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NEREC Summer Program Keeps Fellows Thinking, Engaged in Nuclear Nonproliferation
Nuclear technology is more than just technology. It is the fruit of the most advanced science and technology. It also requires high standards of policymaking and global cooperation for benefiting the technology.
As part of the fifth annual Nuclear Nonproliferation Education and Research Center (NEREC) Summer Fellows Program at KAIST, 24 students from 15 countries participated in six-week intensive education and training program. NEREC is the only university-based center dedicated to nuclear nonproliferation education and research established in 2014.
The program, which provides multidisciplinary lectures and seminars on nuclear technology and policy as well as international relations, was designed to nurture global nuclear technology experts well equipped in three areas: in-depth knowledge of technology, applicability gained from sound policy building, and negotiating for international cooperation. It now has grown into the most popular summer program at KAIST.
During the program from July 6 to August 18, participants were able to engage in enriching and stimulating learning experiences in tandem with policies and technology for the utilization and provision of peaceful and safe nuclear technology.
Participating fellows also had to conduct a group research project on a given topic. This year, they explored nuclear nonproliferation issues in relation to nuclear exports and brainstormed some recommendations for current policy. They presented their outcomes at the 2018 NEREC Conference on Nuclear Nonproliferation. After intensive lecture sessions and group research work, the fellows went off to key policy think-tanks, nuclear research institutes, and research power facilities in Korea, Japan, and China.
“NEREC emphasizes nuclear nonproliferation issues related to civilian nuclear power and the associated nuclear fuel cycle development from the point of technology users. I am very glad that the number of participants are increasing year by year,” said the Director of NEREC Man-Sung Yim, a professor in the Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering.
Participants’ majors vary from nuclear engineering to international relations to economics. The fellows divided into two groups of graduate and undergraduate courses. They expressed their deep satisfactory in the multidisciplinary lectures by scholars from KAIST, Seoul National University, and Korea National Defense University.
Many participants reported that they learned a lot, not only about policy and international relations but on the research they are conducting and what the key issues will be in dealing for producing meaningful research work.
Moad Aldbissi from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology is one of the students who shared the same view. He said, “Coming from a technical background in nuclear engineering, I managed to learn a lot about nuclear policy and international relations. The importance of integrating the technical and political fields became even clearer.”
Most students concurred that they recognized how important it was to make international collaboration in this powerful field for each country through this program.
“As an engineering student, I just approached this program like an empty glass in policy areas. While working with colleagues during the program, I came to understand how important it is to make cooperation in these fields for the better result of national development and international relations,” said Thanataon Pornphatdetaudom from the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
To Director Yim, this program is becoming well positioned to educate nuclear policy experts in a number of countries of strategic importance. He believes the continuous supply of these experts will contribute to promoting global nuclear nonproliferation and the peaceful use of nuclear energy while the use of nuclear technology continues.
2018.09.04 View 8889 -
Improved Efficiency of CQD Solar Cells Using an Organic Thin Film
(from left: Professor Jung-Yong Lee and Dr. Se-Woong Baek)
Recently, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of colloidal quantum dot (CQD)-based solar cells has been enhanced, paving the way for their commercialization in various fields; nevertheless, they are still a long way from being commercialized due to their efficiency not matching their stability. In this research, a KAIST team achieved highly stable and efficient CQD-based solar cells by using an amorphous organic layer to block oxygen and water permeation.
CQD-based solar cells are light-weight, flexible, and they boost light harvesting by absorbing near-infrared lights. Especially, they draw special attention for their optical properties controlled efficiently by changing the quantum dot sizes. However, they are still incompatible with existing solar cells in terms of efficiency, stability, and cost. Therefore, there is great demand for a novel technology that can simultaneously improve both PCE and stability while using an inexpensive electrode material.
Responding to this demand, Professor Jung-Yong Lee from the Graduate School of Energy, Environment, Water and Sustainability and his team introduced a technology to improve the efficiency and stability of CQD-based solar cells.
