Myung-Ja+Kim
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Five Prominent Figures Appointed as KAIST Admission Officers
KAIST appointed five celebrated figures including Seung Park, former Bank of Korea governor, as admission officers on May 15, university authorities said on Thursday (May 14).
The four others are Moon-Soul Chung, founder and former CEO of Mirae Corp., who is well known as the first-generation venture entrepreneur in Korea; In-ho Lee, former Korean ambassador to Russia; Myung-ja Kim, former minister of environment; and former KAIST President Chang-sun Hong who was a National Assemblyman.
Their appointment is designed to guarantee transparency and fairness in a new undergraduate admission system. KAIST has decided to select. 150 freshmen from among 1,000 students recommended by the principals of as many general high schools across the country. The five special admission officers will participate in interviewing the recommended students. The new screening system which is introduced to broaden the field of applicants to graduates from schools other than science high schools will be implemented from the next school year.
The newly appointed admission officers will have orientation sessions on May 28-29 and then visit high schools nationwide to interview the recommended students in June and July.
KAIST set off a new trend in the admission process when President Nam-Pyo Suh announced in March that 150 students, or about 16 percent of the freshmen enrollment, would be recruited from regular high schools solely on the basis of their principals" recommendation and interview results in March.
Award-winning records at math or science competitions will not be put into account in admissions to prevent after-school tutoring aimed at winning such contests. Unveiling the new admission plan, President Suh said, "We expect the principals to recommend students with special talents or potential rather than high grades."
Established under a special law in 1971, KAIST is given full liberty to recruit freshmen students in whatever method it deems right, without being required to use the scholastic ability test scores of applicants as the basic criteria.
The socially respected admission officers will single out 300 from among the 1,000 recommended students for further review. Out of the 300, the final 150 students will be chosen through in-depth interviews by KAIST professors.
"Through years of receiving principal"s recommendations and judging the academic records of the recommended students at KAIST, we can accumulate a database on high schools nationwide. If a student from a certain high school turns out to be no good, we might not pick any more student from that school," Suh said.
Over 80 percent of students admitted to KAIST this year were graduates of elite institutions, mostly science high schools. Only 20 percent came from regular high schools. Ten percent of the 150 additional openings for regular high school graduates will be alloted to students from rural areas and another 10 percent to low-income households.
"A certain high school was not able to send even a single student to KAIST for the last 10 years. I"m sure there are talented students in that school. If we give the school a chance, it wil help improve the education environment in this country," Suh said.
2009.05.22 View 11578 -
Int'l Conference for Integration of Science & Technology into Society Opens
The 2008 International Conference for the Integration of Science and Technology into Society (ICISTS-KAIST) opened a four-day meeting on Tuesday (July 15) at Daejeon KAIST campus. The conference is an annual event organized by a group of KAIST undergraduate students.
The fifth-year gathering is designed to provide participants with an opportunity to broaden their scientific perspectives by sharing ideas and experiences in related topics, as well as building an international human network. This year"s event has drawn about 200 students from 40 countries.
The centerpiece of the conference is three workshops on the following themes; Human-Robot Symbiotic Society, Neo-brain Science and Trafficmatics. Myung-Ja Kim, former Korean Environment Minister, will appear as a keynote speaker.
In the workshop sessions, two speakers will discuss specific issues and arrive at a tentative conclusion. Participants will have the opportunity to participate in the debate through Q&A for each session.
The first theme "Human-Robot Symbiotic Society" delves into the current trend that robot is being transformed into a perceivable and touchable concept from an abstract one. Guests for the workship include June-Ho Oh, professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, KAIST; James Dater, professor at the Department of Political Science, University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Director of the Hawaii Research Center for Future; Michael Pollitt, CEO of Shadow Robot Company; and Steven Dubowsky, professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT.
The second theme "Neo-Brain Science" focuses on attempts to shed light on brain from diverse perspectives including psychology, economics and art. Among invited speakers are Prof. Jai-Seung Jung at the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, KAIST; Prof. Un-Jung Kang at the University of Chicago Medical Center; and Peter Geyer, a consultant for the Association for Psychological Type.
The third workshop on "Traffimatics" will deal with "intelligent transport systems (ITS)" which will discusst new paradigm in transportation policy and traffic engineering. On the list of speakers are Assaf Biderman, assistant director, SENSEable City Laboratory, MIT; Prof. Richard Tay, at the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Calgary; Prof. Shoshi Mizokami at Kumamoto University; and Ho-Jong Baik, research associate professor of Virginia Tech.
2008.07.16 View 17276