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CLKIP Bearing Fruit in China
The Chongqing Liangjiang KAIST International Program (CLKIP) is rapidly gaining steam in China. CLKIP, an educational program operated in Chongqing internationally by KAIST since 2015, offers two majors, Electronic Information Engineering and Computer Science and Technology, applying the same curriculum as at KAIST.
To operate the program, KAIST assigns professors from the School of Electrical Engineering and the School of Computing to the program every year. They are in charge of one-third of the major courses, and transfer KAIST’s educational curriculum and know-how.
A total of 13 professors from Chongqing University of Technology (CQUT) have received or are receiving training on advanced education methodologies and technical know-how, including an on and offline integrated learning program, called Education 4.0 and large-scale internet open learning.As CLKIP is gaining in popularity, the number of students for its undergraduate courses keeps increasing, from 66 in 2015 to 172 in 2016 and 200 students in 2017, achieving the student volume for enrollment annually.
CLKIP selected seven exchange undergraduate students and five dual-degree students this fall, and they are currently studying in KAIST for either one semester or one full year.
CLKIP is located in Chongqing, one of the major direct-controlled municipalities and a focal point for notable government projects. The Korea-China industrial zone is also located in this area.
Considering its location, CLKIP is more than just an international programs for educational cooperation. The program will provide opportunities to cooperate with Korean enterprises including Hyundai, SK Hynix, LG Chem and Hankook Tire. While cooperating in research and development as well as technical assistance, KAIST hopes that these enterprises will play a bridging role for KAIST alumni entering the Chinese market.
President Sung-Chul Shin said, “The success of CLKIP shows that KAIST programs for fostering future manpower and developing cutting-edge technologies do work in other countries. Based on this case, KAST will put more effort into transferring our innovative education systems abroad. We are also pushing ahead to establish a joint institute between KAIST and CQUT by 2018, which will become a foundation for facilitating the entry of KAIST’s cutting-edge technologies into the Chinese market.”
“KAIST aims to become an entrepreneurial university that creates value through technology commercialization. In this sense, KAIST plans to transfer advanced technologies to domestic and international companies located in the Liangjiang district,” he added.
2017.12.12 View 14031 -
A New Spin Current Generating Material Developed
(Professor Park(left) and Ph.D. candidate Kim)
Magnetic random-access memory (MRAM) is a non-volatile device made of thin magnetic film that can maintain information without an external power supply, in contrast to conventional silicon-based semiconductor memory. It also has the potential for high-density integration and high-speed operation.
The operation of MRAM involves the control of the magnetization direction by exerting spin current-induced torque on a magnetic material. Spin current is generated using electricity in conventional MRAM, but this study developed materials technology that generates spin current using heat.
A KAIST research team led by Professor Byong-Guk Park of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering developed a material that generates spin current from heat, which can be utilized for a new operation principle for MRAM.
There have been theoretical reports on the spin Nernst effect, the phenomenon of the thermal generation of spin current, but is yet to have been experimentally proven due to technological limitations. However, the research team introduced a spin Nernst magnetoresistance measurement method using tungsten (W) and platinum (Pt) with high spin orbit coupling which allows for the experimental identification of the spin Nernst effect. They also demonstrated that the efficiency of spin current generation from heat is similar to that of spin current generated from electricity.
Professor Park said, “This research has great significance in experimentally proving spin current generation from heat, a new physical phenomenon. We aim to develop the technology as a new operational method for MRAM through further research. This can lower power consumption, and is expected to contribute to the advancement of electronics requiring low power requirement such as wearable, mobile, and IOT devices”.
This research was conducted as a joint research project with Professor Kyung-Jin Lee at Korea University and Professor Jong-Ryul Jeong at Chungnam National University. It was published in Nature Communications online on November 9 titled “Observation of transverse spin Nernst magnetoresistance induced by thermal spin current in ferromagnet/non-magnet bilayers.” Ph.D. candidate Dong-Jun Kim at KAIST is the first author. This research was funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT.
