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Professor Sang-Min Bae receives the 2015 IDEA Awards
Professor Sang-min Bae of the Industrial Design Department at KAIST garnered one silver and two bronze awards from the 2015 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA). Along with iF Design Award and Red Dot Design Awards, the IDEA is regarded as one of the world’s most respected recognition in the field of design.
Trash to Bin (T2B), a silver winner in the category of Social Impact Design, is a trash bin made of 1.87 lb (0.85 kg) of discarded papers. Using one-hundred percent recycled paper pulp, each T2B costs under $5 for production. The bin can be fully waterproofed for at least six hours. While satisfying with the industry safety standards, this environmentally-friendly bin can be produced on a large scale using litter energy, but offering the exact same benefit of a general garbage can.
Roll-Di, one of the two bronze winners, is a direction indicator that tells which string of screen curtains should be pulled to make the curtain go up or down. As shown in the picture below, Roll-Di can be installed at the bottom of the string, and the “up and down” arrows show which side of the string needs to be pulled to achieve the desired position of the curtain. This simple, yet handy solution to the problem that people frequently make the mistake of pulling the wrong string provides users with greater convenience.
The other bronze winner is Printing Solar-cell, an organic cartridge module that prints solar-cells using a domestic, ink-jet printer. With Printing Solar-cell, users can design their own cell patterns and charge their electronics anywhere holding the printed solar-cell on a copy paper.
Professor Bae said, “I’ve always tried to design something that is useful for people in need. I consider the IDEA awards an encouragement to keep up with my work toward that goal.”
Trash to Bin
Roll-Di
Printing Solar-cell
2015.09.30 View 6819 -
Science and Technology Policy Professor Chihyung Jeon Awarded Rachel Carson Fellowship
KAIST Graduate School of Science and Technology Policy Professor Chihyung Jeon has been awarded the Rachel Carson Fellowship 2015-2016.
Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society is a research center for environmental humanities and social sciences, supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. It was founded by Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany and the Deutsches Museum as a joint initiative in 2009.
Rachel Carson Center supports researches in humanities and social sciences on the interactions between the environment and the society, following the footsteps of Rachel Cason, who raised awareness on the chemical environmental damage and started global environmental movement through her published book “Silent Spring” in 1962.
The center is awarding Rachel Carson Fellowships to established researchers to fund their writing and promote exchange of research. This year, 31 fellowships were awarded.
Professor Jeon will conduct research on "A Dredged Nation: The Four Rivers Restoration Project and the Envirotechnical Transformation of South Korea" and will also hold an additional post of International Curatorial Fellow at the Deutsches Museum.
2015.06.11 View 8381 -
KAIST Exhibits Socially Benign Technologies
Exhibited 29 products that address the need to solve social issues such as a Braille printer
Students from the KAIST Idea Factory, a startup program for undergraduates operated by the Research Institute for Social Technology and Innovation (RISTI), hosted an exhibition presenting their research prototypes. The Idea Factory provides students with opportunities to try out new ideas and develop innovative technologies.
The exhibition was held at the Creative Learning building on campus on March 20, 2015. Students displayed 29 inventions, showcasing technologies to address important social issues. The exhibit included products and technologies developed by the students or already commercialized by small businesses such as a Braille printer, a hydrogen peroxide-oxygen respirator for vessel accidents, and an educational 3D printer. The small business exhibits included a removable additional power unit for wheelchairs, agricultural product anti-theft system, and security lighting.
KAIST also hosted a social technology innovation symposium in KAIST Institute Building on the same day. The theme of the symposium was the “Integration of Technological Innovation and Social Innovation – Social Technology Innovation.”
The key note speaker, Director Heung-Kyu Lee of RISTI, KAIST, presented a lecture on the topic, “The Meaning of Social Technology Innovation: System Change.” His talk was followed by Hyuk-Jin Choi of the Korea Social Enterprise Promotion Agency on “Social Economic Organizations of Korea and Social Technology,” and Jae-Sun Kim of The Grassroots on “Search for Social Innovation and Social Economy.”
The supervisor of the event, Director Lee said, “This exhibit focuses on technologies that could help the underprivileged. We will continue to support students’ ideas and small businesses’ endeavors to develop these technologies.”
KAIST established the Idea Factory in 2014 to assist KAIST students to commercialize creative and innovative ideas. The Idea Factory made a key contribution in commercializing the educational 3D printers last year.
