discuss a few these opportunities that we should consider exploring:
1. Information Technology (IT)
The fact that IT is an important area does not need any elaboration. Korea is a leading IT nation. IT has changed the way people communicate, live and produce. It has increased the productivity of the world. IT will continue to evolve and let us do things that cannot be done today.
How will the field of IT change in the future? How should KAIST lead the change?
Much of the IT revolution consists of hard technologies such as advances in semiconductors, wireless communications, fiber optics, displays, communications technology (switching, networking, etc.), and others. Although these hard technologies will continue to be important and occupy the minds of our brightest engineers, they may evolve in the way the computer field has evolved. For example, in the past, the limited and costly storage of data occupied much of the thinking in the computer science and engineering field. Also the speed of microprocessors was a major limiting factor in the use of computers. However, today the cost of data storage is almost insignificant in comparison to other costs. Advances in data storage have changed the practice and opportunities in the field of computers. Similarly, the current limiting factors involving hardware and data transmission may cease to drive the IT field in the future. What may be equally important is the management and engineering of content that are generated optically, by software, and by the users in a network.
Examples of possible new directions in IT (in addition to traditional IT):
(a) KAIST should explore whether or not we need to create a new curriculum and a department for “content creation, management and engineering” and generate new kinds of graduates. (b) Another topic that may be considered as being a part of the IT content management issue is the healthcare and management. In this field, Professors WonJoon Kim (BEP), BumSoon Park and SoYoung Kim (Culture Science), and Taesik Lee (Industrial Engineering) are exploring how to deal with health-related issues which will require a new use of IT as well as other disciplines such as design and social science
2. Ocean Systems Engineering and Science
KAIST does not currently teach or conduct research on topics related to ocean, shipbuilding, and sea transportation systems, despite their importance in the 21st century.
Two-thirds of the earth is covered by water. It is the arbitrator of earth’s climate and holds abundant natural resources. It also provides the cheapest means of transporting goods. It may be the place to sequestrate excess materials such as CO2 that needs to be removed from the atmosphere and land. Furthermore, current shipping systems and harbor design may be outdated and inefficient. Yet research and education in ocean science and engineering are not responding to the current needs of society.
Shipbuilding is a very important industry to Korea. Korea builds more ships than any other nation, and ship-building contributes the most to the nation’s current account balance.
Further, it appears that the demand for ships will continue to increase as the global shipment of goods and natural resources by ships continues to increase with the rapid industrialization of China and India. With increases in international trade, the need to use the ocean transportation system is likely to grow and exceed the current capacity of the infrastructure.
KAIST should explore opportunities in areas related to shipbuilding, natural resource mining, sequestration of CO2 and deposition of other materials, ocean transportation systems, and environmental science and engineering of the ocean.
3. Life Science and Engineering
KAIST has made and will be making a major investment in biology, brain science, bioengineering, the ME/PhD program, and other life science and engineering fields. KAIST will be seeking a major funding for research in brain science and neuroscience from abroad as well as within Korea. We need to identify new opportunities to increase the productivity of these diverse investments. Right now, the collaboration and coordination between colleagues in the life sciences and engineering is not well organized, although the KI for the BioCentury is promoting multi-disciplinary research. There has to be a better integration from life science to life engineering and technology at KAIST if we are to convince funding agencies and foundations to give us major financial support and to attract outstanding scholars in this field to KAIST.
Concluding Remarks
In 2007, we worked hard to make KAIST one of the world’s top universities. We are moving in the right direction in enhancing our students’ long-term personal and professional growth, for advancement of science and engineering, for technological innovation, and for the future well being of humanity.
In 2008, we will continue to face new challenges that may appear to be beyond our capabilities, but we know we can achieve a lot when we work together. There are many things we have to do. We must continue to be creative in teaching and research, and we must use our resources wisely and frugally. We must support those amongst us, who are exceptionally creative and hard working, and continue to secure the necessary financial support to strengthen our educational and research programs.
Thank you again for your many important contributions.
I wish you and your family a most happy and prosperous New Year.
January 1, 2008 KAIST President Nam Pyo Suh
2007.12.31 View 13292
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Intelligent SoC Robot War 2007 Has Finale
Kyung Hee University’s “Sandi2007” and “Triple K” of Korea University of Technology and Education and Chungbuk National University were victorious in the Tank Robot category and the Taekwon Robot categories of the 6th Robot War Contest hosted by Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).
Boldly entitled “07 Intelligent SoC Robot War”, KAIST hosted its 6th Robot War Contest. In this contest, battles between mechanical robots utilizing System on Chip (SoC) technology are fought. The first Robot War contest was held in 2002. Before the actual contest from October 18th to 21st, preliminary assessments and the final selection was administered in August.
The Intelligent SoC Robot War Contest has two sections called Tank Robot and Taekwon Robot. The Tank Robot contest has robots in the form of tanks duel with laser beams through visual recognition, wireless communication, and audio recognition. On the other hand, the Taekwon Robot contest is a hand-to-hand fight. The robots had to be capable of defending, recognizing the opponent, and attacking without external control.
The 15 teams of the Tank Robot section and the 10 teams of the Taekwon Robot section that passed through the preliminary selections participated in the final battles for 3 days starting on October 18th. The Tank Robot category winner “Sandi2007” showed great ability in visual sensing and the Taekwon Robot category winner “Triple K” had effective arm and leg combinations that eventually led the team to victory.
Kyung Hee University’s “Sandi2007” received 2 million Korean Won as the grand prize along with a special recognition from the Prime Minister, while “Triple K” received 1 million Korean Won with a special recognition from the Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE).
The Intelligent SoC Robot War contest was part of the 2007 International Robot Contest (IRC 2007) which was organized by the Center for Robot Industry Promotion (CRIP) and held at Convention & Exhibition Center (COEX) Indian Hall. The individual contests included 8 competitions: Grand Challenge, Robotpiad, Humanoid Robot Contest, Robofest, Intelligent SoC Robot War, FIRA Challenge Cup, Robot Festival, and URC Robot Contest.By KAIST Herald on November, 2007
2007.12.21 View 15260