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New York Times, "First, Catch Your Faculty-A Recipe for Excellence"
The World Bank has recently published a new book entitled “The Road to Academic Excellence: The Making of World Class Research Universities.” The report (book) examined the recent experience of 11 universities in 9 countries (for Korea, it sampled Pohang University of Science and Technology, established in 1986) that have undergone transformations in order to become world-class universities. The book has received a wide coverage from the media all around the world since its publication in late September, among others, the latest article by New York Times (NYT), dated October 16, 2011. The gist of the book, i.e., what elements are required should a research university to become “truly prestigious” in the global scene, is well introduced by the NYT article, and here’s the link:
New York Times, “First, Catch Your Faculty-A Recipe for Excellence”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/17/world/americas/17iht-educLede17.html
2011.10.17 View 10252 -
Fusion performing arts, called space musical, 'NARO' performed at KAIST
In commemoration of the 6th anniversary of the establishment of the Graduate School of Cultural Technology, KAIST organized an English musical show on space at the Auditorium on the 29th and 30th of September. The name of the musical was NARO.
The musical was funded by the ‘NaDa Center’ operated by KAIST’s Graduate School of Cultural Technology. The musical was created with participation from adolescents, which told a tale about a genius boy Naro’s journey in space.
The musical was composed of two parts, and the basic storyline was about Naro who conducts research based on space, and his friends went on a time travel to the constellation Scorpios; more specifically, it was a Korean traditional children’s story about a brother and sister who became the sun and the moon. Naro and his friends prevent the plot of Tyran, a villan, who plans on destroying the space and Earth by inducing a red giant star, Antares.
In preparation for the musical, NaDa Center selected 14 students ranging from elementary to high school students during March of 2011. The selected students met every Saturday and Sunday from March to September for practice; a gargantuan commitment.
The theme of the musical is space, the future, and hope, and it does not utilize any stage settings. Instead, it attempts the incorporation of high technology into the stage by using interactive video, laser art, and specially built props. In addition, the entire process from script to performance and advertisement was utilized as an education model to suggest a good fusion between science and technology and cultural arts.
The musical ‘NARO’ is a collective effort. Professor Won Kwan Yeon who pioneered the field of Cultural Technology directed the musical, Professor Koo Bon Chul was in charge of the script and music composition, acting was charged to Lee Min Ho, choreography was charged to Han Eun Kyung, astrological reference was charged to Park Seok Jae among other students in the Graduate School of Cultural Technology. Members of the KAIST Acting Club ‘Lee Bak Teo’, Jeong Soo Han, Son Sharon and graduate of Chung Nam National University with vocal music major Yang Su Ji also made appearances. The Space Musical ‘NARO’ was funded by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, Korea Aerospace Research Institute, and LG School of Multi Culture.
2011.10.10 View 9873 -
"2011 Korean Language and Culture Festival" held in commemoration of KAIST 40th Anniversary
“2011 Korean Language and Culture Festival” was hosted by KAIST from the 5th of October to the 8th of October for 4 days at various locations within campus and BaekJae Cultural Complex in Daejeon City. The festival was aimed at increasing foreigners’ understanding about Korean culture and language and at the same time, introduced about KAIST, the home of the best minds in Korea’s science and technology.
The festival was part of the KAIST 40th anniversary celebratory events, which included 1) Korean Speaking Competition, 2) Korean Traditional Music Performance by Daejeon City Orchestra, 3) Foreigners Talent Show, 4) Tour of BaekJae Cultural Complex, and others such as lecture given by Chairman Lee Cham of Korea Tourism Organization.
In the Korean Speaking Competition, 10 foreigners who passed the preliminaries competed by giving speeches with the theme on “Korea that I’ve experienced.” The speakers were given 5 minutes for speech, and their presentations were graded based on uniqueness, fluency, appropriateness, and fluidity in spoken Korean. 200,000 Korean Won was given to a winner as prize.
