-
See You at KAIST: Freshman Keeps His Promise as 2026 Matriculation Ceremony Begins
<2026 Undergraduate Matriculation Ceremony>
KAIST announced that it will hold the 2026 Undergraduate Matriculation Ceremony today, February 25, at 10:00 AM in the Auditorium of the Main Campus in Daejeon. The event marks the first step for freshmen who will lead the future of South Korea’s science and technology.
In his welcoming remarks, President Kwang Hyung Lee plans to emphasize that “KAIST is a university built upon a spirit of inquiry that never stops questioning and a drive for challenge that does not fear failure.” He will encourage the students, stating, “I hope you challenge yourselves to your heart's content, and even if you fall, stand back up to blaze new trails that the world has never seen before.”
President Lee will also highlight that the role of talent in science and technology is more critical than ever in this era of massive transformation driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital transition. He plans to urge students to grow into responsible scientists and engineers who contribute to humanity and society through cooperation and communication, adding, “KAIST will spare no effort in supporting you to ensure your challenges become a reality.”
Marking the 40th class of incoming freshmen, this year’s ceremony will be attended by approximately 1,500 people, including students, parents, and distinguished guests, to celebrate this new beginning.
The speech by Junseop Shin, the student representative taking the podium, begins with the theme of a “promise.” He plans to share how the words “See you at KAIST,” spoken to him by President Kwang Hyung Lee at a defense industry forum three years ago, turned a vague dream into a definitive goal.
<Student Representative Junseop Shin delivering his speech>
Having contemplated his role in an era where science and technology dictate national competitiveness, Shin chose the challenging path of researching “small drone detection technology” instead of a more stable route. Despite numerous failures, frustrations, and discouragement from those around him, he persevered by remembering that promise, eventually achieving a technical breakthrough that garnered attention from international academic societies.
“I learned that keeping a promise isn't about never falling, but about getting back up every time you do,” Shin plans to say, vowing that his new beginning at KAIST will be a journey of fearless challenge.
The ceremony will also introduce the KAIST AI Future Challenge, themed “New and Innovative Ideas for the Future AI Era.” Any KAIST student can participate individually or as a team to tackle future societal issues with creative and feasible ideas. The winning teams will be honored at the “Education Innovation Day” ceremony in May.
<Students taking the matriculation oath>
Following the matriculation ceremony, an orientation will be held to assist students with their first steps into university life. This will include introductions to freshman programs, as well as essential training on community guidelines, mental health services, violence prevention, and safety education to support the students' stable transition into their studies and research.
Furthermore, the three-day “Freshman Start-up (Saenaegi Saerobaumteo)” will feature a diverse range of programs, including club performances, fairs, campus tours, and a welcoming broadcast festival. Freshmen will have the opportunity to experience KAIST culture firsthand and socialize with seniors and peers to shape their vision for university life.
2026.02.25 View 74 -
The long standing commercialization challenge of lithium batteries, often called the dream battery, has been solved.
<(From Upper Left) Professor Nam Soon Choi, Professor Seungbum Hong, Professor Sang Kyu Kwak, (From Below Left) y Jeong-A. Lee, Haneul Kang, Yoonhan Cho, Seong Hyeon Kweon, Seonghyun Kim>
As the electric vehicle era enters full scale, demand is increasing for batteries that can travel farther and last longer. Lithium-metal batteries have been attracting attention as a next-generation technology capable of surpassing the capacity limits of existing lithium-ion batteries. However, during the charging process, needle-shaped crystals called “dendrites” grow, shortening battery life and increasing the risk of fire, which has been identified as the biggest obstacle to commercialization. A Korean research team has developed a key technology that can solve this challenge.
KAIST announced on the 24th that the research team led by Prof. Nam-Soon Choi from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Prof. Seungbum Hong from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, in collaboration with Prof. Sang Kyu Kwak’s team at Korea University, has developed a technology that resolves the most critical challenge of lithium-metal batteries, “interfacial instability,” at the electronic structure level.
Interfacial instability refers to the phenomenon in which the boundary between the electrode and electrolyte cannot be maintained uniformly during charging and discharging. As a result, lithium grows in needle-like dendrites, which leads to reduced battery cyclability, internal short circuits, and increased Thermal instability. This has been the fundamental cause preventing the commercialization of lithium-metal batteries.
The research team implemented an “intelligent protective layer” that allows lithium ions to move stably along the electrode surface by adding thiophene to the battery electrolyte. This protective layer has the characteristic that its electronic structure rearranges itself.
Like a smart traffic system that adjusts lanes according to traffic flow, the charge distribution inside the protective layer flexibly changes whenever lithium ions move, creating optimal pathways. The research team identified this mechanism through density functional theory (DFT) simulations and confirmed much higher stability compared to existing commercial additives.
As a result, they succeeded in effectively suppressing dendrite growth even under fast-charging conditions and significantly extending battery lifespan.
In addition, the research team directly observed the inside of the battery at the nanometer scale using in-situ atomic force microscopy (AFM). Even under high current conditions, they confirmed that lithium was deposited and removed uniformly on the surface, thereby verifying mechanical stability.
This technology can be applied to various cathode materials currently widely used, including lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO₄), lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO₂), and lithium nickel–cobalt–manganese oxide LiNixCoyMn1-x-yO₂). Because it is not limited to a specific battery type and can be broadly applied across existing electric vehicle battery systems, it is expected to have significant industrial impact.
This achievement is meaningful in that it presents a breakthrough capable of fundamentally solving the ultra-fast charging problem—which has been the biggest barrier to lithium-metal battery commercialization—by simultaneously enabling fast charging within 12 minutes and high-current operation exceeding 8 mA/cm².