(Schematic diagram of spin Nernst magnetoresistance)
(Research result of new spin current generating materials)
2017.12.08 View 9660 -
Professor Dong Ho Cho Awarded at the Haedong Conference 2017
Professor Dong Ho Cho of the School of Electrical Engineering at KAIST received an award at the 13th Haedong Conference 2017 in Seoul on the first of December.
The Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences recognized Professor Cho for his significant contributions in the field of mobile communication networks. He has carried out groundbreaking research on mobile systems, including architecture, protocols, algorithms, optimization, and efficiency analysis.
As a result, he has produced 73 papers in renowned international journals, 138 papers at international conferences, and filed 52 international patents and 121 domestic patents. In addition, he transferred 14 of the patents he filed to Korean and international companies.
2017.12.07 View 8783 -
Expanding Gas Storage Capacity of Nanoporous Materials
A KAIST research team led by Professor Jihan Kim of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering has successfully proposed a rational defect engineering methodology that can greatly enhance the gas storage capacity of nanoporous materials. The team conducted a high-throughput computational screening of a large experimental metal-organic framework database to identify 13 candidate materials that could experience significant methane uptake enhancement with only a small proportion of linker vacancy defects.
This research was published online on November 16 in Nature Communications, with M.S. candidate Sanggyu Chong from KAIST as the first author and post-doctorate researcher Günther Thiele from the Department of Chemistry at UC Berkeley as a contributing author.
Metal-organic frameworks, hereinafter MOF, are crystalline nanoporous materials that are comprised of metal clusters and organic linkers continuously bound together by coordination bonds. Due to their ultrahigh surface areas and pore volumes, they have been widely studied for various energy and environment applications.
Similar to other crystalline materials, MOFs are never perfectly crystalline and are likely to contain several different types of defects within their crystalline structures. Among these defects, linker vacancy defects, or the random absence of linker vacancies in their designated bonding positions, are known to be controllable by practicing careful control over the synthesis conditions.
The research team combined the concepts of rational defect engineering over the linker vacancy defects and the potential presence of inaccessible pores within MOFs to propose a methodology where controlled the introduction of linker vacancy defects could lead to a dramatic enhancement in gas adsorption and storage capacities.
The study utilized a Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) code developed by Professor Kim in a high-throughput computational screening of 12,000 experimentally synthesized MOFs to identify the structures with significant amounts of pores that were inaccessible for methane. In determining the presence of inaccessible pores, a flood-fill algorithm was performed over the energy-low regions of the structure, which is the same algorithm used for filling an area with color in Microsoft Paint.
For the MOFs with significant amounts of inaccessible pores, as determined from the screening, the research team emulated linker vacancy defects in their crystalline structures so that the previously inaccessible pores would be newly merged into the main adsorption channel with the introduction of defects for additional surface area and pore volume available for adsorption. The research team successfully identified 13 structures that would experience up to a 55.56% increase in their methane uptake with less than 8.33% of the linker vacancy defects.
The research team believes that this rational defect engineering scheme can be further utilized for many other applications in areas such as selective adsorption of an adsorbate from a gas mixture and the semi-permanent capture of gas molecules.
This research was conducted with the support of the Mid-career Research Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea.
Figure1. A diagram for flood fill algorithm and example of identification of inaccessible regions within the MOFs, using the flood fill algorithm
Figure2. Methane energy contours before and after detect introduction
2017.12.04 View 9111 -
CBNU Wins the First AI World Cup 2017
KAIST hosted the first AI World Cup 2017. A total of 26 teams, comprised of Korean undergraduates or graduates, participated in AI Soccer, AI Commentator, and AI Reporter competitions.
On the first of December, the final tournament for AI Soccer was held in the KI Building. More than 200 people came to watch the first AI soccer match based on the Deep-Q Network Learning. The games were commentated by two KAIST students who humorously interpreted the games, catching people’s attention.
In AI Soccer, 18 teams participated, and KAIST BML (KAIST), AIM (KAIST), WISRL (KAIST), and AR Lab (Chonbuk National University) made it to the final four. Each team had its own unique style and strategy.
