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Professor Sang Ouk Kim Receives the "Scientist of the Month Award" from the Korean Government
Professor Sang Ouk Kim of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, KAIST, received the Scientist of the Month Award in June 2014 for his development of a fundamental technology that allows free control of the properties of carbon-based materials.
Since June 1997, the Korean government has awarded monthly one scientist working in industry, universities, or research institutions to recognize his or her research achievements, as well as to promote science and technology.
Professor Kim implemented a technique known as doping, which has been used in ordinary semiconductor processes, to demonstrate the physical properties of carbon-based materials. Carbon nanotubes, graphene, and other carbon materials have superior mechanical and electrical properties and are regarded as next-generation materials. However, difficulty in controlling their qualities has made applications in various devices unfavorable. The doping technique in semiconductor production is to artificially introduce impurities into an extremely pure semiconductor for the purpose of modulating its electrical properties.
Profess Kim doped elements like nitrogen and boron to enable minute control of the physical properties of carbon-based materials and applied the technique to development of organic solar cells, organic light-emitting devices, and flexible memory. He also increased the application range by using a self-assembly method to change freely the structure of carbon-based materials.
Professor Kim has published 53 papers in renowned journals such as Advanced Materials and Nanoletters. He was rewarded further by being invited to write a review paper for the 25th anniversary special edition for Advanced Materials.
2014.06.19 View 10241 -
KAIST studnets win 2014 Creative Vitamin Project Competition
A team of KAIST students have won the grand prize for the “2014 Creative Vitamin Project Competition” held on May 28, 2014 in Seoul. The event was co-hosted by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, National Information Society Agency, and Korea IT Convergence Technology Association. The Creative Vitamin Project is the Korean government’s initiative to grow the Korean economy and generate job creation by applying science and technology, information and communications technology in particular, to the existing industry and social issues.
The winners were Hyeong-Min Son, a student in the master’s program in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, KAIST and Su-Yeon Yoo, a Ph.D. student from the Graduate School of Information Security, KAIST.
Son and Yoo proposed a sustainable crop protection system using directional speakers. This technique not only efficiently protects crops from harmful animals, but also effectively guides the animals outside the farmland.
Kwang-Soo Jang, the Director of the National Information Society Agency, said, “This competition provides an opportunity to develop public consensus and interest in the Creative Vitamin Project. We hope that through the participation of all citizens, the project can become an instrument to realizing the creative economy.”
2014.06.18 View 10868 -
Professor Sung Yong Kim Appointed as Committee Member to Serve PICES
The Pacific International Council for the Exploration of the Sea: North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES) is an intergovernmental organization, which was established in 1992 to promote and coordinate marine research in the North Pacific and adjacent areas. Currently, the United States, Canada, Japan, China, Russia, and Korea are members of the organization.
Professor Sung Yong Kim of Ocean Systems Engineering, KAIST, has been appointed to serve the Scientific and Technical Committees of PICES. He will begin his stint from July 1, 2014. During his assignment, Professor Kim will identify the need for observation of the North Pacific marine environment, develop observation methodology, and publish an annual report on the observation.
Professor Kim is an expert in marine physics and environmental fluids, with a focus on coastal circulation and dynamics, mesoscale and submesoscale eddies, integrated coastal ocean observing system, and statistical and dynamic data analysis.
2014.06.18 View 8699 -
Professor Sang-Ouk Kim's Research on Carbon Materials Featured in a Philippines Science News
The subject article said that Professor Sang-Ouk Kim of Materials Science Engineering at KAIST “developed a technique to change the nature of the next-generation carbon-based materials. His research has expanded the possibility of carbon-based materials to be used in clothes.”
For details, please refer to the article below:
Centrio Times, June 10, 2014
KAIST scientist develops color changing carbon materials that can be used in clothes
http://www.centriotimes.com/2014/06/kaist-scientist-develops-color-changing-carbon-materials-can-used-clothes.html.
2014.06.15 View 8158 -
MOU between KAIST and Sun Medical Center on "Mobile Health Care"
KAIST and Sun Medical Center signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in front of 20 attendees including KAIST President Steve Kang and Sun Medical Center Director Seung-Hoon Sun on June 9 at KAIST to expand medical services through medical and electronic telecommunication technology.
The two organizations will cooperate on the research and development of mobile healthcare, systems for the medical industry, remote medical treatment for overseas patients, and working toward improving national healthcare. The two parties will also develop wearable devices and mobile sensors which will become a welcome addition to the global healthcare market.
KAIST President Steve Kang explained, “With Sun Medical Center’s 50 years of experience in medical technology and KAIST’s World University Ranking of 20th in information technology, a new brainchild in the mobile healthcare field will be produced.”