8 mA/cm² refers to a level at which 8 milliamperes of current flow per square centimeter of battery electrode area. In lithium-metal battery research, even around 4 mA/cm² is typically considered a “high current” condition, so this represents more than twice that level and corresponds to operating conditions close to real-world electric vehicle fast charging, rapid acceleration, and high-power driving.
Through this breakthrough, the technology is expected to be applied to various future industries requiring high-performance batteries, including ultra-long-range electric vehicles, urban air mobility (UAM), and next-generation high-density energy storage systems.
Prof. Nam-Soon Choi stated, “This research is not simply a material improvement but an achievement that solves the fundamental problem of batteries by designing the electronic structure,” adding, “It will become a core foundational technology for next-generation electric vehicle batteries that simultaneously achieve fast charging and long lifespan.”
This study was conducted by Jeong-A. Lee, Haneul Kang, Yoonhan Cho, Seong Hyeon Kweon, Seonghyun Kim, Syed Azkar UI Hasan, Minju Song, Saehun Kim, Eunji Kwon, Samuel Seo, Kyoung Han Ryu, Rama K. Vasudevan, Sang Kyu Kwak, Seungbum Hong, and Nam-Soon Choi, and was published on February 2 in the internationally renowned materials and energy journal InfoMat.
Paper title: Conjugation-mediated and polarity-switchable interfacial layers for fast cycling of lithium-metal batteriesDOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/inf2.70126
Meanwhile, this research was conducted with support from Hyundai Motor Company and the mid-career researcher program of the National Research Foundation of Korea.
2026.02.25 View 115 -
Developing Technology to Become the Joker in The Dark Knight
<(From left) Ph.D. candidate Taewoong Kang, Ph.D candidate Junha Hyung, Professor Jaegul Choo, and Ph.D. candidate Minho Park (From top right square, from left), Ph.D. candidate Kinam Kim, Seoul National University undergraduate researcher Dohyeon Kim>
What if, while watching The Dark Knight, you weren't just observing the Joker on screen, but actually seeing Gotham City through his eyes? The video technology that allows viewers to experience the world through a character's perspective, rather than as a mere observer, is becoming a reality. Researchers at our university have developed a new AI model that generates first-person viewpoint videos from standard footage.
KAIST announced on February 23rd that Professor Jaegul Choo’s research team at the Kim Jaechul Graduate School of AI has developed 'EgoX,' an AI model that utilizes observer-perspective (exocentric) video to precisely generate the scenes that a person in the video would actually be seeing.
With the rapid advancement of Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and AI robotics, the importance of "egocentric video"—which captures scenes as one directly sees them—is growing. However, obtaining high-quality first-person footage previously required users to wear expensive action cameras or smart glasses. Furthermore, there were significant technical limitations in naturally converting existing standard (third-person or exocentric) video into a first-person perspective.
A key feature of this technology is that it goes beyond simply rotating the screen; it comprehensively understands the person's position, posture, and the 3D structure of the surrounding space to reconstruct the first-person viewpoint.
< Example of converting a third-person perspective video into a first-person perspective video >
Existing technologies often only converted still images or required footage from four or more cameras. Additionally, they frequently suffered from awkward visual artifacts in videos with complex lighting or rapid movement.
In contrast, EgoX can generate high-quality first-person video from just a single third-person video source. Specifically, the research team succeeded in realistically implementing natural shifts in vision—such as when a person turns their head—by precisely modeling the correlation between head movement and the actual field of view.
This technology demonstrated stable performance across various daily scenarios, including cooking, exercising, and working, without being limited to specific environments. It is being evaluated as a breakthrough that opens new possibilities for securing high-quality first-person data from existing video archives without the need for wearable devices.
EgoX is expected to have a significant impact across various industries. In the fields of AR, VR, and the Metaverse, it can maximize user experience by transforming standard videos into immersive content that makes users feel as if they are experiencing the scene firsthand.
Furthermore, it is projected to contribute to the fields of robotics and AI training by serving as core data for "Imitation Learning," where robots learn by watching human actions. New types of video services, such as switching sports broadcasts or vlogs to the perspective of the athlete or the protagonist, are also anticipated.
< EgoX technology that converts a third-person perspective into a first-person perspective (AI-generated image) >
Distinguished Professor Jaegul Choo stated, "This research is significant in that AI has moved beyond simple video conversion to learning and reconstructing human 'vision' and 'spatial understanding.' We expect an environment to open up where anyone can create and experience immersive content using only previously recorded videos." He added, "KAIST will continue to secure global competitiveness in the field of generative AI-based video technology."
This research was led by first authors Taewoong Kang, Kinam Kim, and Dohyeon Kim . The paper was pre-released on arXiv on December 9, 2025, garnering significant attention from AI industry giants like NVIDIA and Meta, as well as academia. It is scheduled for official presentation at the IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), an international academic conference to be held in Colorado, USA, on June 3, 2026.
Paper Title: EgoX: Egocentric Video Generation from a Single Exocentric Video Paper Link: https://keh0t0.github.io/EgoX/
Meanwhile, this research was supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT through the National Research Foundation of Korea's individual basic research project, "Research on User-Centered Content Generation and Editing Technology through Generative AI," and the Supercomputer No. 5 High-Performance Computing-based R&D Innovation Support project, "Research on Video Filming Viewpoint Conversion Based on Diffusion Models."
2026.02.23 View 120 -
Formosa Group Chairman Ruey-Yu Wang Awarded Honorary Doctorate
KAIST (President Kwang Hyung Lee) announced that it conferred an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration upon Ruey-Yu Wang, Executive Management Committee Member of Formosa Group and Chairman of Formosa Biomedical Technology Corporation, at its 2026 Commencement Ceremony held on February 20th.
