Science
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A graduate-level education for working professionals in science programs and exhibitions will be available from mid-August this year.
The Graduate School of Culture Technology (GSCT), KAIST, has created a new course for professionals who purse their career in science programs and exhibitions, which will start on August 19 and continue through the end of November 2010. The course will be held at Digital Media City in Seoul.
The course, also co-sponsored by National Science Museum, will offer students tuition-free opportunities to brush up their knowledge on the administration, policy, culture, technology, planning, contents development, and technology & design development, of science programs and exhibitions. Such subjects as science contents, interaction exhibitions, and utilization of new media will be studied and discussed during the course. Students will also have a class that is interactive, engaging, and visual, as well as provides hands-on learning activities.
A total of 30 candidates will be chosen for the course. Eligible applicants are graduates with a B.S. degree in the relevant filed, science program designers and exhibitors, curators for science and engineering museums, and policy planners for public and private science development programs.
2010.08.12 View 11029 -
The 6th president of KAIST passed away on May 7, 2010.
Dr. Sang-Soo Lee was the first president of Korea Advanced Institute of Science (KAIS) and the 6th president of KAIST, who died of a chronic disease at the age of 85. The KAIS was the matrix of KAIST today. Graduated from the physics department of Seoul National University in 1949, he later received a doctoral degree in optics from Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London.
Dr. Lee has greatly contributed to the development of science and technology in Korea in the capacity of a policy administrator, educator, scientist, researcher, and engineer. He held numerous prestigious offices including President of Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute in 1967, of KAIS in 172, and of KAIST in 1989. Dr. Lee also worked as a professor at the physics department of KAIST for 20 years from 1972-1992.
The Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE), an international society for optics and photonics, was founded in 1955 to advance light-based technologies. Dr. Sang-Soo Lee was a member of the SPIE that issued a news release expressing its sincere condolences to his death. The following is the full text of the news release: http://spie.org/x40527.xml
In memoriam: Sang Soo Lee
10 May 2010
Sang Soo Lee, known as the "Father of Optics" in Korea passed away on May 7, 2010, in Korea. He was 84.
Lee received a B.S. in Physics from Seoul National University in Korea and a Ph.D. from Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London, UK. Receiving the first Ph.D. in Optics in Korea, Dr. Lee devoted his life to lay the foundation for optical science and engineering for more than four decades as an educator, researcher, and administrator in science policy.
"He was one of the architects of the extraordinary and rapid emergence of Korea as a world leader in science and technology, or perhaps with the rich history of contributions centuries ago, re-emergence would be more appropriate." said Eugene G. Arthurs, SPIE Executive Director.
During his teaching career, Dr. Lee mentored 50 doctoral and more than 100 masters" degree candidates. in the areas of laser physics, wave optics, and quantum optics. Many of his former students have become leaders in academia, government-funded research institutes, and industry both in Korea and abroad. He published more than 250 technical papers and authored five textbooks, including "Wave Optics", "Geometrical Optics", "Quantum Optics", and "Laser Speckles and Holography".
Lee was the first president of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), and the first president to establish a new government funded graduate school. He played a pivotal role in founding the Optical Society of Korea (OSK) in 1989 and served as its first president.
Lee was an active member of the international scientific community. In addition to his pioneering scholastic achievements at KAIST, he served as the Vice President of the International Commission for Optics (ICO), a Council Member of the Third World Academy of Sciences, and a Council Member of UN University, serving as an ambassador for the optics community, which showed a significant example of how a developing country like Korea can serve international optics community.
Dr. Lee was a Fellow of the International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE), the Optical Society of America (OSA), and the Korean Physical Society (KPS). He was the recipient of many awards and honors, including the National Order of Civil Merit that is the Presidential Medal of Honor from the Republic of Korea (2000), the Songgok Academic Achievement Prize, the Presidential Award for Science, and the Medal of Honor for Distinguished Scientific Achievement in Korea. In 2006, he was awarded OSA"s Esther Hoffman Beller Medal.
2010.05.19 View 12806 -
Professor Eun-Seong Kim and his research staff observed the phenomena of hysteresis and relaxation dynamics from supersolid Helium
Professor Eun-Seong Kim and his research staff observed the phenomena of hysteresis and relaxation dynamics from supersolid Helium.
Their research paper was published in Nature Physics for the issue of April 2010.
If we take Helium 4 and cool it down at temperatures below 2.176 Kelivin, liquid helium 4 undergoes a phase transition and becomes superfluid with a zero viscosity. The superfluidity was observed in solid helium through an experiment performed by researchers of Pennsylvania State University in 2004. One of the researchers then was Professor Eun-Seong Kim in the Department of Physics, KAIST.