The team found that an amorphous organic thin film has a strong resistance to oxygen and water. Using these properties, they employed this doped organic layer as a top-hole selective layer (HSL) for the PbS CQD solar cells, and confirmed that the hydro/oxo-phobic properties of the layer efficiently protected the PbS layer. According to the molecular dynamics simulations, the layer significantly postponed the oxygen and water permeation into the PbS layer. Moreover, the efficient injection of the holes in the layer reduced interfacial resistance and improved performance.
With this technology, the team finally developed CQD-based solar cells with excellent stability. The PCE of their device stood at 11.7% and maintained over 90% of its initial performance when stored for one year under ambient conditions.
Professor Lee said, “This technology can be also applied to QD LEDs and Perovskite devices. I hope this technology can hasten the commercialization of CQD-based solar cells.”
This research, led by Dr. Se-Woong Baek and a Ph.D. student, Sang-Hoon Lee, was published in Energy & Environmental Science on May 10.
Figure 1. The schematic of the equilibrated structure of the amorphous organic film
Figure 2. Schematic illustration of CQD-based solar cells and graphs showing their performance
2018.08.27 View 7291 -
'K-FLEX' Makes a Splash as a Flexible Endoscopic Surgical Robot
( Robot arms perform an incision during an ex-vivo test on a porcine gallbladder.)
K-FLEX, a flexible endoscopic surgical robot developed by the KAIST Future Medical Robotics Research Center, opens a new chapter for minimally invasive robot-assisted surgery with its precision control of 3.7 mm diameter robotic arms. The two arms, placing at the end of flexible endoscopes, highlight impeccable precision control and robust mini-joint design technologies. While cruising through the complicated inner body pliably, it carries out procedures on the spot with its robotic arms.
The research team under Professor Dong-Soo Kwon recently tested the device in-vivo, conducting a complicated endoscopic procedure dissecting a porcine gallbladder in collaboration with Professor Dae-Kyung Son of the National Cancer Center. The arms successfully manipulated the tissue safely.
During the test, K-FLEX, inserted through an incision in the navel, snaked through the narrow passages of the complicated inner organs. When reaching the desired spot, one of the robot arms pushed aside and held up the nearby tissue to secure proper vision and space for the procedure. Meanwhile, a cautery needle mounted at the tip of the other hand removed the lesion tissue on the gallbladder. The tiny camera installed at the front of the robot arms relayed the internal conditions. The full procedure was able to be monitored from the master console.
The two arms are placed onto 4.2 mm internal channels of an endoscope which is 17 mm in diameter. The arms can be deployable forward and backward and are extendable up to 7 cm for performing procedures.
K-FLEX is made of domestically produced components, except for the endoscopic module. It will expand new medical robotics research while offering novel therapeutic capabilities for endoscopes.
Flexible endoscopes are very promising for surgical applications because they can treat areas thought to be difficult to reach, such as the posterior side of an organ. Current rigid-type laparoscopic tools could not reach a lesion if it occurs in such serpentine and complicated areas. However, this flexible endoscopic surgery robot will bypass obstacles to reach the troubled area.
The ability to seamlessly integrate effective actuation into millimeter-scale deployable mechanisms fits well with minimally invasive surgical procedures. This flexible endoscopic surgery robot, only half the size of current laparoscopic surgical robots, is deployable into natural orifices such as the mouth, anus, and vagina without requiring external incisions. Laparoscopic devices and robots require at least three to four external incisions to insert the devices; however, the applicability of internal incisions reduces the possibility of complications arousing from excessive bleeding and bacterial infections.
Despite these advantages, it has remained challenging to manipulate the robotic arms of flexible endoscopes with integrated grabbing force, flexibility, and multiple degrees of freedom for clinical environments.