As the recipient of the honorary degree, Chairman Wang has carried forward the management philosophy of the late Formosa Group founder Yung-Ching Wang, placing corporate sustainability and social responsibility at the core of her leadership while guiding the group’s strategic transformation and growth. Moving beyond its traditional petrochemical manufacturing base, she has expanded the group’s business portfolio into future-oriented industries such as biotechnology, clean energy, energy storage systems (ESS), and resource recycling, practicing long-term, forward-looking management.
KAIST stated, “Chairman Wang has presented a sustainable corporate growth model in which science and technology, industry, and talent cultivation are organically integrated, based on the belief that industrial growth and social responsibility cannot be separated.” KAIST added, “In particular, we are honored to recognize her contributions toward establishing a mid-to-long-term foundation for collaboration centered on biomedical research through strategic partnerships with KAIST, as well as toward expanding research infrastructure in life science and technology and fostering international joint research platforms.”
As part of this collaboration, Chairman Wang played a key role in building a joint research framework between major medical institutions and universities affiliated with Formosa Group and KAIST’s College of Life Science and Bioengineering. The resulting “KAIST–Formosa Biomedical Research Center” serves as a hub for multidisciplinary and international collaborative research, supporting mid- to long-term biomedical research initiatives and enhancing KAIST’s research competitiveness and global standing.
She also institutionalized mechanisms to reinvest corporate achievements into society and has made sustained, long-term investments in research and talent development, thereby fostering a virtuous cycle in which scientific and technological achievements translate into industrial and societal impact. These efforts have been widely recognized as exemplary contributions that go beyond the traditional scope of corporate management, advancing human welfare and promoting a sustainable society through science and technology.
Chairman Wang remarked, “I am deeply honored to receive an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration from KAIST. I strongly resonate with KAIST’s values and philosophy of contributing to humanity and building a sustainable future through science, technology, and research.”
She added, “I hope that the young talents at KAIST will lead sustainable development for humanity through science and technology. I will continue to support research and talent development over the long term to help create a virtuous cycle in which scientific and technological innovations are translated into industry and society.”
President Kwang Hyung Lee stated, “Chairman Wang has exemplified socially responsible leadership through industry strategies centered on science and technology. We deeply appreciate her substantive support for expanding research infrastructure and strengthening international collaboration through a strategic partnership with KAIST, and we are honored to welcome her as a member of the KAIST family.”
2026.02.21 View 343 -
2026 KAIST Commencement: Shining Their Own Light on Their Respective Stages
KAIST (President Kwang Hyung Lee) announced that it held its 2026 Commencement Ceremony at 2 p.m. on February 20th at the Sports Complex on its Main Campus in Daejeon.
At this year’s ceremony, a total of 3,334 graduates received degrees, including 817 doctoral, 1,792 master’s, and 725 bachelor’s degrees. Since its founding in 1971, KAIST has now produced a total of 84,490 highly qualified science and technology professionals, including 18,130 Ph.D. recipients, 43,358 master’s graduates, and 23,002 bachelor’s graduates.
KAIST selected three representative graduates who embody the university’s vision of talent. They are Seunghyun Ryu (Department of Bio and Brain Engineering), the doctoral representative known as the “pianist neuroscientist” for his interdisciplinary research bridging brain science and piano performance; Jeanne Choi (School of Computing), the master’s representative who has pursued warm and inclusive technologies for socially vulnerable groups under the themes of accessibility and inclusion; and Mert Yakup Baykan (Department of Aerospace Engineering), the bachelor’s representative from Cyprus holding Turkish nationality, who became the first international recipient of the KAIST Presidential Scholarship.
Seunghyun Ryu, selected as both the doctoral representative and one of the notable graduates, spent 14 years at KAIST completing his undergraduate through doctoral studies while balancing research and music. He organized and managed performances through the campus piano club “PIAST,” expanding artistic activities within the campus community. His research explored the inverse relationship between Alzheimer’s disease and cancer, revealing how disease-related proteins and anticancer drugs act in neurons and offering new perspectives on inter-disease connections.
Jeanne Choi, the master’s representative and another notable graduate, presented research at AAATE 2023 in Paris, analyzing the experiences of visually impaired users engaging with the metaverse and artificial intelligence. Accompanying a visually impaired professor during the conference, Choi gained firsthand insight into mobility and safety challenges, which further expanded the scope of her research. Choi has since continued field-based research, including serving as a teaching assistant at AI and coding camps for visually impaired youth, and plans to pursue a doctoral degree while continuing research for socially vulnerable communities.
Bachelor’s representative Mert Yakup Baykan actively participated in research during his undergraduate studies, publishing four SCI-indexed papers and delivering five conference presentations. He was also selected as a visiting student researcher at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia, gaining international collaborative research experience. As the first international KAIST Presidential Scholar, he plans to pursue a Ph.D. at Stanford University and grow into a leading researcher in space propulsion and combustion.
Awards for outstanding graduates were also presented. Seohyeon Kang (B.S., Brain and Cognitive Sciences) received the Minister of Science and ICT Award (Deputy Prime Minister’s Award). The Chairman of the Board Award was presented to Thai international student Punn Lertjaturaphat (B.S., Industrial Design). The President’s Award went to Kyeongmin Yeo (B.S., School of Computing), while the Alumni Association President’s Award and the KAIST Development Foundation Chairman’s Award were presented to Wonwoo Yoo (B.S., Aerospace Engineering) and Sungbeen Park (B.S., Nuclear and Quantum Engineering), respectively. Hyuk-chae Koo, 1st Vice Minister of Science and ICT, presented the awards on behalf of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT.