After some fierce contests, the win went to AR Lab, which showed fearless attacks throughout the game. Having no goalkeeper, AR Lab focused on attacking. According to the team, instead of training individual players, they concentrated on training a manager that directed the players, giving them a choice when to attack and defend.
(AR Lab from Chonbuk National University, the winning team of AI Soccer tournament)
Different from humans playing soccer, it was interesting to see how AI robots self-improved their movements while playing the games.
For AI Commentators, judges looked for a team with the most accuracy, forecasting ability, and fluency. Four teams competed, and the Yally team won the title.
For AI Reporters, which required informativeness and reliability, four teams participated, and the prize went to a team, named Deep CMT (KAIST).
Although this year’s games only included domestic universities, KAIST plans to extend participation to university students from around the world in the future, and hopes that the AI World Cup 2017 will become the foundation for launching the next games on an international level.
2017.12.04 View 6667 -
Seoul Climate-Energy Conference Seeks Global Sustainability
(President Shin and Former UN Secretary General at the Seoul Climate Change-Energy Conference)
Global leaders from both the private and public sectors discussed creative ways to seek inclusive green growth and sustainable development at the Seoul Climate-Energy Conference on November 24 in Seoul. The annual conference was co-hosted by KAIST and the Coalition for Our Common Future under the theme “Creating New Momentum for the Paris Agreement and a Sustainable Future.”
More than 100 global leaders participated in the forum including the Director General Frank Rijsbermanof the Global Green Growth Institute and Executive Director Howard Bamsey of the Green Climate Fund. Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, who played a significant role in the signing of the Paris Agreement, was the keynote speaker.
This year’s conference focused on Korea’s low carbon-energy transition and the Fourth Industrial Revolution to be aligned with green growth. At the conference, speakers and participants reviewed the progress of the decisions made by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP23 in Bonn, Germany. The conference discussed topics of global collaboration for new climate regimes, green energy infrastructure, the Asia super grid, financing green energy, smart green cities, and new mobility.
President Sung-Chul Shin emphasized global action and greater resilience toward climate change in his opening remarks. He said, “Today’s climate change can be attributed directly to the past three industrial revolutions. As industrialization continues, we must not make future generations pay the cost of this Fourth Industrial Revolution.” He explained that it is increasingly complicated to address climate change and energy issues because even though the use of energy consumption will continue to increase, energy policies are interwoven with global politics.
He stressed three keywords to better address this global problem: innovation, collaboration, and speed. First he emphasized innovation as a priority for future success as it is hard to retain confidence without innovation.
He noted KAIST has made sustainability initiatives in the fields of EEWS (energy, environment, water, sustainability) and green mobility. He also noted the importance of collaboration as industries are moving beyond a single discipline. KAIST is making collaborations in R&D and sustainability sectors, such as Saudi Aramco’s CO2 management center in KAIST. Finally, he explained that the speed of new transformation will be beyond our imagination, and governments should work efficiently to address issues in a fast manner.
Meanwhile, Secretary-General Ban called for global unity in addressing climate change. He strongly emphasized that countries should make agreements not of willingness but of action, and that politicians should realize that this global agenda should be given top priority above domestic politics. He addressed how the world is experiencing the most powerful and destructive effects of climate change which makes active participation in the Paris Agreement increasingly important.
He expressed his concern that the richest and most powerful countries are backing off, emphasizing the role of these countries as both global leaders and top producers of CO2. He also shared his hopes that the OECD will continue to work to fill the absence of the United States, and stressed the importance of acquiring 10 billion USD by 2020 to fund mitigation and adaptation technologies for developing countries’ CO2 emissions.
Click for President Shin's opening remarks
2017.11.29 View 10570 -
Strengthening Industry-Academia Cooperation with LG CNS
On November 20, KAIST signed an MoU with LG CNS for industry-academia partnership in education, research, and business in the fields of AI and Big Data. Rather than simply developing education programs or supporting industry-academia scholarships, both organizations agreed to carry out a joint research project on AI and Big Data that can be applied to practical business.
