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President Steve Kang will serve as the Chairman of Global Agenda Council on the Future of Electronics of the World Economic Forum
President Steve Kang of KAIST has been appointed to the Chairman of the Global Agenda Council (GAC) on the Future of Electronics of the World Economic Forum (WEF). He will serve the position for two years until September 2016.
President Kang and WEF council members co-hosted, with the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Future Circles Initiative, a future-focused, innovative brainstorming conference to help find strategies and ideas for the development of UAE. The conference took place on November 11-12, 2014 at the Mina Al Salam Hotel in Dubai.
WEF has about 80 GACs. Each council consists of 15 experts and thought leaders from the academia, industry, government, business, and non-profit sector and deals with specific issues that are important and relevant to the global community such as ageing, artificial intelligence and robotics, brain research, food and nutrition security, education, social media, and future of chemicals, advanced materials and biotechnology.
President Kang was recognized for his contribution to the advancement of science and higher education as an engineer, scholar, and professor. He led the development of the world’s premier CMOS 32-bit microprocessors while working at the AT&T Bell Laboratories. He also taught and conducted research at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. President Kang served as the chancellor of the University of California at Merced from March 2007 to June 2011.
2014.11.11 View 9494 -
KAIST Develops Core Technology to Synthesize a Helical Nanostructure
Professor Dong-Ki Yoon’s research team of the Graduate School of Nanoscience and Technology (GSNT) at KAIST has developed helical nanostructures using self-assembly processes. The results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America(PNAS) on the October 7th.
This technology enables the synthesis of various helical structures on a relatively large confined area. Its synthesis is often considered the most arduous for three dimensional structures. Formed from liquid crystal, the structure holds a regular helical structure within the confined space of 20 to 300 nanometers. Also, the distance between each pattern increased as the diameter of the nanostructure increased.
Liquid crystals have a unique property of responding sensitively to the surrounding electromagnetic field. The technology, in combination with the electromagnetic property of liquid crystal, is expected to foster the development of highly efficient optoelectronic devices.
Using this technology, it is possible to develop three dimensional patterning technology beyond the current semiconductor manufacturing technology which uses two dimensional photolithography processes. Three-dimensional semiconductor devices are expected to store hundred times more data than current devices. They will also lower costs by simplifying manufacturing processes.
The essence of this research, “self-assembly in confined space,” refers to controlling complex nanostructures, which can be synthesized from materials such as macromolecules, liquid crystal molecules, and biomolecules in relation to surrounding environments including the temperature, concentration, and pH.
The research team produced a confined space with a length of tens of nanometers by using a porous anodized aluminum membrane induced from an electrochemical reaction. They successfully synthesized independently controlled helical nanostructures by forming the helical structures from liquid crystal molecules within that space.
Professor Yoon said, “This research examines the physicochemical principle of controlling helical nanostructures.” He highlighted the significance of the research and commented, “The technology enables the control of complex nanostructures from organic molecules by using confined space and surface reforming.”
He added that, “When grafted with nanotechnology or information technology, this technology will spur new growth to liquid crystal-related industries such as the LCD.”
The research was led by two Ph.D. candidates, Hanim Kim and Sunhee Lee, under the guidance of Professor Yoon. Dr. Tae-Joo Shin of the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory, Professor Sang-Bok Lee of the University of Maryland, and Professor Noel Clark of the University of Colorado also participated.
Picture 1. Electron Microscopy Pictures and Conceptual Diagrams of Helical Nanostructures
Picture 2. Electron Microscopy Pictures of Manufactured Helical Nanostructures
2014.10.29 View 9207 -
Wuhan University, China, Appoints Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee as Honorary Professor
Sang Yup Lee, Distinguished Professor of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at KAIST, has been appointed an honorary professor at Wuhan University in Hubei Province, China. This is the third time that Professor Lee has received an honorary professorship from Chinese academic institutions. The Chinese Academy of Sciences appointed him an honorary professor in 2012, and Shanghai Jia Tong University asked him to serve as an advisory professor in 2013, respectively.
Professor Lee was recognized for his pioneering research in systems metabolic engineering of microorganisms necessary for the development of green chemical industries. He succeeded in producing succinic acid through bacterial fermentation and engineering plastic raw materials in the most effective and economical method for the first time in the world. Professor Lee also developed polylactic acid, a bio-based polymer that allows plastics to be produced through natural and renewable resources, as well as the microbial production of alkanes, an alternative to gasoline that can be produced from fatty acids.
Professor Lee has been actively working as a member of a group of global leaders supported by the World Economic Forum (WEF), serving the Chairman of the Future of Chemicals, Advanced Materials & Biotechnology, Global Agenda Councils, WEF.