Seohyeon Kang developed a technology to measure key proteins related to Parkinson’s disease without surgery or tissue damage, opening new possibilities in brain disease research, and was recognized as a model graduate who combined academic excellence with community service. Punn Lertjaturaphat gained recognition at prestigious international conferences such as ACM CHI and co-founded a startup addressing rural elderly care issues, demonstrating creativity in solving social problems through technology and design.
Kyeongmin Yeo published six research papers at leading AI conferences including NeurIPS, ICLR, and CVPR, proposing new theoretical approaches to image generation and demonstrating outstanding academic achievement as a young researcher.
Wonwoo Yoo led the overseas volunteer corps and served as student representative, combining leadership with academic excellence, including winning a grand prize in a rocket launch competition. Sungbeen Park proposed a next-generation beta battery concept, linking it to patents and entrepreneurship, while contributing to public communication and outreach in nuclear technology as student council president and university ambassador.
Commencement addresses were delivered by Dongjae Kang (B.S., Industrial and Systems Engineering) and Gul Osman (Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering), an international student from Türkiye. Kang reflected on how he learned science not merely as an avenue for problem-solving but as a process for exploring the deeper meaning behind phenomena, pledging to remain attentive to unseen challenges faced by others. Osman shared his journey of nurturing his passion for science while working in a factory under difficult economic circumstances, emphasizing that opportunities open to those who persist without giving up. He began his academic journey in Korea through the Korean Government Scholarship Program.
This year, KAIST also spotlighted three notable graduates who forged their own paths encompassing research, the arts, and social value: Seunghyun Ryu, Jeanne Choi, and Daehui Kim (B.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering). Kim led campus environmental organizations and community-based environmental campaigns, earning an Environmental Contribution Award. He plans to pursue a master’s degree focusing on carbon dioxide geological storage research. He also performs as the vocalist of the KAIST metal band “INFINITE,” continuing to balance music and research.
During the ceremony, an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration was conferred upon uey-Yu Wang, Executive Management Committee Member of Formosa Group and Chairman of Formosa Biomedical Technology Corporation.
President Kwang Hyung Lee encouraged the graduates, saying, “Cherish your dreams, seize opportunities, do not fear failure, and continue to challenge yourselves. I hope you will shine in your own way on your own stage and contribute to society as proud members of the KAIST community.”
2026.02.21 View 546 -
KAIST Breaks Ground on 'Innovative Digital Institute of Medical Science' to Cultivate Physician-Scientists and Medical Engineers
<Groundbreaking Ceremony for the Innovative Digital Institute of Medical Science>
The success of the AI and bio-health industries depends on how many convergence-oriented talents, who understand both medicine and science/technology simultaneously, can be secured. While major global universities are accelerating the establishment of medical schools and convergence education, our university has officially commenced the construction of core infrastructure that will determine South Korea's bio-health competitiveness.
KAIST announced on February 19th that the Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering held a groundbreaking ceremony for the ‘Innovative Digital Institute of Medical Science,’ a key infrastructure that will lead the future of the Korean bio-health industry, and has begun full-scale construction.
The Innovative Digital Institute of Medical Science, to be built at the KAIST Munji Campus, is a project designed to support the national development goal of ‘Realizing a Powerhouse in Medical AI, Pharmaceuticals, and Bio-health’ by fostering key talent and establishing an innovative startup infrastructure. A total project cost of 42.232 billion KRW will be invested through cooperation between the government, Daejeon City, and KAIST. It is being constructed with a total floor area of approximately 10,000 square meters (3,025 pyeong) and is scheduled for completion in November 2027.
Through the establishment of this institute, our university expects to create a foundation to expand the scale of physician-scientist training from the current level of about 20 per year to 50–70 per year, which accounts for approximately 50% of the national demand. Through this, we plan to establish a full-cycle support system so that convergence-type talents, who possess medical and clinical experience as well as science, technology, and AI capabilities, can grow into leading figures in the development of innovative new drugs, vaccines, and medical devices.
This talent cultivation strategy is also in line with global trends. Convergence models of science/engineering and medicine are spreading around global science and technology universities, such as the approval for the new medical school at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (November 2025), the merger between Tokyo Institute of Technology and Tokyo Medical and Dental University (October 2024), and the establishment and operation of the medical school at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. This demonstrates the strategic importance of cultivating physician-scientists and medical engineers who will lead the future bio-health industry.
In contrast, the proportion of medical school graduates in Korea entering the fields of physician-scientists or medical engineers remains below 1%, leading to concerns about a decline in future bio-health competitiveness due to a shortage of manpower.
The Innovative Digital Institute of Medical Science will feature advanced research and support facilities, including an AI Precision Medicine Platform Research Center, a Data-driven Convergence Healthcare R&D Center, an Advanced Biomedical Data Analysis Center, a Digital Medical-Bio Open Lab, and open networking halls and seminar rooms.
In particular, the 6th floor, the top floor, will host the Daejeon Bio-Medical Venture Cluster. Similar to ‘LabCentral’ in Boston, USA, this is planned to be operated as an open innovation space where high-cost research equipment can be shared not only by KAIST researchers but also by researchers from government-funded research institutes in the Daedeok Innopolis and bio-medical startups, allowing them to share research results and technologies and collaborate freely.
The Innovative Digital Institute of Medical Science is expected to serve as an innovation hub that supplements the structural limitations of the Daejeon Bio Cluster, moving beyond being a simple education and research facility. Leading domestic bio companies such as Alteogen, LigaChem Bio, and Peptron are concentrated nearby, and the site is adjacent to the ‘Wonchon-dong Advanced Bio-Medical Innovation District’ being promoted by Daejeon City, providing an ecosystem where industry, academia, research, and hospitals are organically connected.