In addition, the chance for foreigners to visit the BaekJae Cultural Complex allowed them to experience firsthand “traditional Korean culture,” through which they had a good opportunity to develop a better understanding on Korea as a whole.
Director of KAIST Language Center Michael Park commented, “The festival was a meaningful and important occasion for foreigners to appreciate Korean culture and language, and it would be a great step towards foreigners’ gaining a solid understanding of Korean culture and language to the extent that they become to know better about DaeJeon, the city they live in.”
2011.10.10 View 8220
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Professor Son Hoon received "Structural Health Monitoring Person of the Year Award."
Professor Son Hoon (42) of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering received the “Structural Health Monitoring Person of the Year Award” at an international workshop on structural health monitoring held in Stanford University.
The award is given by the editor and advisors of prestigious international magazine, “Journal of Structural Health Monitoring,” to a researcher with the best research record in a year. Professor Son has published 42 SCI level dissertations, registered 17 patents both domestically and internationally, and presented over 100 papers in international journals, for which he was recognized with the award. Professor Son is the first Korean who receives this award.
One of the most significant achievements by Professor Son was “reference-free damage diagnosis” that he had developed in 2007. The diagnosis allows for the detection of wear and tear of a structure without having to use the foundation signal from the initial stages of the structure. The diagnosis contributed greatly in increasing the reliability of the signal information received from smart sensors attached to the structure by eliminating the environmental impact like temperature.
Professor Son is currently working on green energy structural health monitoring system development related projects. His current work deals with airplanes, bridges, nuclear facilities, high speed railways, wind turbines, and etc. in cooperation with Boeing, United States Air Force Research Institute, Korea Research Foundation, Ministry of Defense Research Institute, Korea Expressway Corporation, POSCO, and etc.
In addition, Professor Son successfully adopted a local monitoring method using smart piezoelectric sensors on a bridge in New Jersey as part of the Long Term Bridge Performance Program initiated by the National Highway Bureau. The success was even introduced in New Jersey’s public TV and newspaper agencies.
Professor Son was given tenure at a record age of 39 in 2008 and received numerous awards given out by the Ministry of Education and Science and international organizations like the ‘Edward M Curtis’ Professor Award from Purdue University.
2011.10.10 View 9993 -
10th Annual POSTECH-KAIST Competition: 'Revenge of the Blue Dragon'
KAIST is out for revenge after losing last year in the POSTECH-KAIST Annual Competition, a college rivalry between the two science and technology schools. The competition was held over two days, 23rd and 24th of September and involved 2,000 students from the two universities.
The POSTECH-KAIST Competition, also known as ‘Science War,’ is an annual event which started in 2002 to encourage active interaction between the two universities and increase public interest in science and technology education. The 2011 Competition marked the 10th competition as the 2009 competition was cancelled due to “swine influenza.”
The Competition is held every mid-September, and the title of the competition depends on the venue; the name of the host university is marked last by convention, hence the 2011 Science War was known as ‘POSTECH-KAIST Competition’ since the competition was held in KAIST.
The competition is composed of Hacking Competition, Science Trivia, Artificial Intelligence Programming Contest, StarCraft, Soccer, Baseball, and Basketball.
800 points are up for grabs, and the university with the most points wins. Both universities have won four times and lost four times and therefore promises to be a mouthwatering encounter this year.
Apart from the various competitions, interaction between clubs, cheerleading performances, and congratulatory concert (Dynamic Duo) were prepared. In addition, a beer party was hosted from 11pm of the first day of the competition to 2am the following day which brought students from the two universities closer together.
President Seo Nam Pyo of KAIST commented, “I am very happy that the two universities at the forefront of Korean Science and Technology can come together to interact and compete wholeheartedly through the 10th POSTECH-KAIST Competition” and that, “I hope that the students can exhibit the skills and ability that they have practiced hard on and uphold the proud history and tradition of KAIST.”
All games can be viewed at http://voki.kaist.ac.kr after the end of the Competition.