Picture: A Braille Printer
2015.03.20 View 6754 -
3D Printer Developed by KAIST Undergraduate Students
More than 100 Pre-orders Prior to Product Launch Made
KAIST undergraduate students received more than 100 pre-orders before the launch for 3D printers they developed and became a hot topic of interest.
KAIST Research Institute for Social Technology and Innovations (Head Hong-Kyu Lee) had a launch party at Daejeon Riviera Hotel on 17 November 2014 for “Commercial Delta 3D Printer” developed by KAIST undergraduate students inviting around 50 businesses, buyers and representatives of 3D Printing Industry Association.
“3D Printer” uses blueprints of products such as toys, mug cups and chairs to make 3D objects and is thought to be revolutionary technology in manufacturing industry. The interest has grown as recent printers could print even fruits and cosmetics.
The printing structure of 3D printer can be divided roughly into horizontal Mendel method and Delta method. KAIST students focused on the Delta method to give a differentiated product from 90% of commercial products that use Mendel method.
First, the students focused on lowering the cost of unit price by using self-developed components. The carriage (transport machine) of the product is replaced by self-developed components instead of bearing to reduce the noise and the linking method was changed to beads from loop guide to increase the completeness of the printed product. Also, an auto-levelling is loaded to ensure the nozzle and the bed is parallel and hence increasing convenience for the users. Further, the printer, designed by a product designer in Germany, is linked to a smartphone application for blueprints.
A student in the development team, Seokhyeon Seo (Department of Computer Science, 3rd Year Undergraduate) said, “The biggest merits of the product are lowering the price to a 1/3 by using self-developed components and reducing the noise.” He continued, “By using a smartphone application, anyone can easily design the product. So it is applicable to use for education or at home”
In the exhibit, “3D Printing Korea 2014,” in Coex, Seoul the printer had a preview demonstration, and received more than 100 pre-orders from educational and business training institutions. Further, buyers from Canada and the US requested opening agencies in their countries.
KAIST Research Institute for Social Technology and Innovations Head Hong-Kyu Lee said, “3D printing is an innovative technology that could bring the 3rd industrial revolution.” He continued, “It is still early days but the demand will increase exponentially.”
This project was a research project of KAIST Research Institute for Social Technology and Innovations led by a development team consisting of 4 undergraduate students of KAIST, one student from University of Oxford and one German product designer.
Students in the picture below are Won-Hoi Kim (Department of Mechanical Engineering), Sung-Hyun Cho (Department of Mechanical Engineering), and Suk-Hyun Seo (Department of Computer Science) from left to right.
2014.11.19 View 10067 -
First International Conference on Science and Technology for Society
KAIST co-organized the 2013 International Conference on Science and Technology for Society which was held on November 28 at the Grace Hall in Seoul EL-Tower. More than 300 people, including members of the Global Social Technology Advisory Board, domestic social technology experts, private companies, government officials, private citizens, and students joined the conference to discuss the roles and responsibilities of science and technology for society.
R&D policies and technologies for solving social issues were introduced, and discussions were held on desirable directions for technological development.
The first speaker, Yasushi Watanabe, Director of RISTEX (Research Institute of Science and Technology for Society) in Japan, introduced the importance of science and technology for society under the title “Change of R&D Paradigm for Society.”
Robert Wimmer, GrAT (Center for Appropriate Technology), Vienna University of Technology in Austria, presented “Need-oriented Design & Solutions for Development.” Kiyoaki Murakami, MRI, Japan, presented “Introduction of Platinum Vision” and Robert Ries, University of Florida, U.S.A., presented “Evaluating the Social Impacts of the Built Environment Using Life Cycle Assessment.”
Case studies on social enterprises and presentations on R&D for solving social problems were introduced by ICISTS (International Conference for the Integration of Science, Technology and Society), which is a student group at KAIST, National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM), Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH), Electronics and Telecommunication Research Institute (ETRI), and Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT).The conference was hosted by the Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning and co-organized by NRF, KIMM, KRIBB, KITECH, ETRI and KRICT.
2013.12.11 View 10059 -
College of Cultural Sciences Announces Results for 6th Best Paper Award
The College of Cultural Sciences cohosts with the EFL Program the Best Paper Award each semester. The Best Paper Awards went to Jo Hyeong Chan and Oh Shin Ah undergraduate students. The Best Paper Award was established in 2009 in order to encourage and improve the English writing skills of undergraduate students.
