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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 10922 -
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 11754 -
Professor Suh Chosen for IT Young Engineer Award
(The ceremony photo of Professor Changho Suh)
Professor Changho Suh from the School of Electrical Engineering received the IT Young Engineer Award on June 28. This award is hosted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Institute of Electrical and Information Engineers (IEIE) and funded by the Haedong Science Foundation.
The IT Young Engineer Award is given to researchers under the age of 40 in Korea. The selection criteria include the researches’ technical practicability, their social and environmental contributions, and their creativity.
Professor Suh has shown outstanding academic performance in the field of telecommunications, distributed storage, and artificial intelligence and he has also contributed to technological commercialization. He published 23 papers in SCI journals and ten papers at top-level international conferences including the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems and the International Conference on Machine Learning. His papers were cited more than 4,100 times. He has also achieved 30 international patent registrations.
Currently, he is developing an autonomous driving system using an AI-tutor and deep learning technology.
Professor Suh said, “It is my great honor to receive the IT Young Engineer Award. I strive to continue guiding students and carrying out research in order to make a contribution to the fields of IT and AI.”
2018.07.04 View 9667 -
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 6923 -
KAIST Partners with Taiwan for PhD Scholarship Program
(President Shin, Taiwanese Acting Minister of Education Yao, Deputy Director General Chang at the Ministry of Education pose after signing the MOU.(from left))
President Sung-Chul Shin signed an MOU with the Ministry of Education in Taiwan for the Taiwanese PhD scholarship program. The signing was made between President Shin and Dr. Yao Leehter, acting Minister of Education in Taiwan, on June 27.
The Taiwanese Ministry of Education is signing MOUs with prestigious universities around the world to encourage its students to pursue study abroad opportunities at top schools. According to the MOU, Taiwanese PhD candidates will be able to use KAIST scholarships for their tuition fees, while the Taiwanese government will provide a stipend and living costs for four years from next September.
KAIST became the 14th university to sign this MOU, joining a group of top universities that includes University of Cambridge, Oxford University, California Institute of Technology, and Columbia University in the US. KAIST is the first institution in Asia to sign the MOU.
Acting Minister Yao said, “KAIST has emerged as a world leading university in less than five decades since its foundation. This remarkable growth led us to partner with KAIST. We hope this will serve as an opportunity to further our partnership in research collaboration as well as students exchanges.”
President Shin appreciated the Taiwanese government’s recognition of KAIST’s global reputation. He said, “We will closely collaborate with the Taiwan government and its universities for transforming educational opportunities to better respond to the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
2018.06.27 View 5905 -
Taming AI: Engineering, Ethics, and Policy
(Professor Lee, Professor Koene, Professor Walsh, and Professor Ema (from left))
Can AI-powered robotics could be adequate companions for humans? Will the good faith of users and developers work for helping AI-powered robots become the new tribe of the digital future?
AI’s efficiency is creating new socio-economic opportunities in the global market. Despite the opportunities, challenges still remain. It is said that efficiency-enforcing algorithms through deep learning will take an eventual toll on human dignity and safety, bringing out the disastrous fiascos featured in the Terminator movies.
A research group at the Korean Flagship AI Project for Emotional Digital Companionship at KAIST Institute for AI (KI4AI) and the Fourth Industrial Intelligence Center at KAIST Institute co-hosted a seminar, “Taming AI: Engineering, Ethics, and Policy” last week to discuss ways to better employ AI technologies in ways that upholds human values.
The KI4AI has been conducting this flagship project from the end of 2016 with the support of the Ministry of Science and ICT.
The seminar brought together three speakers from Australia, Japan, and the UK to better fathom the implications of the new technology emergence from the ethical perspectives of engineering and discuss policymaking for the responsible usage of technology.
Professor Toby Walsh, an anti-autonomous weapon activist from New South Wales University in Australia continued to argue the possible risk that AI poses to malfunction. He said that an independent ethics committee or group usually monitors academic institutions’ research activities in order to avoid any possible mishaps.
However, he said there is no independent group or committee monitoring the nature of corporations’ engagement of such technologies, while its possible threats against humanity are alleged to be growing. He mentioned that Google’s and Amazon’s information collecting also pose a potent threat. He said that ethical standards similar to academic research integrity should be established to avoid the possible restricting of the dignity of humans and mass destruction. He hoped that KAIST and Google would play a leading role in establishing an international norm toward this compelling issue.
Professor Arisa Ema from the University of Tokyo provided very compelling arguments for thinking about the duplicity of technology and how technology should serve the public interest without any bias against gender, race, and social stratum. She pointed out the information dominated by several Western corporations like Google. She said that such algorithms for deep learning of data provided by several Western corporations will create very biased information, only applicable to limited races and classes.
Meanwhile, Professor Ansgar Koene from the University of Nottingham presented the IEEE’s global initiative on the ethics of autonomous and intelligence systems. He shared the cases of industry standards and ethically-aligned designs made by the IEEE Standards Association. He said more than 250 global cross-disciplinary thought leaders from around the world joined to develop ethical guidelines called Ethically Aligned Design (EAD) V2. EAD V2 includes methodologies to guide ethical research and design, embedding values into autonomous intelligence systems among others. For the next step beyond EAD V2, the association is now working for IEEE P70xx Standards Projects, detailing more technical approaches.
Professor Soo Young Lee at KAIST argued that the eventual goal of complete AI is to have human-like emotions, calling it a new paradigm for the relationship between humans and AI-robots. According to Professor Lee, AI-powered robots will serve as a good companion for humans. “Especially in aging societies affecting the globe, this will be a very viable and practical option,” he said.
