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"KAIST Day" at the Korean Baseball League: Hanwha Eagles Home Game
KAIST is out to promote school spirit and to strengthen the communication with Daejeon citizens.
KAIST’s Graduate Student Union held “KAIST Day” by supporting a baseball game between the Lotte Giants and Hanwha Eagles, a home team of Daejeon City, on June 26, 2014 at Daejeon Baseball Stadium.
Marking the third KAIST Day this year, the event has been organized to provide graduate students with opportunities to leave their labs and enjoy a moment of relaxation, such as watching baseball games.
The event began with an opening ceremony, followed by the main baseball game. The KAIST cheering squad, ELKA, held a pregame performance to root for a home-team victory. KAIST President Steve Kang and Sin-Yeong Kim, a master’s student at KAIST, threw the first pitch to celebrate KAIST Day.
Picture below:
President Steve Kang, Mia Kang, and graduate students cheering at the Hanwha Eagles' home team baseball game on June 26, 2014 at Daejeon Baseball Stadium
2014.07.02 View 7012 -
The First Demonstration of a Self-powered Cardiac Pacemaker
As the number of pacemakers implanted each year reaches into the millions worldwide, improving the lifespan of pacemaker batteries has been of great concern for developers and manufacturers. Currently, pacemaker batteries last seven years on average, requiring frequent replacements, which may pose patients to a potential risk involved in medical procedures.
A research team from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), headed by Professor Keon Jae Lee of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at KAIST and Professor Boyoung Joung, M.D. of the Division of Cardiology at Severance Hospital of Yonsei University, has developed a self-powered artificial cardiac pacemaker that is operated semi-permanently by a flexible piezoelectric nanogenerator.
The artificial cardiac pacemaker is widely acknowledged as medical equipment that is integrated into the human body to regulate the heartbeats through electrical stimulation to contract the cardiac muscles of people who suffer from arrhythmia. However, repeated surgeries to replace pacemaker batteries have exposed elderly patients to health risks such as infections or severe bleeding during operations.
The team’s newly designed flexible piezoelectric nanogenerator directly stimulated a living rat’s heart using electrical energy converted from the small body movements of the rat. This technology could facilitate the use of self-powered flexible energy harvesters, not only prolonging the lifetime of cardiac pacemakers but also realizing real-time heart monitoring.
The research team fabricated high-performance flexible nanogenerators utilizing a bulk single-crystal PMN-PT thin film (iBULe Photonics). The harvested energy reached up to 8.2 V and 0.22 mA by bending and pushing motions, which were high enough values to directly stimulate the rat’s heart.
Professor Keon Jae Lee said:
“For clinical purposes, the current achievement will benefit the development of self-powered cardiac pacemakers as well as prevent heart attacks via the real-time diagnosis of heart arrhythmia. In addition, the flexible piezoelectric nanogenerator could also be utilized as an electrical source for various implantable medical devices.”
This research result was described in the April online issue of Advanced Materials (“Self-Powered Cardiac Pacemaker Enabled by Flexible Single Crystalline PMN-PT Piezoelectric Energy Harvester”: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.201400562/abstract).
Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWYT2cU_Mog&feature=youtu.be
Picture Caption: A self-powered cardiac pacemaker is enabled by a flexible piezoelectric energy harvester.
2014.06.25 View 15763 -
Professor Sang Ouk Kim Receives the "Scientist of the Month Award" from the Korean Government
Professor Sang Ouk Kim of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, KAIST, received the Scientist of the Month Award in June 2014 for his development of a fundamental technology that allows free control of the properties of carbon-based materials.
Since June 1997, the Korean government has awarded monthly one scientist working in industry, universities, or research institutions to recognize his or her research achievements, as well as to promote science and technology.
Professor Kim implemented a technique known as doping, which has been used in ordinary semiconductor processes, to demonstrate the physical properties of carbon-based materials. Carbon nanotubes, graphene, and other carbon materials have superior mechanical and electrical properties and are regarded as next-generation materials. However, difficulty in controlling their qualities has made applications in various devices unfavorable. The doping technique in semiconductor production is to artificially introduce impurities into an extremely pure semiconductor for the purpose of modulating its electrical properties.
Profess Kim doped elements like nitrogen and boron to enable minute control of the physical properties of carbon-based materials and applied the technique to development of organic solar cells, organic light-emitting devices, and flexible memory. He also increased the application range by using a self-assembly method to change freely the structure of carbon-based materials.
Professor Kim has published 53 papers in renowned journals such as Advanced Materials and Nanoletters. He was rewarded further by being invited to write a review paper for the 25th anniversary special edition for Advanced Materials.