The team focused on smaller but smarter devices. Dr. Min-Ho Hwang, a principal researcher of K-FLEX, said that developing tiny robots that are able to generate the necessary forces without compromising safety was the challenge. They created a robust but smaller-joint technology that can exert a relatively greater force even into millimeter scale.
Professor Kwon said, “K-FLEX is the first flexible endoscopic surgery robot in Korea. We already confirmed the clinical adaptation through ex vivo tests and will see complete commercialization in two to three years.” The team believes K-FLEX will be very effective for surgery on incipient cancer cells in the stomach, colon, and thyroid.
Professor Kwon and his eight researchers recently established a tech start-up called EasyEndo Surgical Inc. with these core technologies. In June, K-FLEX won the ‘Best Application Award’ and the ‘Overall Winner’ at the Surgical Robot Challenge 2018 held at Imperial College London. The Korea Research Foundation funded the research on K-FLEX.
(The team conducts a procedure using K-FLEX, flexible endoscopic surgical robot.)
2018.08.17 View 7831 -
Participation in the 2018 Bio-Digital City Workshop in Paris
(A student make a presentatiion during the Bio-Digital City Workshop in Paris last month.)
KAIST students explored ideas for developing future cities during the 2018 Bio-Digital City Workshop held in Paris last month.
This international workshop hosted by Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie was held under the theme “Biomimicry, Digital City and Big Data.” During the workshop from July 10 to July 20, students teamed up with French counterparts to develop innovative urban design ideas. Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie is the largest science museum in Europe and is operated by Universcience, a specialized institute of science and technology in France.
Professor Seongju Chang from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Professor Jihyun Lee of the Graduate School of Culture Technology Students led the students group.
Participants presented their ideas and findings on new urban solutions that combine biomimetic systems and digital technology. Each student group analyzed a special natural ecosystem such as sand dunes, jellyfish communities, or mangrove forests and conducted research to extract algorithms for constructing sustainable urban building complexes based on the results. The extracted algorithm was used to conceive a sustainable building complex forming a part of the urban environment by applying it to the actual Parisian city segment given as the virtual site for the workshop.
Students from diverse background in both countries participated in this convergence workshop. KAIST students included Ph.D. candidate Hyung Min Cho, undergraduates Min-Woo Jeong, Seung-Hwan Cha, and Sang-Jun Park from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, undergraduate Kyeong-Keun Seo from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, JiWhan Jeong (Master’s course) from the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Ph.D. candidate Bo-Yoon Zang from the Graduate School of Culture Technology. They teamed up with French students from diverse backgrounds, including Design/Science, Visual Design, Geography, Computer Science and Humanities and Social Science.
This workshop will serve as another opportunity to expand academic and human exchange efforts in the domain of smart and sustainable cities with Europe in the future as the first international cooperation activity of KAIST and the Paris La Villette Science Museum.
Professor Seong-Ju Chang who led the research group said, "We will continue to establish a cooperative relationship between KAIST and the European scientific community. This workshop is a good opportunity to demonstrate the competence of KAIST students and their scientific and technological excellence on the international stage.”
2018.08.01 View 9059 -
Visualizing Chemical Reaction on Bimetal Surfaces
Catalysts are the result of many chemists searching to unravel the beauty of molecules and the mystery of chemical reactions. Professor Jeong Young Park from the Department of Chemistry, whose research focuses on catalytic chemical reactions, is no exception. His research team recently made breakthroughs in addressing long-standing questions for understanding reaction mechanisms on bimetal catalysts.
During the studies reported in Science Advances, following a publication in Nature Communications this month, Professor Park’s research team identified that the formation of metal–oxide interfaces is the key factor responsible for the synergistic catalytic effect in bimetal catalysts. The team confirmed this fundamental reaction mechanism through in situ imaging of reaction conditions. This is the first visualization of bimetal surfaces under reaction conditions, signifying the role of metal–oxide interfaces in heterogeneous catalysis.