The College of Humanities and Social Sciences opened up 69 English courses in Spring of 2012 and 14 papers were recommended by the respective professors as ‘best papers’. Out of these papers 2 were selected for First Prize and 4 were selected as Honorable Mentions. The two recipients’ papers were recommended by Professor Park Woo Seok (Topics in Philosophy).
2012.10.16 View 6978 -
Successful Development of Excavation System of Biomarkers containing Protein Decomposition Control Enzyme Information
A Korean team of researchers successfully developed a biomarker excavation system named E3Net that excavates biomarkers containing information of the enzymes that control the decomposition of proteins. The development of the system paved the possibility of development of new high quality biomarkers.
*Biomarker: Molecular information of unique patterns derived from genes and proteins that allow the monitoring of physical changes from genetic or environmental causes.
Professor Lee Kwan Soo’s team (Department of Biological Sciences) composed of Doctorate candidate Han Young Woong, Lee Ho Dong Ph.D. and Professor Park Jong Chul published a dissertation in the April edition of Molecular and Cellular Proteomics. (Dissertation Title: A system for exploring E3-mediated regulatory networks of cellular functions).
Professor Lee’s team compiled all available information of the enzyme that controls protein decomposition (E3 enzyme) and successfully compiled the inter-substrate network by extracting information from 20,000 biology related data base dissertations. The result was the development of the E3Net system that analyzes the related cell function and disease.
Cells have a system that produces, destroys, and recycles proteins in response to the ever changing environmental conditions. Error in these processes leads to disease.
Therefore finding the relationship between E3 enzymes that control the decomposition of proteins and the substrates will allow disease curing and prevention to become much easier. E3 enzyme is responsible for 80% of the protein decomposition and is therefore predicted to be related to various diseases.
However the information on E3 enzyme and inter-substrate behavior are spread out among numerous dissertations and data bases which prevented methodological analysis of the role of the related cells and characteristics of the disease itself.
Professor Lee’s team was successful in creating the E3Net that compiled 2,201 pieces of E3 substrate information, 4,896 pieces of substrate information, and 1,671 pieces of inter-substrate relationship information. This compilation allows for the systematic analysis of cells and diseases.
The newly created network is 10 times larger than the existing network and is the first case where it is possible to accurately find the cell function and related diseases.
It is anticipated that the use of the E3Net will allow the excavation of new biomarkers for the development of personalized drug systems.
The research team applied the E3Net to find tens of new candidate biomarkers related to the major modern diseases like diabetes and cancer.
2012.05.30 View 11722
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Professor Sang-Min Bae appears on EBS Global Theme Travel.
"We want to present "hope" by designing schools and homes for the third-world countries, while considering the culture of the nation.”
Professor Bae and his team went to Ethiopia, Africa, for "Design for Social Donation and Design Research for isolated third-world nations".
Professor Bae commented that, "We have visited for preparatory investigation, experiencing and investigating the life and cultures of the third-world nations in order to design schools and homes."
He continued, "From this visit, we want to develop adequate technology catered for the locals and create a design guideline." He added "We also want to propose a new model using design and technology that contributes to social welfare".
Meanwhile, EBS team accompanied to cover the report and was broadcasted through "EBS Global Theme Travel.
2012.03.06 View 7865
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Late Dr. Ryu Geun Chul's Achievements and Generous Contributions
First Doctor in the field of Korean Traditional Medicine
The late Dr. Ryu was born in 1926 and is the father figure of Korea’s Traditional Medicine and is its First Doctor (1976 Kyung Hee University), and was the vice-professor of Kyung Hee University of Medicine, Vice-Director of Kyung Hee Institute of Korean Traditional Medicine, and was the first chairman of the Association of Korea Oriental Medicine. He developed the painless acupuncture administering device for the first time in Korea in 1962, and succeeded in anesthetizing a patient for cesarean procedure using acupuncture in 1972.
He even was the first to receive a medical engineering doctorate degree from the Moscow National Engineering School in April of 1996 and developed a stroke rehabilitation machine.
Korea’s Most Generous Donor
Dr. Ryu surprised the world by donating 57.8billion Won worth of real estate to KAIST in August of 2008. Dr. Ryu revealed that his reason for donating such a huge sum to KAIST was due to its focused students giving him the belief that the future of Korea is at KAIST and that the development of science and technology is necessary for Korea to develop into a world class nation and KAIST is the institute most suitable to lead Korea in the field.