KAIST will collaborate with LG CNS in the fields of smart factories, customer analysis, and supply chain management analysis.
Not only will LG CNS offer internships to KAIST students, but it also will support professors and students who propose innovative startup ideas for AI and Big Data. Offering an industry-academia scholarship for graduate students is also being discussed. Together with LG CNS, KAIST will put its efforts into propose projects regarding AI and Big Data in the public sector.
Furthermore, KAIST and LG CNS will jointly explore and carry out industry-academia projects that could be practically used in business. Both will carry out the project vigorously through strong cooperation; for instance, LG CNS employees can be assigned to KAIST, if necessary. Also, LG CNS’s AI and Big Data platform, called DAP (Data Analytics & AI Platform) will be used as a data analysis tool during the project and the joint outcomes will be installed in DAP.
KAIST professors with expertise in AI deep learning have trained LG CNS employees since the Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering established ‘KAIST AI Academy’ in LG CNS last August.
“With KAIST, the best research-centered university in Korea, we will continue to lead in developing the field of AI and Big Data and provide innovative services that create value by connecting them to customer business,” Yong Shub Kim, the CEO of LG CNS, highlighted.
2017.11.22 View 14500 -
New Photocatalyst Converts Carbon Dioxide to 99% Pure Fuel
(Professor Song, Ph.D. candidates Kim, and Lim (from left))
A KAIST research team led by Professor Hyunjoon Song of the Department of Chemistry developed a metal oxide nanocatalyst that converts carbon dioxide to 99% pure methane. This technology directly uses sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into methane, which is more efficient in terms of energy storage capacity, compared to the conventional way of storing the electricity produced by solar cells in batteries. The research team used cheap catalytic materials to significantly enhance the reaction efficiency and selectivity of the chemical energy storage method.
This research was conducted as a joint research project with Professor Ki Min Nam at Mokpo National University with co-first authors Dr. Kyung-Lyul Bae and Ph.D. candidates Jinmo Kim and Chan Kyu Lim. The study was published in Nature Communications on November 7.
Although there is growing interest in sunlight as an energy resource, its usage has been limited to daytime and the power output varies with the weather. If sunlight could be directly converted to chemical energy, such as fuel, the limitations of energy storage and its usage could be overcome. In particular, the usage of sunlight to convert carbon dioxide, a main cause of the greenhouse effect in our atmosphere, is of great interest since both energy and environmental issues can be addressed. However, the stability of carbon dioxide made it difficult to convert it to other molecules. Thus, there was a need for a catalyst with enhanced efficiency and selectivity.
Professor Song’s team synthesized zinc oxide nanoparticles, often used in sun cream. The nanoparticles were then bound to copper oxide as single particles, forming a colloidal form of zinc oxide-copper oxide nanoparticles. Zinc oxides produce high energy electrons using light, and this energy is used to convert carbon dioxide into methane. Further, zinc oxide can also produce electrons with light and transfer the electrons to copper oxide. Similar to the principles of photosynthesis in leaves, the electron transfer reaction could be maintained for a long time. As a consequence, although the reaction was conducted in aqueous solution, methane of 99% purity could be obtained from carbon dioxide.
Conventional heterogeneous photocatalysts were in solid powder form with irregular structures and were not dispersed in water. Professor Song’s team used a nanochemical synthesis method to control the structure of the catalyst particles to be regular and maintained over a large surface area. This led to increasing carbon dioxide conversion activity by hundreds of fold in solution compared to existing catalysts.
Professor Song said, “A long time will be needed for the commercialization of the direct conversion reaction of carbon dioxide using sunlight. However, the precise control of catalyst structures at nanoscale would enhance the efficiency of photocatalyst reactions.” He continued, “Applying this method to various phtocatalysts will maximize the catalysts performance.”
(Figure 1. Scheme for carbon dioxide conversion reaction using nano photocatalyst in aqueous solution)
(Figure 2. Structure, photocatalytic CO2 conversion, and stability of ZnO-Cu2O nanocatalyst )
2017.11.13 View 9598 -
IDKAIST Graduation Show, Interative and Innovative Works
Undergraduate students from the Department of Industrial Design at KAIST opened up their graduation show in the Industrial Design Building for eight days in KAIST from November 10 and another four days in Coex, Seoul from December 7.