He pointed out, “Kids learn from parents’ morality and social behavior. Users should have AI-robots learn morality as well. Their relationships should be based on good faith and trust, no longer that of master and slave. He said that liability issues for any mishap will need to be discussed further, but basically each user and developer should have their own responsibility when dealing with these issues.
2018.06.26 View 8958 -
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 11085 -
KAISTians Receive Future Ocean Science and Technology Awards
(From left: PhD candidates Minseok Kang and Junkeon Ahn)
PhD candidates Minseok Kang and Junkeon Ahn from the Department of Mechanical Engineering received Future Ocean Science and Technology Awards from the Korean Association of Ocean Science and Technology Societies (KAOSTS).
Since 2017, KAOSTS has conferred this award upon graduate students who have published outstanding papers on ocean science and technology in order to encourage young researchers in this area.
Kang published ‘Ship block assembly sequence planning considering productivity and welding deformation’ in Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering in which he proposed an assembly sequence planning method for block assemblies that considers the geometric characteristics of blocks to determine feasible assembly sequences as well as assembly process and productivity factors.
Ahn published ‘Fuzzy-based FMEA of hybrid MCFC and gas turbine system for marine propulsion’ in Power Sources. In this research, he conducted a study proposing a fuzzy-based failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) for a hybrid molten carbonate fuel cell and gas turbine system for liquefied hydrogen tankers.
2018.06.15 View 7856 -
Lead-free, Efficient Perovskite for Photovoltaic Cells
(Clockwise from left: Post-doc Researcher Lamjed Debbichi, Master’s Candidate Songju Lee, Professor Min Seok Jang and Professor Hyungjun Kim)
A KAIST research team has proposed a perovskite material, Cs2Au2I6 that serves as a potential active material for highly efficient lead-free thin-film photovoltaic devices. This material is expected to lay the foundation to overcome previously known limitations of perovskite including its stability and toxicity issues.
As strong candidates for next-generation high-efficiency photovoltaic cells, perovskite photovoltaic cells have a maximum photoconversion efficiency of 22%, comparable to high-performance crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells. In addition, perovskite-based cells can be fabricated at low temperatures, thereby bringing about dramatic cost reductions.
However, it has been noted that conventional organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite materials exhibit low stability, eventually degrading their performance and making them unfit for continued use. Moreover, their inclusion of lead has undermined their environmental friendliness.
In light of this, a joint team led by Professor Hyungjun Kim from the KAIST Department of Chemistry and Professor Min Seok Jang from the School of Electrical Engineering has analyzed a previously discovered perovskite material, Cs2Au2I6, consisting of only inorganic substances and investigated its suitability for application in thin-film photovoltaic devices. Theoretical investigations suggests that this new perovskite material is not only as efficient but also more stable and environment friendly compared to the conventional perovskite materials. For this analysis, the team developed multiscale multiphysics simulation frameworks. Atomic-scale first-principle quantum calculations were carried out to study the optical properties of the proposed material, and device-scale electromagnetic simulations were conducted to suggest that the material could indeed serve as a promising photovoltaic substance at the device level.
From this point onward, the research team plans to extend the study in two directions: an empirical study to apply the perovskite material in real-world photovoltaic cells and a theoretical analysis to find the optimal and highly stable material for photovoltaic cells. The team said, “Perovskite materials are highly efficient, but in order to completely replace the conventional solar cells, their stability and toxicity issues must first be resolved.” They added that this research is expected to accelerate related studies in pursuit of high-efficiency, environment-friendly perovskite materials.
This research, led by post-doc researcher Lamjed Debbichi and master’s candidate Songju Lee, was selected as the front cover article of Advanced Materials on March 22.
Figure 1. Cover of Advanced Materials
Figure 2. Schematic of full solar cell device structure
2018.06.08 View 9195 -
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 6833 -
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 11944 -
Professor YongKeun Park Wins the 2018 Fumio Okano Award
(Professor Park)
Professor YongKeun Park from the Department of Physics won the 2018 Fumio Okano Award in recognition of his contributions to 3D display technology development during the annual conference of the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) held last month in Orlando, Florida in the US.
The Fumio Okano Best 3D Paper Prize is presented annually in memory of Dr. Fumio Okano, a pioneer and innovator of 3D displays who passed away in 2013, for his contributions to the field of 3D TVs and displays. The award is sponsored by NHK-ES.
Professor Park and his team are developing novel technology for measuring and visualizing 3D images by applying random light scattering. He has published numerous papers on 3D holographic camera technology and 3000x enhanced performance of 3D holographic displays in renowned international journals such as Nature Photonics, Nature Communications, and Science Advances. His technology has drawn international attention from renowned media outlets including Newsweek and Forbes.
He has established two startups to commercialize his technology. Tomocube specializes in 3D imaging microscopes using holotomographic technology and the company exports their products to several countries including the US and Japan. The.Wave.Talk is exploring technology for examining pre-existing bacteria anywhere and anytime.
Professor Park’s innovations have already been recognized in and out of KAIST. In February, he was selected as the KAISTian of the Year for his outstanding research, commercialization, and startups. He was also decorated with the National Science Award in April by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Hong Jin-Ki Innovation Award later in May by the Yumin Cultural Foundation.
Professor Park said, “3D holography is emerging as a significant technology with growing potential and positive impacts on our daily lives. However, the current technology lags far behind the levels displayed in SF movies. We will do our utmost to reach this level with more commercialization."
2018.05.31 View 10772