2011.09.26 View 8118 -
New Technology Developed for Analysis of New Drugs by Using Smart Nano-Sensors
Doctor Sang-Kyu Lee
Doctor Sang-Kyu Lee of the Department of Biological Sciences, KAIST, has developed the technology that allows biological nano particles to be implanted into human cells for monitoring the effect of new drugs in real time from within the cell. It is expected that this technology will boost the ability to weigh the effects and properties of a new drug more quickly and accurately.
Conventionally, the candidate drug was injected into the human body, and then its cells are extracted to analyze the effects of the drugs. The problem with this method was that the cells were analyzed at a ‘dead’ state which made it incredibly difficult to find candidate substances due to uncontrollable side effects. This made the development of new drugs very difficult despite the large costs and efforts invested into its development.
The research team latched onto the idea that nanoparticles can connect to form a large complex. The complex acts as a nanosensor which allows for real time observation of drug target and the drug itself binding.
The team named the nanosensor technology ‘InCell SMART-i’ and was named ‘Hot Paper’ of the September edition of ‘Angewandte Chemie International Edition’ magazine, a world famous Chemistry Magazine.When a new drug injected into the human body, the drug and drug targets are gradually combined, and the smart nanosensor detects in real time the effect of the new drug as shown in the pictures above (shaded spot).
2011.09.19 View 9029 -
Future of Petrochemical Industry: The Age of Bio-Refineries
The concept of bio-refinery is based on using biomass from seaweeds and non-edible plant sources to produce various materials.
Bio-refineries has been looked into with increasing interest in modern times due to the advent of global warming (and the subsequent changes in the atmosphere) and the exhaustion of natural resources.
However past 20 years of research in metabolic engineering had a crucial limitation; the need to improve the efficiency of the microorganisms that actually go about converting biomass into biochemical materials.
In order to compensate for the inefficiency, Professor Lee Sang Yeop combined systems biology, composite biology, evolutionary engineering to form ‘systems metabolic engineering’.
This allows combining various data to explain the organism’s state in a multi-dimensional scope and respond accordingly by controlling the metabolism.
The result of the experiment is set as the cover dissertation of ‘Trends in Biotechnology’ magazine’s August edition.
2011.07.28 View 10800
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Wireless electric trams at Seoul Amusement Park begin full operations.
Photo by Hyung-Joon Jun
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wireless electric trams at Seoul Amusement Park begin full operations.
KAIST’s On-Line Electric Vehicle (OLEV) becomes an icon of green technology, particularly for young students who aspire to transform their nation into the “vanguard of sustainability.”
Seoul, South Korea, July 19, 2011—As young students wrap up their school work before summer vacation in late July, Seoul Grand Park, an amusement park located south of Seoul, is busily preparing to accommodate throngs of summer visitors. Among the park’s routine preparations, however, there is something new to introduce to guests this summer: three wireless electric trams have replaced the old diesel-powered carts used by passengers for transportation within the park.
The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and the city of Seoul held a ceremony this morning, July 19, 2011, to celebrate their joint efforts to adopt a green public transportation system and presented park visitors with the three On-Line Electric Vehicles (OLEVs), which will be operated immediately thereafter. Approximately one hundred people, including science high school students across the nation, attended the ceremony and had a chance to ride the trams.
KAIST unveiled the prototype of an electric tram to the public in March 2010, and since then it has developed three commercial trams. The Korean government and the institute have worked on legal issues to embark on the full-scale commercialization of OLEV, and the long awaited approval from the government on such issues as standardization of the OLEV technology and road infrastructure, regulation of electromagnetic fields and electricity safety, and license and permits for vehicle eligibility, finally came through.
The On-Line Electric Vehicle (OLEV) is no ordinary electric car in that it is remotely charged via electromagnetic fields created by electric cables buried beneath the road. Unlike other currently available electric cars, OLEV can travel unlimited distances without having to stop to recharge. OLEV also has a small battery onboard, which enables the vehicle to travel on roads that are not equipped with underground power cables. This battery, however, is only one-fifth of the size of a conventional electric vehicle battery, resulting in considerable savings in the cost, size, and weight of the vehicle.