KAIST plans to use this to vitalize translational research that connects clinical demands from hospitals with basic research from the university, and to promote the development of medical AI and digital data-based technologies to continuously create success stories of physician-scientist startups such as Sovagen and Enocras.
Kwang Hyung Lee, President of KAIST, stated, “The KAIST Innovative Digital Institute of Medical Science will become a core base for the future AI digital health industry, growing science and engineering talents into physician-scientists and medical engineers. Through translational research and startups based on industry-academia-research-hospital cooperation, we will enhance national bio-health industrial competitiveness and contribute to the promotion of human health.”
<Bird’s-Eye View of the Innovative Digital Medical Science Institute>
2026.02.19 View 315 -
KAIST Overcomes Limitations of Existing Image Sensors… Clear Colors Even Under Oblique Light
<(From Left) Ph.D candidate Chanhyung Park from Electrical Engineering, Jaehyun Jeon from Department of Physics, Professor Min Seok Jang from Electrical Engineering>
Smartphone cameras are becoming smaller, yet photos are becoming sharper. Korean researchers have elevated the limits of next-generation smartphone cameras by developing a new image sensor technology that can accurately represent colors regardless of the angle at which light enters. The team achieved this by utilizing a “metamaterial” that designs the movement of light through structures too small to be seen with the naked eye.
KAIST (President Kwang Hyung Lee) announced on the 12th of February that a research team led by Professor Min Seok Jang of the School of Electrical Engineering, in collaboration with Professor Haejun Chung’s team at Hanyang, has developed a metamaterial-based technology for image sensors that can stably separate colors even when the angle of light incidence varies.
Conventional smartphone cameras capture images by concentrating light into a small lens. However, as camera pixels become extremely small, lenses alone struggle to gather sufficient light. To address this, the Nanophotonic Color Router was introduced. Instead of concentrating light through a lens, this technology uses microscopic structures invisible to the eye to precisely separate incoming light by color. By designing the pathways through which light travels, this metamaterial-based structure accurately divides light into red (R), green (G), and blue (B).
Samsung Electronics has already demonstrated the commercialization potential of this technology by applying it to actual image sensors under the name “Nano Prism.” Theoretically, stacking multiple layers of extremely fine nanostructures enables greater light collection and more accurate color separation.
<Nanophotonic color router technology that works reliably even under oblique incidence conditions (AI-generated image)>
However, existing Nanophotonic Color Routers had limitations. While they functioned well when light entered vertically, their performance deteriorated significantly—or colors mixed—when light entered at an angle, as is common in smartphone cameras. This issue, known as the “oblique incidence problem,” has been considered a critical challenge that must be resolved for real-world product applications.
The research team first investigated the root cause of this issue. They found that previous designs were overly optimized for vertically incident light, causing performance to drop sharply even with slight changes in the angle of incidence. Since smartphone cameras receive light from various angles, maintaining performance under angular variation is essential.
Instead of manually designing the structure, the team adopted an “inverse design” approach, which allows the computer to autonomously determine the optimal structure. Through this method, they derived a color router design capable of stable color separation even when the angle of incoming light changes.
As a result, whereas previous structures nearly failed when light was tilted by about 12 degrees, the newly designed structure maintained approximately 78% optical efficiency within a ±12-degree range, demonstrating stable color separation performance. In other words, the technology reaches a level suitable for practical smartphone usage environments.
<Nanophotonic color router robust to oblique incidence>
The team further analyzed performance variations by considering factors such as the number of metamaterial layers, design conditions, and potential fabrication errors. They also systematically defined the limits of robustness against changes in the angle of incidence. This study is particularly meaningful in that it presents design criteria for color routers that reflect realistic image sensor environments.
Professor Min Seok Jang of KAIST stated, “This research is significant in that it systematically analyzes the oblique incidence problem, which has hindered the commercialization of color router technology, and proposes a clear solution direction,” adding, “The proposed design methodology can be extended beyond color routers to a wide range of metamaterial-based nanophotonic devices.”
In this study, KAIST undergraduate student Jaehyun Jeon and doctoral candidate Chanhyung Park participated as co-first authors. The research findings were published on January 27 in the international journal Advanced Optical Materials.
※ Paper title: “Inverse Design of Nanophotonic Color Router Robust to Oblique Incidence”
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/adom.202501697※ Authors: Jaehyun Jeon (KAIST, first author), Chanhyung Park (KAIST, first author), Doyoung Heo (KAIST), Haejun Chung (Hanyang University), Min Seok Jang (KAIST, corresponding author)
This research was supported by the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology, Korea Semiconductor Research Consortium) under the project “Design Technology of Meta-Optical Structures for Next-Generation Sensors,” by the Ministry of Science and ICT (National Research Foundation of Korea) under the projects “Development of Full-Color Micro LED Devices and Panels Based on Beam-Steerable High-Color-Purity Meta Color Conversion Layers” and “Development of a Real-Time Zero-Energy Argos-Eye Metasurface Network Computing with All Properties of Light,” and by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Korea Creative Content Agency) under the project “International Joint Research for Next-Generation Copyright Protection and Secure Content Distribution Technologies.”
2026.02.19 View 337 -
Professor Kyung-Jin Lee of the Department of Physics Selected for the KAISTian of the Year’ Award
< Professor Kyung-Jin Lee at the ceremony >
KAIST announced on February 12th that it has selected Professor Kyung-Jin Lee from the Department of Physics as the recipient of the ‘KAISTian of the Year’ award in celebration of the university's 55th anniversary. Established in 2001, the ‘KAISTian of the Year’ award is the university’s highest honor, presented to members who have significantly enhanced KAIST's global prestige through exceptional academic and research milestones.
