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KAIST Ranks 95th among World Universities Oct. 13, 2008 --KAIST is ranked 95th among Top 200 Universities of the World this year, scoring a notable increase from last year"s ranking of 132nd. KAIST, Seoul National University which was placed 50th, and POSTECH ranked 188th became the only three institutions of higher education in Korea to make it to the list, called "The Times Higher Education -- QS World University Rankings." KAIST"s advancement was more conspicuous in specific area evaluations. In the area of Engineering and Information Technology, it is ranked 34th (49th last year), in Natural Sciences 46th (86th last year), and in Biological Sciences and Biotechnology 134th (166th last year). While North America dominates the ranking with 42 universities on the list, Europe and Asia Pacific are also well represented with 36 and 22 institutions, respectively. The list, compiled by The Times (of London) newspaper annually, is topped by Harvard University (USA), followed by Yale University (USA) and University of Cambridge (United Kingdom). Last year, only KAIST and SNU were included in the top 200 list. This year, Yonsei University raised its ranking to 203rd from last year"s 223rd while Korea University improved from 243rd to 236th, showing overall improvement of universities in Korea. Again this year, Japan and China had most of the top ranked universities in Asia, each sharing three in the top 50. University of Tokyo, ranked 19th, led all Japanese universities; Kyoto University was placed 25th and Osaka University 44th. University of Hong Kong was listed 26th, followed by Hong Kong University of Science and Technology on 39th and the Chinese University of Hong Kong on 42nd. The Times Higher Education--QS World University Rankings evaluates four main categories: quality of research, globalization, and quality of education and work of graduates in society. The evaluation also considers academic peer review, citations per faculty, recruiter review, international faculty, international students and faculty-student ratio. QS Top 100 Universities 2008 Source: QS Quacquarelli Symonds (www.topuniversities.com) Copyright?004-2008QSQuacquarelliSymondsLtd. 1 HARVARD University United States 2 YALE University United States 3 University of CAMBRIDGE United Kingdom 4 University of OXFORD United Kingdom 5 CALIFORNIA Institute of Technology (Calt... United States 6 IMPERIAL College London United Kingdom 7 UCL (University College London) United Kingdom 8 University of CHICAGO United States 9 MASSACHUSETTS Institute of Technology (M... United States 10 COLUMBIA University United States 11 University of PENNSYLVANIA United States 12 PRINCETON University United States 13= DUKE University United States 13= JOHNS HOPKINS University United States 15 CORNELL University United States 16 AUSTRALIAN National University Australia 17 STANFORD University United States 18 University of MICHIGAN United States 19 University of TOKYO Japan 20 MCGILL University Canada 21 CARNEGIE MELLON University United States 22 KING"S College London United Kingdom 23 University of EDINBURGH United Kingdom 24 ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of T... Switzerland 25 KYOTO University Japan 26 University of HONG KONG Hong Kong 27 BROWN University United States 28 ?ole Normale Sup?ieure, PARIS France 29 University of MANCHESTER United Kingdom 30= National University of SINGAPORE(NUS) Singapore 30= University of CALIFORNIA, Los Angeles (U... United States 32 University of BRISTOL United Kingdom 33 NORTHWESTERN University United States 34= ?OLE POLYTECHNIQUE France 34= University of BRITISH COLUMBIA Canada 36 University of California, BERKELEY United States 37 The University of SYDNEY Australia 38 The University of MELBOURNE Australia 39 HONG KONG University of Science & Techno... Hong Kong 40 NEW YORK University (NYU) United States 41 University of TORONTO Canada 42 The CHINESE University of Hong Kong Hong Kong 43 University of QUEENSLAND Australia 44 OSAKA University Japan 45 University of NEW SOUTH WALES Australia 46 BOSTON University United States 47 MONASH University Australia 48 University of COPENHAGEN Denmark 49 TRINITY College Dublin Ireland 50= Ecole Polytechnique F??ale de LAUSANNE... Switzerland 50= PEKING