Bimetallic materials have outstanding catalytic performance, which opens a new pathway for controlling electronic structures and binding energy in catalysts. Despite considerable research on various catalytic reaction efficiencies, there are yet unanswered questions on the underlying principles behind the improved performance. Even more, it was very hard to figure out what led to the efficiency because the structure, chemical composition, and oxidation state of bimetallic materials change according to reaction conditions.
Recently, some research groups suggested that oxide–metal interfacial sites formed by the surface segregation of bimetallic nanoparticles might be responsible for the increased catalytic performance. However, they failed to present any definitive evidence illustrating the physical nature or the fundamental role of the oxide–metal interfaces leading to the improved performance.
To specifically address this challenge, the research team carried out in situ observations of structural modulation on platinum–nickel bimetal catalysts under carbon monoxide oxidation conditions with ambient pressure scanning tunneling microscopy and ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.
The team observed that platinum–nickel bimetal catalysts exhibited a variety of different structures depending on the gas conditions. Under ultrahigh vacuum conditions, the surface exhibited a platinum skin layer on the platinum–nickel alloyed surface, selective nickel segregation followed by the formation of nickel oxide clusters using oxygen gas, and finally the coexistence of nickel oxide clusters on the platinum skin during carbon monoxide oxidation. The research team found that the formation of interfacial platinum–nickel oxide nanostructures is responsible for a highly efficient step in the carbon monoxide oxidation reaction.
These findings illustrate that the enhancement of the catalytic activity on the bimetallic catalyst surface originates from the thermodynamically efficient reaction pathways at the metal–metal oxide interface, which demonstrates a straightforward process for the strong metal–support interaction effect. The formation of these interfacial metal–metal oxide nanostructures increases catalytic activity while providing a thermodynamically efficient reaction pathway by lowering the heat of the reactions on the surface. [J. Kim et al. Adsorbate-driven reactive interfacial Pt-NiO1-x nanostructure formation on the Pt3Ni(111) alloy surface, Science Advances (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aat3151 ]
Professor Park said that one way to monitor catalysts is to detect hot electrons associated with energy dissipation and conversion processes during surface reactions. His team led the real-time detection of hot electrons generated on bimetallic PtCo nanoparticles during exothermic hydrogen oxidation. The team successfully clarified the origin of the synergistic catalytic activity of PtCo nanoparticles with corresponding chemicurrent values.
By estimating the chemicurrent yield, the research team conclude that the catalytic properties of the bimetallic nanoparticles are strongly governed by the oxide–metal interface, which facilitates hot electron transfer. [H. Lee et al. Boosting hot electron flux and catalytic activity at metal–oxide interfaces of PtCo bimetallic nanoparticles, Nature Comm, 9, 2235 (2018)].
Professor Park explained, “We feel that the precise measurement of hot electrons on catalysts gives insight into the mechanism for heterogeneous catalysis, which can help with the smart design of highly reactive materials. The control of catalytic activity via electronic engineering of catalysts is a promising prospect that may open the door to the new field of combining catalysis with electronics, called “catalytronics.” He added that the study also establishes a strategy for improving catalytic activity for catalytic reactions in industrial chemical reactors.
Professors Park and Yousung Jung from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and the Graduate School of EEWS conducted this research in collaboration with Professor Bongjin Mun from the Department of Physics at GIST.
Figure 1. Evolution of surface structures of PtNi bimetal surfaces under various ambient conditions.
Figure 2. Formation of Pt-CoO interface leads to the catalytic enhancement of PtCo bimetal catalysts.
2018.07.25 View 8776 -
Distinguished Professor Lee Receives 2018 George Washington Carver Award
(Distinguished Professor Lee)
Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering will become the 11th recipient of the George Washington Carver Award. The award ceremony will be held during the 2018 Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology from July 16 through 19 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.