In the meantime, KAIST’s College of Information Science and Technology is making developments in mobile healthcare systems which can accumulate medical information and apply it to medical services by using personal bio-information data. Ambitious new projects are underway, such as the “Dr. M Project“ which launched in March with 28 full-time researchers.
2014.06.14 View 7589 -
KAIST College of Business Held "Creativity Fusion Camp" for Multicultural Family Students
Students from the College of Business, KAIST, held the Creativity Fusion Camp for 77 multicultural students from May 31 to June 1 at the KAIST campus in Daejeon.
The camp was funded through an education donation program which was created to support multicultural students who are interested in science. $20,000 was raised by 100 participants in a fund-raising marathon including students in the KAIST Business School.
The camp was only for multicultural students, and their participation was free of charge. Nationally, 100 applicants were evaluated over 10 days beginning May 14, and 30 elementary school students and 47 junior high school students were selected.
The camp centered around creating mini games with rare programming languages. Drawing sounds, exploring computational thinking, making animations, and designing mini games were the other programs students took part in.
Sung-Hyun Cha, the student council leader of the College of Business, said, “We have been pondering over how to truly benefit people who are economically and socially underprivileged in our society, apart from simply giving financial donations. I hope this camp will be an important chance for multicultural students to enjoy science.”
Jae-Hyun Ahn, Vice-Dean of the College of Business, said, “Many of the activities of the College of Business have mostly focused on learning, but now we have to turn our attention into serving others as well. This is the new education model that KAIST has been endeavoring to build.”
The KAIST College of Business has made contributions and donations to help people in need by partnering with the Habitat for Humanity and Babper Service and undertaking charity bazaars and auctions.
[Picture Caption]Participants of the KAIST Run Creativity Fusion Camp smiling on May 31 at the Creative Learning Building
2014.06.09 View 8272 -
MOU among KAIST, Chungnam National University, and Chungnam National University Hospital for "Fusion Medical Science Research"
KAIST, Chungnam National University, and Chungnam National University Hospital signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with attendees including KAIST President Steve Kang, Chungnam National University President Sang-Chul Jung, and the President of Chungnam National University Hospital, Bong-Ok Kim on June 3 at KAIST.
With the MOU, KAIST expects to continue the development of outstanding individuals in the medical science field, advance global research in biosciences, and establish Chungnam National University Hospital and KAIST Fusion Medical School in Sejong City.
The details of the MOU include educational collaborations such as course development and a combined registration system, cooperation on basic and clinical research, shared use of research facilities and equipment, and active collaboration for professional personnel for education, research, and treatment. The three parties agreed to form a joint council to pursue the specifications.
President Steve Kang said, “Medical science and medical engineering, which can elevate the quality of human life, are the key disciplines which universities are targeting for the future. KAIST will prepare for Korea’s future by developing elite professionals and performing world-renowned research in the merged fields of science and medicine.”
2014.06.07 View 7603 -
KAIST Featured in the 2014 QS Showcase-AMEA (Asia, Middle East, and Africa)
The QS World University Rankings has released the fourth Edition of QS Showcase-AMEA (Asia, Middle East, and Africa) in January 2014, both in print and online, which is an annual magazine presenting the progress of the top universities in these regions, as well as highlighting their breakthroughs and improvements.
The 2014 QS Showcase-AMEA included an interview with President Steve Kang, covering KAIST and its role in Korea, student mobility, as well as Korean higher education.
For the interview, please go to: http://qsshowcase.com/main/korea-casts-its-net-more-widely-to-stay-on-top/ .
2014.06.07 View 7187 -
An Exploratory Study on Smartphone Abuse among College Students
Professor Uichin Lee
Professor Uichin Lee of the Department of Knowledge Service Engineering, KAIST, and his research team developed a system that automatically diagnoses the levels of smartphone addiction based on an analysis of smartphone use records.
Professor Lee investigated the usage patterns of 95 smartphone users (college students) by conducting surveys and interviews and collecting logged data. The research team divided participants into “risk” and “non-risk” groups based on a self-reported rating scale to evaluate their abuse of smartphones. As a result, 36 students were categorized as “high risk” and 59 were categorized as “low risk.”
The researchers collected over 50,000 hours of smartphone use encompassing power levels, screen, battery status, application use, internet use, calling, and texting.
The results showed that the “high risk” group used only 1~2 applications, focusing on mobile messengers (Kakotalk, etc.) and SNS (Facebook, etc.).
In addition, a relationship was found between alarm function and addiction levels. Users who set alarms for Kakaotalk messages and SNS comments used smartphones for an additional 38 minutes per day on average.