As the 25th recipient of this award, Professor Kyung-Jin Lee was recognized for his groundbreaking work in identifying the phenomenon of ‘Quantum Spin Pumping,’ effectively overturning 30-year-old conventional assumptions in spin transfer theory. While existing theories treated spin as a classical physical quantity, Professor Lee focused on the fact that spins within materials possess intrinsic quantum properties, much like electrons. To verify this, he researched Iron-Rhodium (FeRh), a magnetic material where spin magnitude changes abruptly under specific conditions. He became the first to observe a quantum transition in which the spin magnitude of Rhodium (Rh) atoms increased suddenly rather than gradually, theorizing that this very change serves as a new mechanism for inducing electron movement. Experimental data showed that this effect is more than 10 times greater than what previous theories had predicted. This achievement is hailed as a major breakthrough that redefines the core premises of spin transfer theory and provides a vital theoretical foundation for next-generation ultra-low-power magnetic memory and quantum information devices. The study gained worldwide acclaim following its publication in the journal ‘Nature’ last year.
The anniversary ceremony also honored 58 faculty members for their excellence in education, research, and international cooperation. Professor Wonho Choe of the Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering received the ‘Academic Achievement Grand Prize’ for his world-first identification of physical phenomena in low-temperature atmospheric pressure plasma and his contributions to medical and space technologies. The ‘Creative Teaching Grand Prize’ went to Professor Hyung-soo Kim of the Department of Mechanical Engineering for his innovative sports fluid mechanics curriculum. Professor Park Bum-soon of the Graduate School of Science and Technology Policy was awarded the ‘Outstanding Teaching Grand Prize’ for his interdisciplinary ‘Anthropocene Humanities’ courses that bridge science, art, and policy.
Furthermore, Professor Hyeon-Min Bae of the School of Electrical Engineering received the ‘Distinguished Service Grand Prize’ for his leadership in accelerating deep-tech prototyping and fostering a robust startup ecosystem. Professor Shin-Hyun Kim of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering was honored with the ‘International Cooperation Grand Prize’ for establishing the T2KN consortium between Korea, Japan, China, and ASEAN, facilitating global academic exchange for over 120 students.
KAIST President Kwang-Hyung Lee stated, “The true spirit of KAIST lies in the dedication of our members who venture into uncharted territories and strive to transcend existing limits. I hope today serves as a moment for all our members to share in the joy and celebrate the remarkable achievements of our awardees.”
2026.02.12 View 307 -
KAIST Uses Sandpaper to Polish Semiconductors… Opening a New Path for AI Semiconductor Processing
<(From Left) Dr. Sukkyung Kang, Professor Sanha Kim from Department of Mechanical Engineering>
The performance and stability of smartphones and artificial intelligence (AI) services depend on how uniformly and precisely semiconductor surfaces are processed. KAIST researchers have expanded the concept of everyday “sandpaper” into the realm of nanotechnology, developing a new technique capable of processing semiconductor surfaces uniformly down to the atomic level. This technology demonstrates the potential to significantly improve surface quality and processing precision in advanced semiconductor processes such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM).
KAIST (President Kwang Hyung Lee) announced on the 11th of February that a research team led by Professor Sanha Kim of the Department of Mechanical Engineering has developed a “nano sandpaper” that utilizes carbon nanotubes—tens of thousands of times thinner than a human hair—as abrasive materials. This technology enables more precise surface processing than existing semiconductor manufacturing processes, while also reducing environmental burdens generated during fabrication, presenting a new planarization technique.
< Nano Sandpaper AI-Generated Image >
Although sandpaper is a familiar tool used to smooth surfaces by rubbing, it has been difficult to apply it to fields such as semiconductors, where extremely precise surface processing is required. This limitation arises because conventional sandpaper is manufactured by attaching abrasive particles with adhesives, making it difficult to uniformly secure extremely fine particles.
To overcome such limitations, the semiconductor industry has adopted a planarization process known as chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), which uses a chemical slurry in which abrasive particles are dispersed in liquid. However, this method requires additional cleaning steps and generates large amounts of waste, making the process complex and environmentally burdensome.
To address these issues, the research team extended the concept of sandpaper to the nanoscale. By vertically aligning carbon nanotubes, fixing them inside polyurethane, and partially exposing them on the surface, they implemented a “nano sandpaper.” This structure structurally suppresses abrasive detachment, eliminating concerns about surface damage and maintaining stable performance even after repeated use.
The nano sandpaper developed in this study achieves an abrasive density approximately 500,000 times higher than that of the finest commercially available sandpaper. The precision of sandpaper is expressed in terms of “abrasive density (grit number),” which indicates how densely abrasive particles are arranged on the surface. While everyday sandpaper typically ranges from 40 to 3000 grit, the nano sandpaper exceeds 1,000,000,000 grit. Through this extremely dense structure, surfaces could be processed with precision down to several nanometers—equivalent to the thickness of only a few atoms.
The effectiveness of the nano sandpaper was confirmed through experiments. Rough copper surfaces were polished to a smoothness at the nanometer level, and in semiconductor pattern planarization experiments, the technique reduced dishing defects by up to 67% compared with conventional CMP processes. Dishing defects refer to the phenomenon in which the center of interconnect lines becomes recessed, a major defect affecting the performance and reliability of advanced semiconductors such as HBM.
In particular, because the abrasive materials are fixed on the sandpaper surface, the technology does not require continuous supply of slurry solutions as in conventional processes. This reduces cleaning steps and eliminates waste slurry, presenting the possibility of transitioning semiconductor manufacturing toward more environmentally friendly processes.