Professor Kim and his research staff, Hyung-Soon Choi, Ph.D., recently published their research results in Nature Physics (April 2010), a highly esteemed journal in the field, on the phenomena of hysteresis and relaxation dynamics observed in supersolid Helium.
For the paper, please download the attached .pdf file.
Nature Physics link: http://www.nature.com
2010.04.13 View 11986 -
New Text Book on Chemistry Published by KAIST Professor and Student
A chemistry textbook written in English and Korean will aid Korean students to learn General Chemistry in a global academic setting.
Korean students majoring in chemistry and looking for an opportunity to study abroad will have a new, handy textbook that presents them with a practical introduction to an English speaking lecture on general chemistry.
Aiming for advanced Korean high school and college/university students, the inter-language textbook is written by two incumbent professors teaching chemistry at a university in Korea and the US. The book will help Korean students prepare for a classroom where various topics of general chemistry are presented and discussed in English. Clear, collated sections of English and Korean text provide the student with sufficient explanation of the rudimentary topics and concepts.
Composed of 15 chapters on the core subjects of General Chemistry, i.e., Stoichiometry and Chemical Reactions, Thermochemistry, Atomic Structure, and Bonding, the textbook includes essential English vocabulary and usage sections for each chapter; it also contains a pre-reading study guide on the subject that prepares the student for listening to a lecture. This section includes view-graph type slides, audio files, and follow-up questions the student can use to prepare for an English-speaking course. The various accompanying audio files are prepared to expose the student to English scientific dialogue and serve as examples for instruction at Korean secondary and tertiary schools.
The book was coauthored by Korean and American scientists: A father and son, who have taught chemistry at an American and Korean university, wrote the book. Professor Melvyn R. Churchill at the State University of New York at Buffalo and Professor David G. Churchill at KAIST prepared all of the technical English text which was adapted from General Chemistry course lecture notes; the text was further shaped by original perspectives arising from many student interactions and questions.
This English text was translated into Korean by Professor Kwanhee Lee from the Department of Life and Food Science at Handong Global University, who coauthored a previous preparatory book for Korean students in a different subject. He also supplied an important introductory section which serves as a general guide to the classroom student. Kibong Kim, a doctoral student in the Department of Chemistry at KAIST, helped in preparing the book as well.
“This has been definitely a collaborative undertaking with an international academic crew and it underscores that the Korean internationalization in science is mainstream. Professors and a Korean student created a new book for Korean consumption and benefit,” Professor David G. Churchill says.
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Bibliography: “How to Prepare for General Chemistry Taught in English” by David George Churchill, Melvyn Rowen Churchill, Kwanhee Lee & Kibong Kim, Darakwon Publishing, Paju, Republic of Korea, 2010, 400 pp, ISBN 978-89-5995-730-9 (1 Audio CD included)
2010.04.02 View 13514
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KAIST offers a new course on three-dimensional movies.
Registration for the class ends on February 18, 2010.
The Graduate School of Culture Technology (GSCT) at KAIST created a special class entitled “Master Class for Three-Dimensional (3D) Film Production.” Applications for the class will be accepted by Thursday, February 18, 2010.
The latest 3D movie, AVATAR, has become very popular upon its release in late 2009: An overwhelming visual and sensory experience provided by a 3D technology gave viewers real life feelings about a virtual reality built in the movie. People can almost reach out and touch an explosion, components of machines, and aliens appeared on the screen.
“In response to growing interests in 3D movies, KAIST GSCT established a special session to teach students an overall process of 3D film production,” said Kwang-Yeon Won, Dean of GSTC. He also stressed that the 3D technology would serve as catalysts in developing the next generation of visual industry in the 21st century.
“We have actively engaged in the development of 3D core technology and application contents. This class will be the first of our initiatives to launch a series of educational programs on 3D technology.”
The class offers a complete road of 3D film production: an overview of stereography for 3D movies from planning, shooting, to post production. Many of film professionals (i.e., Director Yang-Hyun Choi and Shooting Director Byung-Il Kim), who are currently working in the field, will join the class so that students can have an opportunity to learn all ends of 3D film industry, both in terms of theoretical knowledge and practical work experience.
The class is open to undergraduate/graduate students and to the public. For details, please refer to the website of http://ct.kaist.ac.kr/stereoclass2010 or call at 02-380-3698 (Industry-University Research Collaboration Center at KAIST Graduate School of Culture Technology).
2010.02.17 View 10468
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KAIST Research Team Identified Promising New Source to Obtain Stem Cells
KAIST Research Team Identified Promising New Source to Obtain Stem Cells
A research team at KAIST led by Professor Gou-Young Koh, M.D. and Ph.D., of the Department of Biological Sciences, has found evidence that fat tissue, known as adipose tissue, may be a promising new source of valuable and easy-to-obtain regenerative cells called hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs).