Wuhan University is a comprehensive and key national university selected by the Chinese government as a major recipient of state funding for research. It is also known as one of the most beautiful campuses in China.
2014.10.20 View 9762 -
An Artist and Scientist, the Dean of Northwestern University speaks at KAIST
How does an abstract artist look at the world of science? Can art enhance scientific inquiry?
The Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (CBE), KAIST, invited Professor Julio Mario Ottino to speak at its fourth Annual KAIST CBE Global Distinguished Lectureship from the 15th to 16th October. Professor Ottino is the Dean of the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University.
Professor Ottino is a famous artist as well as a scientist. He pursues his disciplines in engineering and art as ways by which an artistic value and scientific truth can coexist. By merging these disciplines, he is praised for adopting balanced engineering education that emphasizes analytical skills and creativity at Northwestern University.
The lecture took place over two days. The topic of the first day was “Creativity” and the next day, “Formalism in Science.”
On the first day, Professor Ottino spoke about “Creativity in Science, Art, and Technology -- How art is separated from science.” He argues that as creativity is essential in art, science, and technology, artistic creativity can help develop scientific and technological creativity.
The next lecture featured “Mixing of Fluids and Solids: Parallels, Divergences, and Lessons.”
He emphasized that the birth of mixing of fluids and researches on granular matter and segregation offered valuable insights and lessons. Although these two topics have developed in different ways, he laid down some examples on how scientific theories have progressed under formalism.
2014.10.16 View 8802 -
KAIST and University of California, Santa Cruz, Agree to Cooperate
KAIST and the University of California in Santa Cruz signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at the KAIST campus on October 14, 2014.
The two institutions agreed to cooperate in the following four areas:
- Research collaboration in genomics and biology
- Academic exchanges in engineering and information communication technology
- Student and faculty exchange programs
- Joint academic workshops and seminars
Following the MOU signing ceremony, Dr. George Blumenthal, the Chancellor of UC Santa Cruz, held a special seminar for KAIST students and faculty, during which he shared some of the success stories made through UC Santa Cruz’s close cooperation with companies in Silicon Valley.
President Steve Kang of KAIST praised the MOU saying, “KAIST and UC Santa Cruz have top-notch research professionals, and the MOU will reinforce their research capability. We hope that the two universities will carry out many research projects that bring significant impact on the world.”
UC Santa Cruz was established in 1965 as a public research university committed to undergraduate education. The university has a total student population of 16,000 (15,375 undergraduates and 1,378 graduates). Offering 60 undergraduate majors, UC Santa Cruz's faculty includes six recipients of Pulitzer Prizes and five MacArthur Genius Awards. The university was ranked the 2nd in the world for research influence in 2012-2013 Times Higher Education rankings.
2014.10.15 View 8663 -
Thomson Reuters Nominates Distinguished Professor Ryong Ryoo for Its 2014 Nobel Citation Laureates in Chemistry
The Intellectual Property & Science business of Thomson Reuters announced on September 25th its “2014 Citation Laureates,” a list of candidates considered likely to win the Nobel Prize in the fields of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, and economics. The annual Thomson Reuters Citation Laureates will be recognized in perpetuity as contenders for a Nobel Prize.
Distinguished Professor Ryong Ryoo of the Department of Chemistry, KAIST, has been nominated for the 2014 Thomson Reuters Citation Laureates in Chemistry. He is the first Korean scientist who has made the list. In addition to Professor Ryoo, seven other scientists were selected as possible contenders for the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, or in the future.
Professor Ryoo was named alongside Charles T. Kresge, Chief Technology Officer of Saudi Aramco, Dhahran, and Galen D. Stucky, Professor of the Department Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, Santa Barbara, for their research on the design of functional mesoporous materials (http://sciencewatch.com/nobel/2014-predictions/chemistry-laureates). Mesoporous materials have high surface areas with narrow pore-sized distribution and tunable pores diameters, offering promising properties and applications in various areas including adsorption, separation, sensing, and catalysis.
Professor Ryoo has focused his research interest in the synthesis of new functional nanoporous materials such as hierarchical zeolites, mesoporous silicas, carbons, and organic-inorganic composite materials that can be used for advanced applications in the production of alternative energy sources and in green chemical processes.
According to the press release by the Thomson Reuters, the list of the 2014 Nobel predictions includes 27 researchers representing 27 distinct academic and research organizations across nine different countries.
The annual Thomson Reuters Citation Laureates study is based on the analysis of proprietary data from the research and citation database, identifying the most influential researchers in the categories of chemistry, physics, physiology or medicine, and economics. Since its inception in 2002, the study has accurately forecasted 35 Nobel Prize winners. For the full text of the press release, please go to: http://thomsonreuters.com/press-releases/092014/2014-nobel-laureates-predictions.