The OLEV project was initiated in 2009 as a method of resolving the battery problems of electric cars in a creative and disruptive way. KAIST came up with the idea of supplying electricity directly to the cars instead of depending solely on the onboard battery for power. Since then, the university has developed core technologies related to OLEV such as the “Shaped Magnetic Field in Resonance (SMFIR),” which enables an electric car to collect the magnetic fields and convert them into electricity, and the “Segment Technology,” which controls the flow of electromagnetic waves through an automatic power-on/shut-down system, thereby eliminating accidental exposure of the electromagnetic waves to pedestrians or non-OLEV cars.
According to KAIST, three types of OLEV have been developed thus far: electric buses, trams, and sport utility vehicles (SUVs). The technical specifications of the most recently developed OLEV (an electric bus), the OLEV research team at the university said, are as follows:
· Power cables are buried 15cm beneath the road surface.
· On average, over 80% power transmission efficiency is achieved.
· The distance gap between the road surface and the underbody of the vehicle is 20cm.
· The OLEV bus has a maximum electricity pickup capacity of 100kW.
· The OLEV bus complies with international standards for electromagnetic fields (below 24.1 mG).
The eco-friendly electric trams at Seoul Grand Park consume no fossil fuels and do not require any overhead wires or cables. Out of the total circular driving route (2.2km), only 16% of the road, 372.5m, has the embedded power lines, indicating that OLEV does not require extensive reconstruction of the road infrastructure. The city government of Seoul signed a memorandum of understanding with KAIST in 2009 as part of its initiatives to curtail emissions from public transportation and provide cleaner air to its citizens. Both parties plan to expand such collaboration to other transportation systems including buses in the future.
KAIST expects the OLEV technology to be applied in industries ranging from transportation to electronics, aviation, maritime transportation, robotics, and leisure. There are several ongoing international collaborative projects to utilize the OLEV technology for a variety of transportation needs, such as inner city commute systems (bus and trolley) and airport shuttle buses, in nations including Malaysia, US, Germany, and Denmark.
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More information about KAIST’s On-Line Electric Vehicle can be found at http://olev.co.kr/en/index.php. For any inquiries, please contact Lan Yoon at 82-42-350-2295 (cell: 82-10-2539-4303) or by email at hlyoon@kaist.ac.kr.
2011.07.22 View 14513 -
Mobile Harbor delivers the goods for container ships at sea by Reuters TV
Reuters TV introduced the Mobile Harbor showcase that was held on June 29, 2011 in Busan, Korea. For the article, please follow the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuADd3DqCQg
2011.07.11 View 6650 -
KAIST Successfully Demonstrates Mobile Harbor in the Open Sea
Busan, South Korea—Large container ships are no longer required to come into ports to transport cargo, as KAIST has developed an innovative technology that will transform the paradigm of today’s cargo handling operations. A Mobile Harbor is a vessel that carries a large stabilized crane with a smart spreader and multistage trolley system, enabling the loading and unloading of ship cargo on the wavy open sea. Following a successful docking of two vessels at sea in April of this year, KAIST conducted a full scope of Mobile Harbor operations in the inner sea of Busan, South Korea, on June 29, 2011.
Initiated in 2009, the Mobile Harbor (MH) is one of the university’s flagship research projects, which aims to provide a new growth engine that will lead the Korean economy to the next level of advancement, and to develop green technology through multidisciplinary and convergence research. The idea of MH came to light when thinking outside the box (why can’t a harbor go out to meet a ship on voyage and retrieve goods instead of ships coming into the harbor?) to improve problems relating to the current maritime transport system, such as port congestion, environmental issues caused by heavy sea transport, increased demand for supersized container ships, and the need for port construction and expansion.
The essential technology to establish a Mobile Harbor is a docking system and crane system that can overcome the obstacles imposed by the sea, i.e., waves and wind. Connecting two operating vessels of different sizes in the unpredictable and ever-changing environment of the sea was regarded as “impossible” and had never been tried before, but, on April 26, 2011, KAIST successfully demonstrated the technology to moor vessels safely and securely.