HSPCs are adult stem cells that have the ability to generate and develop into many different kinds of cells. They are now used to repair damaged tissues and are being studied for their potential to treat a vast array of chronic and degenerative conditions such as leukemia. Mostly found in bone marrow but with a limited quantity, HSPCs are hard to cultivate in vitro, thus becoming an obstacle to use them for research and therapeutic purposes.
Within the adipose tissue is a special cell population known as the stromal vascular fraction (SVF), which share similar properties to those in the bone marrow. Cells in the bone marrow and SVF have the ability to differentiate into several cell types. In addition, both adipose and bone marrow offer similar environments for optimal stem cell growth and reproduction.
Given the fact that adipose and bone marrow tissues share similar properties, Dr. Koh and his team conducted a research, injecting granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), a growth hormone used to encourage the development of stem cells, into an adipose tissue of a mouse whose bone marrow is damaged. As a result, the team has found that the SVF derived from adipose tissue contains functional HSPCs capable of generating hematopoietic (blood-forming) cells to repair the damaged bone morrow.
The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology nominated the KAIST research as one of its sponsoring 21st Century Frontier R&D Programs. Director Dong-Wook Kim of Stem Cell Research Center (SCRS) that oversees the KAIST team expressed a possibility to use the adipose tissue as an alternative source to obtain stem cells for regeneration medicine.
Dr. Koh also said, “It’s been a well known method to extract HSPCs from the bone morrow or blood, but it’s the first time to identify adipose tissue, before considered useless, as a new possible supplier for functional and transplantable HSPCs.”
The study results have received an important recognition from the academia—the American Society of Hematology published the research as a main article in its official journal, Blood, for the February 4th, 2010 issue, which is the most citied peer-reviewed publication in the field.
2010.02.05 View 11665
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Int'l Telematic Music Concert for Peace to Take Place on Nov. 20
Renowned musicians in five international locations perform new contemporary music works for peace through a real-time performance on the internet. Local audiences in Seoul, Banff, New York, San Diego and Belfast will also have a chance to hear a program.
In Seoul, the "International Telematic Music Concert for Peace" will be held at the LeeHaeRang Art Theater, Dongguk University, in Seoul on Nov. 20 at 9:30 a.m., under the presentation of KAIST"s Graduate School of Culture Technology and MARTE Lab, Dongguk University. Telematic music is real-time performance via the internet by musicians in different geographic locations.
The program of the concert includes "Hope"s Dream" by Mark Dresser and Sarah Weaver; "Disparate Bodies" by Pedro Rebelo, "Rock, Paper, Scissors" by Chris Chafe. The Korean act to be performed is "Green-colored Harmony" by Jun Kim.
In addition to the two Korean universities, the World Association of Former United Nations Internes and Fellows (WAFUNIF), University of California San Diego, the Banff Center of Canada and Queen"s University in Belfast are participating in the project.
The performance will take place on high-bandwidth internet with JackTrip audio software developed by Chris Chafe and Access Grid video software developed at Argonne National Laboratory.
"Connecting the five different cities together through super-speed Internet network and transmitting sound and images in real time is challenging technically. But, we also expect that more exciting results will be created in the course of transforming the sound into visual images," said Woon-Seung Yeo, a professor of the Graduate School of Culture Technology, who was responsible for visuals in the project.
2009.11.19 View 12414 -
Prof. Ryoo's Team Discovers Breakthrough Method to Create New Zeolite
A group of scientists led by Prof. Ryong Ryoo of the Department of Chemistry, KAIST, has found a method to direct the growth of zeolite, a crystalline substance that is frequently used as catalyst in the chemical and petrochemical industries, the university authorities said on Thursday (Sept. 10).
Ryoo"s research team successfully created ultrathin nano-sheets, only two nano-meters thick, that are efficiently used as long-life catalysts for hydrocarbon cracking and other petrochemical applications. The breakthrough finding, which is credited with taking acidic zeolite catalysts to the limit in terms of thickness, was published in the latest edition of the peer-review journal, "Nature."
A team from the Polytechnic Univeristy of Valencia, Spain, also contributed to the research.
Zeolites are already widely used in the petrochemical industry, but making the catalysts very thin means that reactant molecules can easily diffuse into the zeolite structure and product molecules can get out quickly. This improves the efficiency of the catalyst and reduces unwanted side reactions that can produce polymeric hydrocarbon "coke" that clogs the zeolite pores and eventually kills the catalytic activity, Prof. Yoo said.
To make the thin sheets, Ryoo and his team used a surfactant as a template to direct the growth of the zeolite structure. The surfactant molecule has a polar "head" group - with two quaternary ammonium groups around which the aluminosilicate zeolite crystal grows - and a long hydrocarbon "tail," which prevents the sheets from aggregating together into larger, three dimensional crystals. When the surfactant is removed, these flakes pile up randomly with gaps in between which further aids diffusion to the catalyst sites.