< Nano Sandpaper Schematic Diagram >
< Detailed Image of Nano Sandpaper >
The research team expects that this technology can be applied to advanced semiconductor planarization processes such as HBM used in AI servers, as well as to hybrid bonding processes, which are gaining attention as next-generation semiconductor interconnection technologies. The study is also significant in that it expands the everyday concept of sandpaper into nano-precision processing technology, suggesting the possibility of securing core technologies required for semiconductor manufacturing.
Professor Sanha Kim stated, “This is an original study demonstrating that the everyday concept of sandpaper can be extended to the nanoscale and applied to ultra-fine semiconductor manufacturing,” adding, “We hope this technology will lead not only to improved semiconductor performance but also to environmentally friendly manufacturing processes.”
In this study, Dr. Sukkyung Kang of the Department of Mechanical Engineering participated as the first author. The research was recognized for its excellence by receiving the Gold Prize (1st place) in the Mechanical Engineering Division at the 31st Samsung Human Tech Paper Award, hosted by Samsung Electronics. The findings were published online on January 8, 2026, in the international journal Advanced Composites and Hybrid Materials (IF 21.8).
※ Paper title: “Carbon nanotube sandpaper for atomic-precision surface finishing”
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42114-025-01608-3
This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (Mid-Career Researcher Program; Ministry of Science and ICT, NRF, RS-2025-00560856), the Glocal Lab Program (Ministry of Education, NRF, RS-2025-25406725), the InnoCORE Program (Ministry of Science and ICT, NRF, N10250154), and the KAIST Up Program.
2026.02.11 View 489 -
AI that Understands Chemical Principles... Accelerating the Development of New Drugs and Materials
<(From top left) Professor Woo Youn Kim (KAIST), Dr. Jeheon Woo (KISTI), Dr. Seonghwan Kim (KAIST), and Jun Hyeong Kim (PhD candidate)>
Whether a smartphone battery lasts longer or a new drug can be developed to treat incurable diseases depends on how stably the atoms constituting the material are bonded. The core of 'molecular design' lies in finding how to arrange these countless atoms to form the most stable molecule. Until now, this process has been as difficult as finding the lowest valley in a massive mountain range, requiring immense time and costs. Researchers at KAIST have developed a new technology that uses artificial intelligence to solve this process quickly and accurately.
KAIST announced on February 10th that Professor Woo Youn Kim's research team in the Department of Chemistry has developed 'Riemannian DenoisingModel (R-DM),' an artificial intelligence model that understands the physical laws governing molecular stability to predict structures.
The most significant feature of this model is that it directly considers the 'energy' of the molecule. While existing AI models simply mimicked the shape of molecules, R-DM refines the structure by considering the forces acting within the molecule. The research team represented the molecular structure as a map where higher energy is depicted as hills and lower energy as valleys, designing the AI to move toward and find the valleys with the lowest energy.
R-DM completes the molecule by navigating this energy landscape, avoiding unstable structures to find the most stable state. This applies the mathematical theory of 'Riemannian geometry,' resulting in the AI learning the fundamental law of chemistry: 'matter prefers the state with the lowest energy.'
Experimental results showed that R-DM achieved up to 20 times higher accuracy than existing AI models, reducing prediction errors to a level nearly indistinguishable from precise quantum mechanical calculations. This represents the world's highest level of performance among AI-based molecular structure prediction technologies.
<Comparison of energy landscapes in Euclidean space and Riemannian space>
This technology can be utilized in various fields, including new drug development, next-generation battery materials, and high-performance catalyst design. It is expected to serve as an 'AI simulator' that will dramatically speed up research and development by significantly shortening the molecular design process, which previously took a long time. Furthermore, it has great potential in environmental and safety fields, as it can quickly predict chemical reaction paths in situations where experiments are difficult, such as chemical accidents or the spread of hazardous substances.
Professor Woo Youn Kim stated, "This is the first case where artificial intelligence has understood the basic principles of chemistry and judged molecular stability on its own. It is a technology that can fundamentally change the way new materials are developed."
<Image of Riemannian Diffusion Model application (AI-generated image)>
This study was led by Dr. Jeheon Woo from the KISTI Supercomputing Center and Dr. Seonghwan Kim from the KAIST Innovative Drug Discovery Research Group as co-first authors. The research results were published on January 2nd in the world-renowned academic journal Nature Computational Science.
※ Paper Title: Riemannian Denoising Model for Molecular Structure Optimization with Chemical Accuracy, DOI: 10.1038/s43588-025-00919-1
Meanwhile, this research was conducted with the support of the Chemical Accident Prediction-Prevention Advanced Technology Development Project of the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute, the Science and Technology Institute InnoCore Project of the Ministry of Science and ICT, and the Data Science Convergence Talent Cultivation Project conducted by the National Research Foundation of Korea with support from the Ministry of Science and ICT.
2026.02.10 View 678 -
KAIST NYU Host AI Governance Summit in New York
< KAIST Professor Kyung Ryul Park delivering a keynote speech >
KAIST announced on February 9th that the KAIST-NYU AI and Digital Governance Summit, co-hosted with New York University (NYU), was held at NYU in New York from February 6 to 7 (local time). Amid the rapidly expanding impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) across society, this summit was designed to combine private consensus meetings with public discussions to seek practical AI governance solutions that harmonize technological innovation with safety and ethical responsibility.
The summit was attended by 60 global AI governance leaders representing academia, industry, and civil society, including NYU professors Matthew Liao and David Chalmers, Victoria Nash (Director of the Oxford Internet Institute), Professor Vincent Conitzer (Carnegie Mellon University), Iason Gabriel (Principal Scientist at Google DeepMind), and Philip Goldberg (former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea). In particular, the public discussion on the second day drew high interest, with approximately 450 audience members in attendance.