Results also showed that “high risk” students were on their smartphones for 4 hours and 13 minutes per day, 46 minutes longer than “low risk” students who used smartphones for 3 hours and 27 minutes. The difference was prevalent during 6 am and noon, and 6pm and midnight. In addition, “high risk” students accessed their smartphones 11.4 times more than “low risk” students.
Based on the collected data, Professor Lee developed an automatic system that distinguished users into “high risk” or “low risk” categories with 80% accuracy. The new system is expected to give an early diagnosis of addiction to smartphone users, thereby allowing for early treatment and intervention before the user becomes addicted.
Professor Lee commented that, "the conventional addiction analysis based on self-analysis surveys did not provide real-time data and were largely inaccurate. The new system overcomes these limitations through data science and personal big data analysis" and that he is "developing an application that monitors smartphone abuse."
Figure 1. Usage amount: overall and application-specific results
Figure 2. Usage frequency: overall and application-specific results
Figure 3. Overall diurnal usage time and frequency
2014.06.05 View 7733 -
Professor YongKeun Park Produces Undergraduate Students with International Achievements
Three undergraduate students under the supervision of Professor YongKeun Park from the Department of Physics, KAIST, have published papers in globally renowned academic journals.
The most recent publication was made by YoungJu Jo, a senior in physics. Jo’s paper entitled “Angle-resolved light scattering of individual rod-shaped bacteria based on Fourier transform light scattering” was published in the May 28th edition of Scientific Reports.
Analyzing bacteria is a very important task in the field of health and food hygiene, but using the conventional biochemical methods of analysis takes days. However, observation with Jo’s newly developed method using light scattering analyzes bacteria within a matter of seconds.
SangYeon Cho from the Department of Chemistry also published papers in Cell (2012) and Nature (2013), respectively, under the guidance of Professor Park. SangYeon Cho’s outstanding research achievements were recognized by Harvard and MIT. He was accepted with a full scholarship to Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Graduate School. He will begin his graduate studies at Harvard-MIT this September.
Last March, SeoEun Lee from the Department of Biology was the recipient of the Best Paper Award by the Optical Society of Korea. She plans to pursue a doctoral degree at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University in New York.
Professor Park said, “Undergraduate students, who are learning a variety of subjects concurrently, are at the most creative time of their lives. KAIST has offered many opportunities to undergraduate students to partake in various research programs.”
- Picture (a) and (b): Rod-shaped bacteria’s phase image and light-scattering patterns
- Picture (c): Quantitative analysis to illustrate the extraction of information from bacteria
2014.06.03 View 12954 -
MOU for Intellectual Property Protection and Patent Litigation System Development
KAIST and the Patent Court of Korea signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to cooperate for the protection of intellectual property rights and education of patent litigation system. About 20 attendees including President Steve Kang of KAIST and Chief Justice Young-Ho Kang of the Patent Court of Korea met on May 30 at KAIST.
Through the MOU, KAIST will provide technical advice needed for the patent application process. Likewise, the Patent Court will support KAIST researchers and students by offering patent application classes and patent trial observation programs.
After the ceremony, the Patent Court hosted a class under the theme “A more realistic patent process for scientists.”
The first speaker, the Honorable Chun-Woo Son, a former judge, shared a story in which a research achievement was wasted because of scientists’ ignorance of the patent system and its procedures.
The next speaker was Dong-Yeob Kim, a patent examiner. In his lecture, titled “Proper Compensation for Inventions,” Kim emphasized the economic importance of registering patents even if the research achievements of scientists are minor.”
To further this MOU, KAIST and the Patent Court of Korea will continue to expand their cooperation into the adjacent scientific community, Daedeok Innopolis.
2014.06.03 View 7558 -
KAIST's graduate, the first Ph.D. holder in games, is appointed professor at Michigan State University in East Lansing
Dr. Tae-Woo Park
The academic community recognizes the study in games as a field for research
Dr. Tae-Woo Park, a graduate of KAIST, has been appointed a professor at Michigan State University (MSU) in East Lansing. He will start working in August at the Department of Telecommunications, Information Studies, and Media, the College of Communications Arts, MSU.
Dr. Park received a doctoral degree in games, the first of its kind in KAIST. His research focus is game design, research, and development.
Dr. Park has strived to enhance user experience by incorporating various aspects of everyday life into games and made efforts to introduce measures limiting or preventing game addiction, a major concern among young people in South Korea. Professor Joon-Hwa Song of Computer Science at KAIST, Dr. Park's advisor, commented that "KAIST graduates have been the main actors in the development of Korea's gaming industry. Our efforts to systemize the field of games into an academic discipline have been recognized through Dr. Park's appointment."
Dr. Park said that he plans "to apply mobile device and ubiquitous technology and develop games that will not only entertain users but also help them have a better life.”
2014.05.29 View 11311