2014.09.29 View 12039 -
President of KAIST Becomes an International Board Member of Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in Russia
President Sung-Mo “Steve” Kang of KAIST has been appointed a member of the International Board of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) in 2014, a leading Russian university specializing in theoretical and applied physics, mathematics, and related science and technology disciplines.
President Kang is the only scientist from Asia to become the latest member of the MIPT International Board. Consisting of 11 highly regarded scientists and scholars from all around the world, such as Professor Carlo Rubbia, a Nobel laureate in physics in 1984, President Alexander F. Andreev of the Kapitsa Institute for Physical Problems, President Ralph Eichler of the Zurich Federal Institute of Technology, and President Jaques Biot of the École Polytechnique Paris. Currently, President Leo Rafael Raif of MIT chairs the Board.
MIPT created the International Board (http://mipt.ru/en/about/general/international-board/) in 2013 to promote collaboration in international research and educational programs as well as to enhance its global visibility in the international community.
MIPT was established in 1946 by a group of prominent Soviet scientists including Pyotr Kapitsa, a Nobel laureate in physics in 1978, and was approved later in 1951 by the government of the former Soviet Union as a state university. Often referred as the “Russian MIT,” MIPT has earned international and domestic recognition through its unique educational system, providing students with opportunities for rigorous education in fundamental science and extensive research at leading research institutions of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
2014.09.28 View 6954 -
Ultra-high Resolution 2-dimentional Real-time Image Capture with Super Lens
Ultra-high Resolution 2-dimentional Real-time Image Capture with Super Lens
Applications to high-precision semiconductor processing or intracellular structures observation are possible.
A joint research team led by Professors Yongkeun Park and Yong-Hoon Cho from the Department of Physics, KAIST, has succeeded in capturing real-time 2D images at a resolution of 100 nm (nanometers), which was impossible with optical lens due to the diffraction limit of light until now. Its future application includes high-precision semiconductor manufacturing process or observation of intracellular structures.
This research follows the past research of the super-lens developed by Professor Park last April, using paint spray to observe images that have three times higher resolution than those discovered by conventional optical lens.
Since optical lens utilize the refraction of light, the diffraction limit, which prevents achieving focus smaller than the wavelength of light, has always been a barrier for acquiring high-resolution images. In the past, it was impossible to observe objects less than the size of 200 to 300 nm in the visible light spectrum.
In order to solve the problem of near-field extinction due to scattering of light, the research team used spray paint consisting of nano-particles massed with dense scattering materials to obtain high-resolution information.
Then, by calculating and restoring the first scattering shape of light using the time reversibility of light, the researchers were able to overcome the diffraction limit. The original position of an object to be observed is obtained by deriving the complex trajectory of the light, and reversing the time to locate the particular position of the object.
Professor Park said, “This new technology can be used as the core technology in all fields which require optical measurement and control. The existing electron microscopy cannot observe cells without destroying them, but the new technology allows us to visualize at ultra-high resolution without destruction.”
The research results were published online in the 9th edition of Physical Review Letters, a prestigious international journal in the field of physics.
2014.09.23 View 10266 -
Development of a Photonic Diode with Light Speed, Single-Direction Transfer
A photonic diode using a nitride semiconductor rod can increase the possibility of developing all-optical integrated circuits, an alternative to conventional integrated circuits.
Professor Yong-Hoon Cho's research team from the Department of Physics, KAIST, developed a photonic diode which can selectively transfer light in one way, using semiconductor rods.
The photonic diode has a diameter of hundreds of nanometers (nm) and a length of few micrometers. This size enables its use in large-scale integration (LSI). The diode’s less sensitivity towards polarized light angle makes it more useful.
In an integrated circuit, a diode controls the flow of electrons. If this diode controls light rather than electrons, data can be transferred at high speed, and its loss is minimized to a greater extent. Since these implementations conserve more energy, this is a very promising future technology.
However, conventional electronic diodes, made up of asymmetric meta-materials or photonic crystalline structures, are large, which makes them difficult to be used in LSI. These diodes could only be implemented under limited conditions due to its sensitivity towards polarized light angle.
The research team used nitride semiconductor rods to develop a highly efficient photonic diode with distinct light intensities from opposite ends.
The semiconductor rod yields different amount of energy horizontally. According to the research team, this is because the width of the quantum well and its indium quantity is continuously controlled.
Professor Cho said, "A large energy difference in a horizontal direction causes asymmetrical light propagation, enabling it to be operated as a photonic diode." He added that “If light, instead of electrons, were adopted in integrated circuits, the transfer speed would be expected as great as that of light.”