The Mobile Harbor has a unique way of mooring vessels that are anchored at sea: its flexibly designed robot arms with a square-shape vacuum suction pad at the tip reach out and attach to the hull of a container ship for docking. Each robot arm is connected to a cable and winch that further add stability to the Mobile Harbor. Foam-filled fenders are placed between the Mobile Harbor and the container ship, thereby maintaining a safe distance to prevent collisions.
The crane system consists of a multistage trolley, smart spreader, and tension controller, all of which provide the crane with functionality and stability to move around cargo containers in the sea. The crane system also has various sensors like cameras and laser scanners, and therefore, it can gauge the movement of the spreader and ships as well as trace a target container in real time. As a result, the spreader, a container grabbing device, is free from the swing motions when lifting and putting down cargo and grabs a target container safely in the wavy open sea.
During today’s at-sea demonstration in Busan, a research team from the KAIST Mobile Harbor Center docked a Mobile Harbor (a barge ship) right next to a container vessel (the other barge ship) and repeated freight transport operations between the two ships, presenting the great potential to commercialize the Mobile Harbor technology.
The project has been implemented in collaboration with industries, research institutes, and universities in such fields as mechanical engineering, robotics, automation engineering, and ocean systems engineering. The demonstration proceeded with a wide range of participants including researchers, engineers, government officials, and entrepreneurs from Korea and around the world.
Byung-Man Kwak, Director of the KAIST Mobile Harbor Center, explained his feelings on the successful demonstration:
“It’s been a remarkable journey to develop a Mobile Harbor from scratch, and I’m genuinely thrilled to showcase what we have accomplished so far. Today’s demonstration of Mobile Harbor’s core technologies will really change the face of our maritime transportation system. We will be able to deliver more goods to global markets and consumers via sea route, not necessarily building more ports or expanding the existing harbors. KAIST’s Mobile Harbor will also significantly cut down the high cost related to overland transportation of cargo and in return, contribute to the reduction of carbon emission.”
The Center has received much interest in possible market migration and broader application of the Mobile Harbor from businesses and organizations, e.g., US Office of Naval Research, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Aramco, POSCO, and the Korean Navy.
2011.07.06 View 15577 -
Biomimetic Carbon Nanotube Fiber Synthesis Technology Developed
The byssus of the mussel allows it to live in harsh conditions where it is constantly battered by crashing waves by allowing the mussel to latch onto the seaside rocks. This particular characteristic of the mussel is due to the unique structure and high adhesiveness of the mussel’s byssus.
KAIST’s Professor Hong Soon Hyung (Department of Material Science and Engineering) and Professor Lee Hae Shin (Department of Chemistry) and the late Professor Park Tae Kwan (Department of Bio Engineering) were able to reproduce the mussel’s byssus using carbon nanotubes.
The carbon nanotube, since its discovery in 1991, was regarded as the next generation material due to its electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties. However due to its short length of several nanometers, its industrial use was limited.
The KAIST research team referred to the structure of the byssus of the mussel to solve this problem.
The byssus is composed of collagen fibers and Mefp-1 protein which are in a cross-linking structure. The Mefp-1 protein has catecholamine that allows it to bind strongly with the collagen fiber.
In the artificial structure, the carbon nanotube took on the role of the collagen fibers and the macromolecular adhesive took on the role of the catecholamine. The result was a fiber that was ultra-light and ultra-strong.
The results of the experiment were published in the Advanced Materials magazine and is patent registered both domestically and internationally.
2011.06.20 View 11803
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Yonhap News, Scientists Develop Nitrogen-Doped Graphene Supercapacitor, June 6, 2011
Yonhap News Agency, South Korea’s wire news agency, reported that KAIST’s research team developed “a new type of power storage technology using nitrogen and graphene.”
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=591725
2011.06.08 View 8639