2014.06.19 View 9347 -
KAIST studnets win 2014 Creative Vitamin Project Competition
A team of KAIST students have won the grand prize for the “2014 Creative Vitamin Project Competition” held on May 28, 2014 in Seoul. The event was co-hosted by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, National Information Society Agency, and Korea IT Convergence Technology Association. The Creative Vitamin Project is the Korean government’s initiative to grow the Korean economy and generate job creation by applying science and technology, information and communications technology in particular, to the existing industry and social issues.
The winners were Hyeong-Min Son, a student in the master’s program in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, KAIST and Su-Yeon Yoo, a Ph.D. student from the Graduate School of Information Security, KAIST.
Son and Yoo proposed a sustainable crop protection system using directional speakers. This technique not only efficiently protects crops from harmful animals, but also effectively guides the animals outside the farmland.
Kwang-Soo Jang, the Director of the National Information Society Agency, said, “This competition provides an opportunity to develop public consensus and interest in the Creative Vitamin Project. We hope that through the participation of all citizens, the project can become an instrument to realizing the creative economy.”
2014.06.18 View 9706 -
Professor Sung Yong Kim Appointed as Committee Member to Serve PICES
The Pacific International Council for the Exploration of the Sea: North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES) is an intergovernmental organization, which was established in 1992 to promote and coordinate marine research in the North Pacific and adjacent areas. Currently, the United States, Canada, Japan, China, Russia, and Korea are members of the organization.
Professor Sung Yong Kim of Ocean Systems Engineering, KAIST, has been appointed to serve the Scientific and Technical Committees of PICES. He will begin his stint from July 1, 2014. During his assignment, Professor Kim will identify the need for observation of the North Pacific marine environment, develop observation methodology, and publish an annual report on the observation.
Professor Kim is an expert in marine physics and environmental fluids, with a focus on coastal circulation and dynamics, mesoscale and submesoscale eddies, integrated coastal ocean observing system, and statistical and dynamic data analysis.
2014.06.18 View 7638 -
A KAIST graduate named one of seven Microsoft Research Faculty Fellows for 2014
Yong-Yeol Ahn, a professor of the School of Informatics and Computing, Indiana University Bloomington (IUB), has been selected as one of the seven winners for the Microsoft Research Faculty Fellowship 2014. He received his Ph.D. in 2008 from KAIST.
Each year, since 2005, Microsoft Research has recognized innovative, promising new faculty members in computer science from a number of research institutions to join the ranks of Microsoft Research Faculty Fellows. The winners are awarded $200,000 grants to further advance their research.
For details, below please see a press release issued by IUB on June 12, 2014.
IU Bloomington Newsroom
Press Release, June 12, 2014
IU informaticist Y.Y. Ahn named one of seven Microsoft Research Faculty Fellows
http://news.indiana.edu/releases/iu/2014/06/yy-ahn-microsoft-research-faculty-fellow.shtml
2014.06.15 View 7603 -
MOU between KAIST and Sun Medical Center on "Mobile Health Care"
KAIST and Sun Medical Center signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in front of 20 attendees including KAIST President Steve Kang and Sun Medical Center Director Seung-Hoon Sun on June 9 at KAIST to expand medical services through medical and electronic telecommunication technology.
The two organizations will cooperate on the research and development of mobile healthcare, systems for the medical industry, remote medical treatment for overseas patients, and working toward improving national healthcare. The two parties will also develop wearable devices and mobile sensors which will become a welcome addition to the global healthcare market.
KAIST President Steve Kang explained, “With Sun Medical Center’s 50 years of experience in medical technology and KAIST’s World University Ranking of 20th in information technology, a new brainchild in the mobile healthcare field will be produced.”
In the meantime, KAIST’s College of Information Science and Technology is making developments in mobile healthcare systems which can accumulate medical information and apply it to medical services by using personal bio-information data. Ambitious new projects are underway, such as the “Dr. M Project“ which launched in March with 28 full-time researchers.
2014.06.14 View 7066 -
KAIST College of Business Held "Creativity Fusion Camp" for Multicultural Family Students
Students from the College of Business, KAIST, held the Creativity Fusion Camp for 77 multicultural students from May 31 to June 1 at the KAIST campus in Daejeon.
The camp was funded through an education donation program which was created to support multicultural students who are interested in science. $20,000 was raised by 100 participants in a fund-raising marathon including students in the KAIST Business School.
The camp was only for multicultural students, and their participation was free of charge. Nationally, 100 applicants were evaluated over 10 days beginning May 14, and 30 elementary school students and 47 junior high school students were selected.
The camp centered around creating mini games with rare programming languages. Drawing sounds, exploring computational thinking, making animations, and designing mini games were the other programs students took part in.
Sung-Hyun Cha, the student council leader of the College of Business, said, “We have been pondering over how to truly benefit people who are economically and socially underprivileged in our society, apart from simply giving financial donations. I hope this camp will be an important chance for multicultural students to enjoy science.”