University China 50= SEOUL National University Korea, South 53 University of AMSTERDAM Netherlands 54 DARTMOUTH College United States 55 University of WISCONSIN-Madison United States 56 TSINGHUA University China 57 HEIDELBERG Universit? Germany 58 University of CALIFORNIA, San Diego United States 59 University of WASHINGTON United States 60 WASHINGTON University in St. Louis United States 61 TOKYO Institute of Technology Japan 62 EMORY University United States 63 UPPSALA University Sweden 64 LEIDEN University Netherlands 65 The University of AUCKLAND New Zealand 66 LONDON School of Economics and Political... United Kingdom 67 UTRECHT University Netherlands 68 University of GENEVA Switzerland 69 University of WARWICK United Kingdom 70 University of TEXAS at Austin United States 71 University of ILLINOIS United States 72 Katholieke Universiteit LEUVEN Belgium 73 University of GLASGOW United Kingdom 74 University of ALBERTA Canada 75 University of BIRMINGHAM United Kingdom 76 University of SHEFFIELD United Kingdom 77 NANYANG Technological University Singapore 78= DELFT University of Technology Netherlands 78= RICE University United States 78= Technische Universit? M?CHEN Germany 81= University of AARHUS Denmark 81= University of YORK United Kingdom 83= GEORGIA Institute of Technology United States 83= The University of WESTERN AUSTRALIA Australia 83= University of ST ANDREWS United Kingdom 86 University of NOTTINGHAM United Kingdom 87 University of MINNESOTA United States 88 LUND University Sweden 89 University of CALIFORNIA, Davis United States 90 CASE WESTERN RESERVE University United States 91= Universit?de Montr?l Canada 91= University of HELSINKI Finland 93= Hebrew University of JERUSALEM Israel 93= Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit? M?chen Germany 95 KAIST - Korea Advanced Institute of Scie... Korea, South 96 University of VIRGINIA United States 97 University of PITTSBURGH United States 98 University of CALIFORNIA, Santa Barbara United States 99= PURDUE University United States 99= University of SOUTHAMPTON United Kingdom
2008.10.14 View 15926
KAIST Team Identifies Nano-scale Origin of Toughness in Rare Earth-added Silicon Carbide A research team led by Prof. Do-Kyung Kim of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering of KAIST has identified the nano-scale origin of the toughness in rare-earth doped silicon carbide (RE-SiC), university sources said on Monday (Oct. 6). The research was conducted jointly with a U.S. team headed by Prof. R. O. Ritchie of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley. The findings were carried in the online edition of Nano Letters published by the American Chemical Association. Silicon carbide, a ceramic material known to be one of the hardest substances, are potential candidate materials for many ultrahigh-temperature structural applications. For example, if SiC, instead of metallic alloys, is used in gas-turbine engines for power generation and aerospace applications, operating temperatures of many hundred degrees higher can be obtained with a consequent dramatic increase in thermodynamic efficiency and reduced fuel consumption. However, the use of such ceramic materials has so far been severely limited since the origin of the toughness in RE-SiC remained unknown thus far. In order to investigate the origin of the toughness in RE-SiC, the researchers attempted to examine the mechanistic nature of the cracking events, which they found to occur precisely along the interface between SiC grains and the nano-scale grain-boundary phase, by using ultrahigh-resolution transmission electron microscopy and atomic-scale spectroscopy. The research found that for optimal toughness, the relative elastic modulus across the grain-boundary phase and the interfacial fracture toughness are the most critical material parameters; both can be altered with appropriate choice of rare-earth elements. In addition to identifying the nano-scale origin of the toughness in RE-SiC, the findings also contributed to precisely predicting how the use of various rare-earth elements lead to difference in toughness. University sources said that the findings will significantly advance the date when RE-SiC will replace metallic alloys in gas-turbine engines for power generation and aerospace applications.