The students showcased their creative and novel works in the exhibition. Some designs successfully showed change concepts such as for mixing straws. There were also several projects designed to meet individual demand, such as a customized shoe-making application and personal makeup colorings.
Since the establishment of its undergraduate program in 1983, the department has held a graduation show to demonstrate four years of the students’ academic work and research performance to KAIST members, externals specialists, and the public.
Professor Daniel Saakes, who is in charge of the show, said, “Please come by the show and support the 28 students for their hard work. This year, students’ projects are more socially-oriented through applications and social media, making them easily approachable for consumers.”
2017.11.13 View 8050 -
Mutant Gene Network in Colon Cancer Identified
The principles of the gene network for colon tumorigenesis have been identified by a KAIST research team. The principles will be used to find the molecular target for effective anti-cancer drugs in the future. Further, this research gained attention for using a systems biology approach, which is an integrated research area of IT and BT.
The KAIST research team led by Professor Kwang-Hyun Cho for the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering succeeded in the identification. Conducted by Dr. Dongkwan Shin and student researchers Jonghoon Lee and Jeong-Ryeol Gong, the research was published in Nature Communications online on November 2.
Human cancer is caused by genetic mutations. The frequency of the mutations differs by the type of cancer; for example, only around 10 mutations are found in leukemia and childhood cancer, but an average of 50 mutations are found in adult solid cancers and even hundreds of mutations are found in cancers due to external factors, such as with lung cancer.
Cancer researchers around the world are working to identify frequently found genetic mutations in patients, and in turn identify important cancer-inducing genes (called ‘driver genes’) to develop targets for anti-cancer drugs. However, gene mutations not only affect their own functions but also affect other genes through interactions. Therefore, there are limitations in current treatments targeting a few cancer-inducing genes without further knowledge on gene networks, hence current drugs are only effective in a few patients and often induce drug resistance.
Professor Cho’s team used large-scale genomic data from cancer patients to construct a mathematical model on the cooperative effects of multiple genetic mutations found in gene interaction networks. The basis of the model construction was The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) presented at the International Cancer Genome Consortium. The team successfully quantified the effects of mutations in gene networks to group colon cancer patients by clinical characteristics.
Further, the critical transition phenomenon that occurs in tumorigenesis was identified using large-scale computer simulation analysis, which was the first hidden gene network principle to be identified. Critical transition is the phenomenon in which the state of matter is suddenly changed through phase transition. It was not possible to identify the presence of transition phenomenon in the past, as it was difficult to track the sequence of gene mutations during tumorigenesis.
The research team used a systems biology-based research method to find that colon cancer tumorigenesis shows a critical transition phenomenon if the known driver gene mutations follow sequentially. Using the developed mathematical model, it can be possible to develop a new anti-cancer targeting drug that most effectively inhibits the effects of many gene mutations found in cancer patients. In particular, not only driver genes, but also other passenger genes affected by the gene mutations, could be evaluated to find the most effective drug targets.
Professor Cho said, “Little was known about the contribution of many gene mutations during tumorigenesis.” He continued, “In this research, a systems biology approach identified the principle of gene networks for the first time to suggest the possibility of anti-cancer drug target identification from a new perspective.”
This research was funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Research Foundation of Korea.
Figure1. Formation of giant clusters via mutation propagation
Figure2. Critical transition phenomenon by cooperative effect of mutations in tumorigenesis
2017.11.10 View 9009 -
Professor Lee's Research Selected as Top 100 National R&D Projects
A research project, led by Research Professor Ju Yong Lee from the KAIST Institute for IT Convergence, was selected as one of the Top 100 National Research and Development Projects 2017.