Jae-Hyun Ahn, Vice-Dean of the College of Business, said, “Many of the activities of the College of Business have mostly focused on learning, but now we have to turn our attention into serving others as well. This is the new education model that KAIST has been endeavoring to build.”
The KAIST College of Business has made contributions and donations to help people in need by partnering with the Habitat for Humanity and Babper Service and undertaking charity bazaars and auctions.
[Picture Caption]Participants of the KAIST Run Creativity Fusion Camp smiling on May 31 at the Creative Learning Building
2014.06.09 View 7642 -
MOU among KAIST, Chungnam National University, and Chungnam National University Hospital for "Fusion Medical Science Research"
KAIST, Chungnam National University, and Chungnam National University Hospital signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with attendees including KAIST President Steve Kang, Chungnam National University President Sang-Chul Jung, and the President of Chungnam National University Hospital, Bong-Ok Kim on June 3 at KAIST.
With the MOU, KAIST expects to continue the development of outstanding individuals in the medical science field, advance global research in biosciences, and establish Chungnam National University Hospital and KAIST Fusion Medical School in Sejong City.
The details of the MOU include educational collaborations such as course development and a combined registration system, cooperation on basic and clinical research, shared use of research facilities and equipment, and active collaboration for professional personnel for education, research, and treatment. The three parties agreed to form a joint council to pursue the specifications.
President Steve Kang said, “Medical science and medical engineering, which can elevate the quality of human life, are the key disciplines which universities are targeting for the future. KAIST will prepare for Korea’s future by developing elite professionals and performing world-renowned research in the merged fields of science and medicine.”
2014.06.07 View 7158 -
KAIST Featured in the 2014 QS Showcase-AMEA (Asia, Middle East, and Africa)
The QS World University Rankings has released the fourth Edition of QS Showcase-AMEA (Asia, Middle East, and Africa) in January 2014, both in print and online, which is an annual magazine presenting the progress of the top universities in these regions, as well as highlighting their breakthroughs and improvements.
The 2014 QS Showcase-AMEA included an interview with President Steve Kang, covering KAIST and its role in Korea, student mobility, as well as Korean higher education.
For the interview, please go to: http://qsshowcase.com/main/korea-casts-its-net-more-widely-to-stay-on-top/ .
2014.06.07 View 6726 -
ICISTS-KAIST 2014 (International Conference for the Integration of Science, Technology, and Society)
Close your eyes and imagine a life without science and technology, a life without cars, electricity, and the Internet. Having trouble? Now open your eyes to the real world with science and technology: Biochemical weapons wreaking havoc in Syria, the disaster at Fukushima poisoning the Earth. This ironic twist, however, often goes unseen—a failure to recognize the nature of science.
You realize that science and technology possess the power to shift entire paradigms, and as generators of such an impetus, that they require much inspection. Are you sure, though? How much do you actually know about science?
And so, ICISTS-KAIST 2014 asks: Is science truly leading progress?
Meeting its 10th ICISTS-KAIST 2014 will scrutinize science on top of a social and cultural context and pave way for discussions that envision a better future. On a wonderful five-day journey beginning on August 4th , KAIST campus will once again open doors for future leaders to meet people and get inspired.
Meet People, Get Inspired
400 participants from over 100 universities and 25 countries engage in lectures and discussions led by the world’s leading experts
Establish a global network through culture night and beer party
Details for ICISTS-KAIST 2014:
Theme: Does Science Lead Progress?
Date: Sunday, August 4, 2014 – Friday, August 8, 2014
Place: KAIST Campus and ICC Hotel, Daejeon
Application: June 2, 2014 – July 11, 2014
Please apply online at www.icists.org
Contact: help@icists.org, www.fb.com/ICISTSKAIST
2014.06.05 View 5931 -
KAIST's graduate, the first Ph.D. holder in games, is appointed professor at Michigan State University in East Lansing
Dr. Tae-Woo Park
The academic community recognizes the study in games as a field for research
Dr. Tae-Woo Park, a graduate of KAIST, has been appointed a professor at Michigan State University (MSU) in East Lansing. He will start working in August at the Department of Telecommunications, Information Studies, and Media, the College of Communications Arts, MSU.
Dr. Park received a doctoral degree in games, the first of its kind in KAIST. His research focus is game design, research, and development.
Dr. Park has strived to enhance user experience by incorporating various aspects of everyday life into games and made efforts to introduce measures limiting or preventing game addiction, a major concern among young people in South Korea. Professor Joon-Hwa Song of Computer Science at KAIST, Dr. Park's advisor, commented that "KAIST graduates have been the main actors in the development of Korea's gaming industry. Our efforts to systemize the field of games into an academic discipline have been recognized through Dr. Park's appointment."
Dr. Park said that he plans "to apply mobile device and ubiquitous technology and develop games that will not only entertain users but also help them have a better life.”
2014.05.29 View 10327