The annual Carver award recognizes an individual who has made a significant contribution to building the bio-based economy by applying industrial biotechnology to create environmentally sustainable products. It serves as a lasting memorial to the original vision of George Washington Carver who, over a century ago, pioneered bio-based products, materials, and energy derived from renewable agricultural feedstock. Previous recipients include the founder and CEO of POET Jeff Broin, the CEO of DuPont Ellen Kullman, and Professor Gregory Stephanopoulos at MIT.
Professor Lee is a pioneering scholar of systems metabolic engineering, leveraging technology to develop microbial bioprocesses for the sustainable and environment-friendly production of chemicals, fuels, and materials from non-food renewable biomass. He also serves as the dean of the multi-and interdisciplinary research center hub, KAIST Institute.Through his work, Professor Lee has garnered countless achievements, including being one of only 13 people in the world elected as a foreign member of both the National Academy of Sciences USA and the National Academy of Engineering USA.
He has actively promoted the importance of industrial biotechnology through engagement with the public, policymakers, and decision makers around the world. He currently serves as the co-chairman of the Global Future Council on Biotechnology for the World Economic Forum and served as the Chairman of the Emerging Technologies Council and Biotechnology Council for the World Economic Forum.
Upon the award announcement, Dr. Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO’s Industrial & Environmental Section lauded Professor Lee’s achievement, saying “Dr. Lee has advanced the bio-based economy by developing innovative products and processes that are sustainable and environmentally friendly. In doing so, he has become a leader in advocating on the importance of industrial biotechnology. His contributions to the advancement of the industry are a continuation of the legacy left behind by George Washington Carver.”
Professor Lee thanked his research team who has worked together for the past few decades, adding, “Industrial biotechnology is becoming increasingly important to help achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. We should continue to work together to advance the field and establish a solid foundation for the sustainable future.”
The George Washington Carver Award is sponsored by the Iowa Biotechnology Association. Joe Hrdlicka, executive director of the Iowa Biotechnology Association, said, “Dr. Sang Yup Lee’s significant contributions to the advancement of industrial biotechnology make him the perfect recipient for the George Washington Carver Award. Having published more than 575 peer-reviewed papers, contributed to 82 books, and holding 636 patents, the culmination of Dr. Lee’s work has led to the establishment of sustainable systems for bio-based production of chemicals, fuels, and materials, thus reducing environmental impact and improving quality of life for all.”
2018.07.12 View 9684 -
Photonic Capsules for Injectable Laser Resonators
A KAIST research group presented photonic capsules for injectable laser resonators using microfluidic technology. The capsule’s diameter is comparable to a human hair and stable in gas and liquid media, so it is injectable into any target volume.
The research group headed by Professor Shin-Hyun Kim in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering applied an interesting optical property from nature. Professor Kim, who has dived deep into photonic materials research inspired from nature such as the Morpho butterfly, used a trait of beetles this time.
Chrysina gloriosa, commonly known as the glorious beetle, shows a green color similar to leaves when illuminated by left-handed, circularly-polarized light while showing no color with right-handed, circularly-polarized light. This unique optical feature helps the beetles communicate with each other and protects them from predators.
The principle behind this interesting optical property of the beetles relies on helical nanostructures with left-handedness that are present on the shell of the beetles. The helical structures reflect a circularly-polarized light with the same handedness of the helix at the wavelength selected by the helical pitch through optical interference.
Such helical nanostructures can be artificially created using liquid crystals (LCs). LCs with a helical arrangement are referred to as cholesteric LCs (CLCs). The CLCs exhibit the polarization-dependent reflection of light in the same manner as the beetles and have been used for various photonic applications.
In particular, CLCs have been cast to a film format that serves as mirrorless laser resonators, unlike conventional lasing systems. However, the film-type CLCs are large in size and show unidirectional emission, which restricts the use of CLC resonators in microenvironments.