This research project, titled LTE-A-based Single RF Small Base Station supporting Multiple Streams, developed 300Mbps low power, low complexity and broadband small base station technology that supports 4x4 MIMO (Multiple Input and Multiple Output) by proposing a new antenna structure and a new RF (Radio Frequency) structure based on LTE-A. Professors from the School of Electrical Engineering at KAIST, Dong Ho Cho, Songcheol Hong, and Yong Hoon Lee also collaborated on the project.
The existing heterodyne method of communication systems generates the problems of increasing unit price and system complexity.
In this project, however, Professor Lee directly modulated the baseband signal from the RF stage through an impedance loading-based RF chip. This method was designed to facilitate low power as well as low complexity while supporting broadband service. Based on this, his team developed source technology for RF that can be applied to fourth and even fifth generation networks.
Furthermore, this base station is smallest among the small-cell stations so far, providing an eco-friendly installation environment. It contributes to the market for fifth generation mobile communications by reducing power consumption significantly yet providing high-capacity services.
Professor Lee said, “This technology will contribute to creating a new market and additional jobs because business based on the fifth mobile generation can provide multi-functional services, including multiband. Requiring low power and providing high-capacity services anywhere at any time will enhance national competence and reduce costs for establishing a next generation mobile communication system. It is expected that this technology will help with disseminating mobile communication infrastructure through expanding information and communication system as well as the infrastructure of island areas.”
2017.11.08 View 11354 -
Highly Flexible Organic Flash Memory for Foldable and Disposable Electronics
A KAIST team reported ultra-flexible organic flash memory that is bendable down to a radius of 300μm. The memory exhibits a significantly-long projected retention rate with a programming voltage on par with the present industrial standards.
A joint research team led by Professor Seunghyup Yoo of the School of Electrical Engineering and Professor Sung Gap Im of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering said that their memory technology can be applied to non-conventional substrates, such as plastics and papers, to demonstrate its feasibility over a wide range of applications.
With Dr. Seungwon Lee and Dr. Hanul Moon playing the role of leading authors, the research was published in Nature Communications on September 28.
Flash memory is a non-volatile, transistor-based data-storage device that has become essential in most electronic systems in daily life. With straightforward operation mechanisms and easy integration into NAND or NOR array architecture, flash memory has been established as the most successful and dominant non-volatile memory technology by far.
Despite promising demonstrations in the early stages of organic electronics, the overall progress in this field has been far slower than that of thin-film transistors (TFTs) or other devices based on flexible materials. It has been challenging, in particular, to develop flash memory that simultaneously exhibits a significant level of flexibility and performance. This is mainly due to the scarcity of flexible dielectric layers, which are responsible for the tunneling and blocking of charges.
The solution processing used for the preparation of most of the polymeric dielectric layers also makes it difficult to use them in flash memory due to the complexity involved in the formation of the bilayer dielectric structure, which is the key to flash memory operations.
The research team tried to overcome these hurdles and realize highly flexible flash memory by employing thin polymeric insulators grown with initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD), a vapor-phase growth technique for polymers that was previously shown to be promising for the fabrication of flexible TFTs. It was further shown that these iCVD-based polymeric insulators, when coupled with rational device design and material choice, can make a significant contribution to flash memory as well.
Memory using conventional polymer insulating films has often required a voltage as high as 100 V (volt) in order to attain long memory retention. If the device is made to operate at a low voltage, the short retention period of less than a month was problematic.
The KAIST team produced flash memory with programming voltages around 10 V and a projected data retention time of over 10 years, while maintaining its memory performance even at a mechanical strain of 2.8%. This is a significant improvement over the existing inorganic insulation layer-based flash memory that allowed only a 1% strain.
The team demonstrated the virtually foldable memory devices by fabricating the proposed flash memory on a 6-micrometer-thick ultrathin plastic film. In addition, it succeeded in producing them on printing paper, opening a way for disposable smart electronic products such as electronic paper and electronic business card.
Professor Yoo said, " This study well illustrates that even highly flexible flash memory can be made to have a practically viable level of performance, so that it contributes to full-fledged wearable electronic devices and smart electronic paper."
(Figure 1. Structure of flexible flash memory )
(Figure 2. Foldable flash memory)
2017.11.06 View 9993