"Zeolite could be used as a catalyst to convert heavy oil into gasoline. Our new zeolite could provide even more possibilities, such as being used as catalysts for transforming methanol into gasline," Ryoo said.
Prof. Ryoo, a Distinguished Professor of KAIST, has won a variety of academic awards, which included the Top Scientist Award given by the Korean government in 2005 and the 2001 KOSEF Science and Technology Award for his work on the synthesis and crystal structure of mezzoporous silica.
Ryoo obtained his bachelor"s degree from Seoul National University in 1977, master"s from KAIST in 1979, and doctorate from Stanford University in 1985.
In 2006, Ryoo and his research team announced the discovery of a form of zeolite that can catalyze petrochemical reactions much more effectively than previous zeolites. Because of the potential of this to streamline the gasoline refining process, it was greeted as a "magical substance" by the South Korean press.
2009.09.11 View 11801 -
Scaling Laws between Population and Facility Densities Found
A research team led by Prof. Ha-Woong Jeong of the Department of Physics, KAIST, has found a positive correlation between facilities and population densities, university authorities said on Tuesday (Sept. 2). The research was conducted in the cooperation with a research team of Prof. Beom-Jun Kim at Sungkyunkwan University.
The researchers investigated the ideal relation between the population and the facilities within the framework of an economic mechanism governing microdynamics.
In previous studies based on the global optimization of facility positions in minimizing the overall travel distance between people and facilities, the relation between population and facilities should follow a simple law. The new empirical analysis, however, determined that the law is not a fixed value but spreads in a broad range depending on facility types.
To explain this discrepancy, the researchers proposed a model based on economic mechanism that mimics the competitive balance between the profit of the facilities and the social opportunity cost for population.
The results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States on Aug. 25.
2009.09.04 View 11983
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KAIST Prof. Park Selected as Winner of Clemson Award
Professor Tae-Gwan Park of the Department of Biological Sciences, KAIST, was chosen as the winner of the 2009 Clemson Award for Fundamental Research, university authorities said on Tuesday (April 7).
The award is the highest recognition of the Society for Biomaterials, an international organization of more than 3,000 members that promotes research in the field of biomaterials. Prof. Park is cited for his outstanding achievements in interdisciplinary research covering gene transferring, gene therapy and neogenesis. It is rare for a non-U.S. national to win the prize in the 36-year history of the award.
The award will be given to Professor Park at the Annual Meeting of the society which will be held in San Antonio, Texas, on April 22.
2009.04.09 View 11758 -
Prof. Song Develops Nano-Structure to Enhance Power of Rechargeable Lithium-ion Battery
A team of scientists led by Prof. Hyun-Joon Song of the Department of Chemistry, KAIST, developed a nano-structure that could increase the power of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, university sources said on Monday (Feb. 16).
The research team found that a nano-structured material using copper oxide (CuO) could produce lithium-ion batteries with some 50 percent more capacity than conventional products. The study was published in the online edition of peer-review journal Advanced Materials.
In rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, lithium ions move between the battery"s anode and cathode. The high-energy density of the batteries led to their common use in consumer electronics products, expecially portable devices. Their demand in automotive and aerospace applications is growing, and nano-structured, or nano-enabled batteries are emerging as the new generation of lithium-ion batteries for their edge in recharging time, capacity and battery life.
Graphite has been a popular material for cathodes in lithium-ion batteries. However, graphite cathodes are also blamed for lost capacity due to their consumption of lithium ions, which are linked to shorter battery life.
As such, scientists have been looking for materials that could replace graphite in cathodes, and silicon and metal oxide have been studied as possible alternatives.
2009.02.17 View 11274
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Two KAIST Professors Elected Fellows of APS
Profs. Sung-Chul Shin and Chang-Hee Nam of the Department of Physics, KAIST, have recently been elected the 2009 fellows of the American Physical Society (APS), university officials said on Tuesday (Dec. 2).
The APS fellowship is a prestigious recognition of the two professors" outstanding academic achievements in the field of physics, the officials said. The selection criteria are known to be extremely stringent and only a small fraction of APS members become fellows.
Prof. Shin was cited for his pioneering contributions to the understanding of magnetization reversal dynamics, in particular critical scaling behavior of Barkhausen avalanches of 2D ferromagnets, and discovery of novel magnetic thin films and multilayers for high-density data storage.
Prof. Nam was recognized for his contributions to the theory and experiments of physical processes of high harmonic generation for the development of attosecond coherent x-ray sources and related femtosecond laser technology.
The American Physical Society, founded in 1899, is the world"s second largest organization of physicists, behind the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. It has 46,000 members across the world.
2008.12.04 View 13167