The research findings were published in the September 10th issue of Nano Letters as the cover paper.
Under the guidance of Professor Cho, two Ph.D. candidates, Suk-Min Ko and Su-Hyun Gong, conducted this research. This research project was sponsored by the National Research Foundation of Korea and KAIST’s EEWS (energy, environment, water, and sustainability) Research Center.
Figure Description: Computer simulated image of photonic diode made of semiconductor rod implemented in an all-optical integrated circuit
2014.09.23 View 11667 -
Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee Gives Special Lecture at Tianjin University, China
Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at KAIST gave a special lecture at Tianjin University, China, on September 12, 2014.
The university has invited prestigious scholars and scientists including Nobel Prize laureates from all around the world to their program called the "BeiYang Lecture Series."
Professor Lee said:
"The lecture series has invited many eminent global leaders such as Dr. Steven Chu, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997 and also served the 12th United States Secretary of Energy. It is a great honor to participate in the program as a speaker. The university told me that in recognition of my research in the development of sustainable biochemical industry through systems metabolic engineering, I was invited to speak.”
Professor Lee presented his speech entitled “Production of Chemical Materials through Microorganism Metabolic Systems Engineering” and took questions from the audience.
Professor Lee developed the world’s most efficient microorganism and bioprocess such as succinate, butanol, and engineering plastic raw materials. In recent years, he has succeeded in producing a small quantity of gasoline through converting in-vivo generated fatty acids.
2014.09.16 View 9684 -
The Alumni Association of KAIST hosts the first KAIST Technology Exchange Meeting
The Alumni Association of KAIST hosted the first KAIST Technology Exchange Meeting on September 12th at the KAIST Institute on campus.
About 14 alumni companies, MDS Technology, Biospace, and Satrec Initiative, two private equity funds including KAIST Entrepreneurship Foundation, and KAIST Technology Commercialization Center participated in this meeting.
This meeting was organized by the Alumni Association of KAIST in order to strengthen cooperation between alumni companies and KAIST members by increasing technology exchange and fostering cooperative culture.
The meeting comprised of two sessions: product exhibition and technology-exchange session.
During the exhibition, participating companies prepared the following: product showcase, intellectual property exchange, project consulting, and employment information.
Companies involved in technology-exchange session not only showcased their brand new technology but also shared their innovative ideas and entrepreneur vision, and discussed joint R&D.
The president of the Alumni Association of KAIST, Man Kee Baek who was in charge of this meeting said, “I hope this meeting stimulates more technology exchange between alumni companies and school members.”
He added that “our alumni association will continue to organize many projects for better KAIST.”
Detailed information about the event can be found on the official webpage of the Alumni Association of KAIST (http://www.ilovekaist.net), and this event was open to the public.
A company specializing in medical devices, Biospace, plans to donate a body composition analyzer and an automatic blood pressure meter worth 14,000,000 won to KAIST.
2014.09.15 View 7039 -
Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee Participates in the 2014 Summer Davos Forum
Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, KAIST, was invited to lead four sessions at the Annual Meeting 2014, the World Economic Forum, also known as the Summer Davos Forum, which was held in Tianjin, China, from September 10th to 12th.
Two of the four sessions Professor Lee participated in were held on September 10th. At the first session entitled “Biotechnology Ecosystem,” he examined with other panelists the future of bioengineering in depth and discussed major policies and industry trends that will be necessary for the development of future biotechnologies.
Professor Lee later attended the “Strategic Shifts in Healthcare” session as a moderator. Issues related to transforming the health industry such as the next-generation genomics, mobile health and telemedicine, and wearable devices and predictive analytics were addressed.
On September 12, Professor Lee joined the “IdeasLab with KAIST” and gave a presentation on nanotechnology. There was a total of ten IdeasLab sessions held at the Summer Davos Forum, and KAIST was the only Korean university ever invited to host this session. In addition to Professor Lee’s presentation, three more presentations were made by KAIST professors on such topics as “Sustainable Energy and Materials” and “Next-generation Semiconductors.”
Lastly, Professor Lee participated in the “Global Promising Technology” session with the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council members. At this session, he explained the selection of the “World’s Top 10 Most Promising Technologies” and “Bio Sector’s Top 10 Technologies” and led discussions about the “2015 Top 10 Technologies” with the council members.
The Davos Forum has been announcing the “World’s Top 10 Most Promising Technologies” since 2012, and Professor Lee has played a key role in the selection while working as the Chairman of Global Agenda Council. The selection results are presented at the Davos Forum every year and have attracted a lot of attention from around the world.
2014.09.15 View 12328