To overcome these limitations, Professor Kim’s group has encapsulated the CLCs with dual shells using microfluidic technology. The inner shell is a water layer that promotes the alignment of LC molecules and the outer shell is an elastic polymer layer that secures capsule stability and enables reversible mechanical deformation. The spherical symmetry of the capsules enables omnidirectional laser emissions. Moreover, laser intensity and lasing direction can be further controlled by deforming the capsules, while its wavelength remains tunable. This new type of CLC laser resonator is promising for laser treatments in various biomedical applications.
Professor Kim said, “The helical nanostructure used in the laser resonator resembles that of the shell of chrysina gloriosa. Humans learn from nature and engineer materials to create something unprecedented.”
This research was led by graduate student Sang Seok Lee and an article entitled “Wavelength-tunable and shape-reconfigurable photonic capsule resonators containing cholesteric liquid crystals” was published online on June 22, in Science Advances.
Figure 1. Chrysina gloriosa illuminated by left-handed (left panel) and right-handed (right panel) circularly-polarized lights.
(Image source: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2010.05.036 , permitted for reuse in news media)
Figure 2. Composition (left panel) and optical microscopy image (right panel) of the capsule-type laser resonator
2018.07.05 View 8569 -
ICT Volunteer Corps Off to Africa
A volunteer corps made up of students will take part in ICT education services in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda. KAIST students have been volunteering with the ICT education program in Africa since 2015.
The volunteer corps will be made up of 51 students from 13 teams and will be conducting services for a month through the end of July at Addis Ababa Institute of Technology (AAiT) in Ethiopia, Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) and Star High School in Tanzania, and IT Education Center in Uganda.
In Tanzania, KAIST students teamed up with NM-AIST students to carry out appropriate technology programs applied with Arduino kits. They plan to use scientific and engineering approaches to address local residents’ living challenges such as developing agricultural water suppliers using sensors measuring water in the soil and oxygen suppliers in the reservoir.
Meanwhile, in Ethiopia and Uganda, student volunteers will be involved in various ICT educational programs for local students. The volunteering corps will also introduce cultural programs including K-Pop dancing for young students there. They will also engage in sports and art classes for students at orphanages in the region.
President Sung-Chul Shin encouraged volunteers at the kick-off ceremony saying, “KAIST students should keep always humility, warmth, and tolerance in mind. I believe our students will exert leadership out there along with knowledge as well as wisdom.”
2018.07.02 View 5763 -
Distinguished Professor Koh Donates His Ho-Am Prize Money
(From left: Distinguished Professor Gou Young Koh and KAIST President Sung-Chul Shin)
Distinguished Professor Gou Young Koh from the Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering donated one hundred million KRW to KAIST that he received for winning the Ho-Am Prize.
Professor Koh, who is widely renowned for angiogenesis, was appointed as the 2018 laureate of the 28th Ho-Am Prize for demonstrating the effective reduction of tumor progression and metastasis via tumor vessel normalization.
He made the donation to the Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering, where he conducted his research. “As a basic medical scientist, it is my great honor to receive this prize for the recognition of my research outcome. I will give impetus to research for continuous development,” Professor Koh said.
Professor Koh also received the 5th Asan Award in Medicine in 2012 and the 7th Kyung-Ahm Award in 2011. He was also the awardee of the 17th Wunsch Medical Award. He has donated cash prizes to the school every time he is awarded.
KAIST President Sung-Chul Shin said, “I would like to express my gratitude to the professor for his generous donation to the school. It will be a great help fostering outstanding medical scientists.
Professor Koh received his MD-PhD from the Medical School of Chonbuk National University. After finishing his post-doctoral program at Cornell University and Indiana State University, he was appointed as a professor at Chonbuk National University and POSTECH. Currently, he holds the position of distinguished professor at KAIST and director of the IBS Center for Vascular Research.
2018.06.20 View 5072 -
KAIST Team Reaching Out with Appropriate Technology
(The gold prize winning team of KATT)
The KAIST Appropriate Technology Team (KATT) consisting of international students at KAIST won the gold and silver prizes at ‘The 10th Creative Design Competition for the Other 90 Percent.’