2008.10.08 View 13933
KAIST Professor Finds Paradox in Human Behaviors on Road -Strange as it might seem, closing roads can cut delays A new route opened to ease traffic jam, but commuting time has not been reduced.Conversely, motorists reached their destinations in shorter times after a big street was closed. These paradoxical phenomena are the result of human selfishness, according to recent findings of a research team led by a KAIST physics professor. Prof. Ha-Woong Jeong, 40, at the Department of Physics, conducted a joint research with a team from Santa Fe Institute of the U.S. to analyze the behaviors of drivers in Boston, New York and London. Their study found that when individual drivers, fed with traffic information via various kinds of media, try to choose the quickest route, it can cause delays for others and even worsen congestion. Prof. Jeong and his group"s study will be published in the Sept. 18 edition of the authoritative Physical Review Letters. The London-based Economist magazine introduced Prof. Jeong"s finding in its latest edition. Prof. Jeong, a pioneer in the study of "complex system," has published more than 70 research papers in the world"s leading science journals, including Nature, PNAS and Physical Review Letters. "Initially, my study was to reduce annoyance from traffic jam during rush hours," Prof. Jeong said. "Ultimately, it is purposed to eliminate inefficiency located in various corners of social activities, with the help of the network science." The Economist article read (in part): "...when individual drivers each try to choose the quickest route it can cause delays for others and even increase hold-ups in the entire road network. "The physicists give a simplified example of how this can happen: trying to reach a destination either by using a short but narrow bridge or a longer but wide motorway. In their hypothetical case, the combined travel time of all the drivers is minimized if half use the bridge and half the motorway. But that is not what happens. Some drivers will switch to the bridge to shorten their commute, but as the traffic builds up there the motorway starts to look like a better bet, so some switch back. Eventually the traffic flow on the two routes settles into what game theory calls a Nash equilibrium, named after John Nash, the mathematician who described it. This is the point where no individual driver could arrive any faster by switching routes. "The researchers looked at how this equilibrium could arise if travelling across Boston from Harvard Square to Boston Common. They analysed 246 different links in the road network that could be used for the journey and calculated traffic flows at different volumes to produce what they call a “price of anarchy” (POA). This is the ratio of the total cost of the Nash equilibrium to the total cost of an optimal traffic flow directed by an omniscient traffic controller. In Boston they found that at high traffic levels drivers face a POA which results in journey times 30% longer than if motorists were co-ordinated into an optimal traffic flow. Much the same thing was found in London (a POA of up to 24% for journeys between Borough and Farringdon Underground stations) and New York (a POA of up to 28% from Washington Market Park to Queens Midtown Tunnel). "Modifying the road network could reduce delays. And contrary to popular belief, a simple way to do that might be to close certain roads. This is known as Braess’s paradox, after another mathematician, Dietrich Braess, who found that adding extra capacity to a network can sometimes reduce its overall efficiency. "In Boston the group looked to see if the paradox could be created by closing any of the 246 links. In 240 cases their analysis showed that a closure increased traffic problems. But closing any one of the remaining six streets reduced the POA of the new Nash equilibrium. Much the same thing was found in London and New York. More work needs to be done to understand these effects, say the researchers. But even so, planners should note that there is now evidence that even a well intentioned new road may make traffic jams worse."
2008.09.18 View 13301
Research University Presidents Discuss Global Network to Increase Cooperation Presidents and leaders of research universities participating in the 2008 International Presidential Forum on Global Research Universities (IPFGRU) held at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul, Korea on Sept. 8, 2008 exchanged views and ideas on how to build and effectively utilize a global research network in order to increase cooperation and exchanges among institutions of science and technology across the world. The participants agreed on the need to promote the sharing of expertise and facilities, conduct joint researches and positively implement dual degree, roaming professorship and other programs that help institutions in societies at different stages of scientific and technological development maximize the fruits of their research activities. As a major goal, the participants agreed to create alliances for research and education that can become a new paradigm for global cooperation, with the outcome of discussions at the 2008 IPFGRU providing the guidelines for future endeavors in this direction. Through the day-long symposium, participants reached general agreements on the following points: --The concept of sharing faculty or roaming professorship should be actively promoted in order to accelerate global dissemination of academic expertise with the institutions and state authorities concerned easing existing restrictions to such arrangements and ensuring maximum academic freedom of professors involved. --Dual degree