Dr. Ryu lived on KAIST campus after donating his entire fortune and even established ‘KAIST scholars and spacemen health research center’ and ‘Dr. Ryu Health Clinic’ as he also wanted to donate his knowledge.
Even when he was a professor at Moscow National Engineering University in the late 1990s he carried out free medical work throughout Korea and in recognition of his devoted work, he was named honorary citizen from Chun Ahn city, San Chung city, and DaeJeon city. In 2007 he donated 450million Won to Cheon Dong Elementary School in Chun Ahn city to build a gymnasium and an indoor golf practice range.
Role as Science and Technology Public Relations Officer
Dr. Ryu volunteered to numerous lectures and interviews after donation to advertise science and technology. His belief that the development of science and technology is necessary for Korea’s development was the driving force behind his efforts at increasing interest and support for the field of science and technology.
In addition, through interviews with MBC, KBS, SBS, KTV, Joong Ang Newspapers, Dong Ah Newspaper and other media mediums, Dr. Ryu improved the public perception on donations whilst increasing the pride of scientists and researchers by highlighting their importance and the importance of science and technology.
In recognition of Dr. Ryu’s efforts, he received the 43rd Science Day Science and Technology Creation Award, 2010 MBC Social Service Special Award, and 2010 ‘Proud Chung Cheong Citizen’ Award.
2011.03.22 View 15122
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Interesting research results were published on the use of Twitter.
The number of “followers” on your Twitter account does not necessarily mean that “Your opinions matter much” to other people.
A KAIST graduate researcher, Mi-Young Cha, joined an interesting project that studies the influence of a popular social media, Twitter. Most of Twitter users today consider the number of followers as a measurement of their influence on the social sphere. According to the research paper, however, this connection does not seem to standing together. For details, please click the link below for an article published by the New York Times.
Dr. Cha received all of her post secondary education degrees in Computer Science, including her Ph.D. in 2008, from KAIST. Since 2008 till now, she has been a post doctoral researcher at Max Planck Institute for Software Systems (MPI-SWS) based in Germany.
[New York Times Article, March 19, 2010]
http://www.nytimes.com/external/readwriteweb/2010/03/19/19readwriteweb-the-million-follower-fallacy-audience-size-d-3203.html
2010.04.05 View 12166
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KAIST Secures Top Ranking of Korean Universities
KAIST won the No. 1 position for the second year in a row in the daily JoongAng Ilbo"s university rankings for 2009. Seoul National University took back the No. 2 spot, followed in order by POSTECH, Korea and Yonsei universities.
The survey was conducted in the four categories, educational environment/finance, professors" research, general reputation/social advancement and globalization. KAIST scored 293 points out of possible 400 this year, while the second-ranking SNU and third-ranking POSTECH earned 234 and 226 points, respectively.
The daily noted that KAIST particularly excelled in the category of educational environment/finance. It observed that donations to KAIST surged almost 100 times for the past three years since 2006 when President Suh took office.
In specific rankings of universities by academic disciplines, SNU came in first overall. KAIST topped in the science and engineering field, while Korea University ranked first in liberal arts studies.
This year, 88 four-year universities participated in the survey. The daily JoongAng Ilbo started its annual evaluation of Koran universities in 1994 to stimulate productive competition among institutions of higher learning and to provide objective standards for students and their parents to select schools for application.
For more information, news.joins.com/article/391/3789391.html
2009.09.24 View 13597
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Scaling Laws between Population and Facility Densities Found
A research team led by Prof. Ha-Woong Jeong of the Department of Physics, KAIST, has found a positive correlation between facilities and population densities, university authorities said on Tuesday (Sept. 2). The research was conducted in the cooperation with a research team of Prof. Beom-Jun Kim at Sungkyunkwan University.
The researchers investigated the ideal relation between the population and the facilities within the framework of an economic mechanism governing microdynamics.
In previous studies based on the global optimization of facility positions in minimizing the overall travel distance between people and facilities, the relation between population and facilities should follow a simple law. The new empirical analysis, however, determined that the law is not a fixed value but spreads in a broad range depending on facility types.
To explain this discrepancy, the researchers proposed a model based on economic mechanism that mimics the competitive balance between the profit of the facilities and the social opportunity cost for population.
The results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States on Aug. 25.
2009.09.04 View 11939