More than 218 students from 50 teams nationwide participated in the competition hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT last month.
The competition was created to discover appropriate technology and sustainable design items to enhance the quality of life for those with no or few accessible technologies.
A team led by Juan Luis Gonzalez Bello, graduate student from the School of Electrical Engineering received the gold prize for presenting a prosthetic arm. Their artificial arm was highly recognized for its affordability and good manageability. The team said that it cost less than 10 US dollars to construct from materials available in underprivileged regions and was easy to assemble.
Sophomore Hutomo Calvin from the Department of Materials Science & Engineering also worked on the prosthetic arm project with freshmen Bella Godiva, Stephanie Tan, and Koptieuov Yearbola.
Alexandra Tran, senior from the School of Electrical Engineering led the silver prize winning team. Her team developed a portable weather monitor, ‘Breathe Easy’. She worked with Alisher Tortay, senior from the School of Computing, Ashar Alam, senior from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Bereket Eshete, junior from the School of Computing, and Marthens Hakzimana, sophomore from the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
This weather monitor is a low-cost but efficient air quality monitor. The team said it just cost less than seven US dollars to construct the monitor.KAIST students have now won the gold prize for two consecutive years.
2018.06.19 View 9110 -
Czech Technology Mission with KAIST
Members of the Czech research community visited KAIST to discuss medium to long-term cooperation with KAIST. This visit was hosted by the Fourth Industrial Revolution Intelligence Center (FIRIC).
The community is comprised of people from Czech enterprises and academic institutes that are leading core technologies for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the fields of AI, robotics, and biotechnology. They had a chance to meet KAIST professors and visit research labs.
Professor Il-Doo Kim from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Professor Seongsu Kim from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Professor Hyun Uk Kim from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering attended the meeting, which took place in the Mechatronics, Systems, and Control Lab under the Vice President for Planning and Budget Soo Hyun Kim and Professor Kyung Soo Kim from the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Professor Petr Novák from the Technical University of Ostrava said, “It was a meaningful meeting to help understand research trends on industrial robots in Korea.” Professor So Young Kim from FIRIC said, “The Czech research community is strong in basic research where KAIST has outstanding source technology. I hope this visit will open up a path for medium to long-term cooperation on sharing research and technology know-how between the Czech research community and KAIST.”
2018.06.07 View 5628 -
The Center for Anthropocene Studies (CAS) Opens
KAIST will start Anthropocene research, a convergence field of study, to address issues related to the commencement of human activities that have had scientific, industrial, and economic impacts on the Earth’s ecosystem. The National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea endorsed the KAIST Center for Anthropocene Studies as its Convergence Research Center project.
Anthropocene refers to a new geological age in which various polluting materials that humans have made during the post-industrial revolution era have made a significant impact on the Earth and the lives of humankind. The studies expand the diverse socio-economic and environmental sectors for responding to climate change, natural disasters, ecological destruction, the polarization of the inequality and wealth, and many others.
The KAIST research group at the center, in collaboration with the Graduate School of Science and Technology Policy, the Graduate School of Culture Technology, the School of Humanities & Social Sciences, the Department of Industrial Design, the School of Electrical Engineering, the Satellite Technology Research Center (SaRTec), and the KAIST Initiative for Disaster Studies will conduct multidisciplinary research to address intriguing challenges with complex but creative approaches incorporating the fields of engineering, socioeconomics, and art.
The group will investigate topics such as▲ surface and marine changes to the Earth by applying satellite data ▲disaster prediction and governance system building through AI modeling ▲sustainable housing, transportation, and lifestyles ▲ engineering and artistic approaches for envisioning a new future for humankind and the Earth.
Professor Buhm Soon Park, who is in charge of the center, said, “This pioneering research work will inspire the re-creation of a new paradigm of convergence studies in science, engineering, humanities, and social science. We will contribute to making the world better by designing new technologies and social policies.
2018.06.05 View 9752