< Brad Carson, U.S. Representative for Responsible Innovation and former U.S. Congressman, delivering a keynote speech >
This event garnered attention as an 'experimental consensus model' aimed at deriving an actionable AI governance framework beyond a simple forum. KAIST’s Global Center for Open Development with Evidence-based Strategies (G-CODEs) and the NYU Center for Bioethics had formed three working groups—Governance Requirements, Institutional Architecture, and Implementation Pathways—since last December to conduct preliminary discussions. At the New York site, practice-oriented recommendations were derived through intensive consensus-style discussions and voting.
In the Governance Requirements session, the need for enhanced oversight and monitoring of high-risk AI systems was discussed. In the ‘Institutional Architecture’ session, principles for designing AI oversight bodies were reviewed, referencing existing high-risk technology oversight models such as the FDA, IRB, and FAA. In the Implementation Pathways session, short-term governance tools and corporate responsibility standards that could be applied even during the current gap in international regulation were addressed as key issues.
Major global Big Tech experts from Meta, Google DeepMind, IBM, Amazon, Anthropic, TikTok and Hugging Face participated in the summit. From KAIST, researchers including Prof. So Young Kim , Prof. Kyung Ryul Park, and Prof. Hyungjun Kim shared Korea’s research achievements in AI governance.his event was conducted with support from the Korea Foundation’s (KF) international collaborative research program.
Professor Kyung Ryul Park of KAIST stated, “This summit was a meaningful attempt to expand AI governance beyond technical regulation into a matter of international cooperation and institutional design. Through the cooperation between KAIST and NYU, we will build a foundation for Korea to lead global AI governance discussions.”
KAIST President Kwang Hyung Lee remarked, “The importance of governance discussions for responsible AI innovation is growing. KAIST will continue to lead interdisciplinary research and policy discussions in the field of AI governance through international partnerships.”
< Sebastien Krier, AI Policy Lead at Google DeepMind, speaking >
2026.02.09 View 548 -
Capturing the Instant of Electrical Switching, Paving the Way for Next-Gen Memory Material Innovation
< (From left) Ph.D candidate Changhwan Kim, Ph.D candidate Seunghwan Kim , Ph.D candidate Namwook Hur, Professor Joonki Suh, Ph. D candidate Youngseok Cho>
As artificial intelligence advances, computers demand faster and more efficient memory. The key to ultra-high-speed, low-power semiconductors lies in the "switching" principle—the mechanism by which memory materials turn electricity on and off. A South Korean research team has successfully captured the elusive moment of switching and its internal operational principles by momentarily melting and freezing materials within a nanoscale electronic device. This study provides a foundational blueprint for designing next-generation memory materials that are faster and consume less power based on fundamental principles.
On February 8th, the research team led by Professor Joonki Suh from our department (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering), in collaboration with Professor Tae-Hoon Lee’s team from Kyungpook National University, announced the development of an experimental technique capable of real-time monitoring of electrical switching processes and phase changes within nano-devices—phenomena that were previously difficult to observe.
To verify the electrical switching, the team applied a method of instantaneous melting followed by rapid cooling (quenching). Through this, they succeeded in stably implementing amorphous tellurium (a-Te)—a state where tellurium is disordered like glass—within a nano-device much smaller than a human hair. Tellurium is typically sensitive to heat and changes properties easily when current is applied; however, in its amorphous state, it is garnering significant attention as a core material for next-generation memory due to its speed and energy efficiency. *Tellurium (Te): A metalloid element possessing properties of both metals and non-metals.
< Illustration of the experiment involving instantaneous melting and freezing in a memory electronic device (AI-generated image) >
Through this study, the team specifically identified the threshold voltage and thermal conditions at which switching begins, as well as the segments where energy loss occurs. Based on these findings, they observed stable and high-speed switching even while reducing heat generation. This enables "principle-based" memory material design, allowing researchers to understand exactly why and when electricity starts to flow.
The results confirmed that microscopic defects within amorphous tellurium play a crucial role in electrical conduction. When the voltage exceeds a certain threshold, the corresponding current does not rise all at once; instead, it follows a two-step switching process: initially, a rapid current increase along the defects occurs primarily during the abrupt electrical switching, followed by heat accumulation that causes the material to melt.
Furthermore, the team successfully implemented a "self-oscillation" phenomenon—where voltage spontaneously increases and decreases—by conducting experiments that maintained the amorphous state without excessive current flow. This demonstrates that stable electrical switching is possible using only the single element of tellurium, without the need for complex material combinations.
< Electrical characteristics of amorphous tellurium created through rapid cooling from a liquid state within an electronic device >
This research is a significant achievement as it implements amorphous tellurium—a next-generation memory material—within an actual electronic device and systematically elucidates the fundamental principles of electrical switching. These findings are expected to serve as essential guidelines for designing semiconductor materials to realize faster and more energy-efficient memory in the future.
"This is the first study to implement amorphous tellurium in a real-world device environment and clarify the switching mechanism," said Professor Joonki Suh. "It sets a new standard for research into next-generation memory and switching materials."
The study, with Namwook Hur as the first author and Seunghwan Kim as the second author, and Professor Joonki Suh (KAIST) as the corresponding author, was published online on January 13th in the international academic journal Nature Communications.
Paper Title: On-device cryogenic quenching enables robust amorphous tellurium for threshold switching
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-68223-0
Meanwhile, this research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) through the PIM (Processor-in-Memory) AI Semiconductor Core Technology Development Project, the Excellent Young Researcher Program funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT, and Samsung Electronics.
2026.02.09 View 425