programs especially those involving institutions of different countries need to be further encouraged in view of their benefits of resources sharing, expansion of knowledge and cultural exchanges and that educational authorities should try to remove various forms of limitations. --As competitions over university ranking would grow intensive as institutions seek to attract better students and more donations, there is need to institutionalize a fairer, globally recognized national, regional and international assessment systems. --In view of rapid expansion of interdisciplinary researches which calls for the sharing of facilities and expertise among different institutions, it is necessary to establish national or regional hubs to make state-of-the-art facilities and equipment available for researchers and research programs experiencing limitations in financial and material resources. --National governments and political leaders should better recognize the importance of science and technology for societal and global prosperity and the science and technology community needs to make more communicative approaches to politicians so that greater trust may be built between them. --Arrangements to conduct joint research involving international industries, academia and government should be accelerated with a view to addressing the common problems facing the mankind in the 21st century, including energy, environment, water, food and sustainability. The United Nations and other international organizations need to provide stronger support for research universities’ efforts in this direction. --Research universities across the world should make concerted efforts to establish a global cooperative network that can facilitate the flow of information, resources and research personnel to realize universal advancement of science and technology and, ultimately, enhance the quality of human life. Keynote speakers and panelists and the subjects of their presentations were: Participants" List Topic Name of University Speaker Position 1. Roaming Professorships: To Whose Benefit? Illinois Institute of Technology John L. Anderson President Improving the Competitiveness of Global University Education National University of Sciences and Technology Muhammad Mushtaq Pro-Rector Improving the Competitiveness of Global University Education Tianjin University Fuling Yang Director of International Cooperation Office Sharing Differences in Culture and Environment for Sustainable Education for the Future Generation Kumamoto University Tatsuro Sakimoto President Sharing Differences in Culture and Environment for Sustainable Education for the Future Generation Odessa National I. I. Mechnikov University Sergiy Skorokhod Vice Rector for International Cooperation Promoting Science and Engineering Education among Secondary Students Czech Technical University of Prague Miroslav Vlcek Vice Rector Promoting Science and Engineering Education among Secondary Students South China University of Technology Xueqing Qiu Vice President Preserving and Utilizing Expert Knowledge for Better Education Eotvos Loran University Jösef Nemes-Nagy Vice Dean 2. Dual Degree Programs: Future Potential & Challenges University of Queensland Paul Greenfield President and Vice Chancellor Benefits of Dual Degree Program Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon Martin Raynaud Director, International Relations Benefits and Limitations of Dual Degree Program National Institute of Development Administration Pradit Wanarat Vice President for Academic Affairs The Role of Dual Degree Program Easing Brain Drain Nanyang Technological University Lam Khin Yong Associate Provost, Graduate Education & Special Projects International Dual Degree Programs and Strategies Georgia Institute of Technology Steven W. McLaughlin Vice Provost, International Initiatives Dual Degree Program and Global Learning Networks City University of Hong Kong Richard Yan-Ki Ho Special Advisor to the President Raising International IQs of Scientists and Engineers for Global Enterprise Technion, Israel Institute of Technology Moshe Shpitalni Dean, Graduate Studies Luncheon Speech “Beneficial Relationships between Academia and Companies” Medical Information Technology A. Neil Pappalardo Chairman and CEO 3. Sharing Facilities and Expertise KAIST Nam Pyo Suh President Promoting International Sharing of Research Facilities and Expertise to Strengthen Research Outcomes Griffith University Ian O"Connor President Economic Benefits of Sharing Research Facilities and Expertise POSTECH Sunggi Baik President Economic Benefits of Sharing Facilities and Expertise: National NanoFab Center National NanoFab Center Hee Chul Lee President Communicating Science and Technology to Political Leaders Office of the President of KOREA Chan Mo Park Special Advisor to the President for Science and Technology Filling the Gap of University Resources Bandung Institute of Technology Djoko Santoso Rector 4. An Approach to Joint Research Ventures with NASA NASA Yvonne Pendleton Deputy Associate Center Director Benefits of International Joint Venture Research Projects University of Adelaide Martyn J. Evans Director, Community Engagement Benefits of International Joint Projects Mahidol University Sansanee Chaiyaroj Vice President International Joint Research Projects University of Iowa P. Barry Butler Dean, College of Engineering Joint Research: University of Technology Malaysia’s Experience at National and International Level University Technology of Malaysia Tan Sri Mohd Ghazali Vice-Chancellor Sharing Intellectual Property Rights Paris Institute of Technology Cyrille van Effenterre President Global Economic and Social Contribution of International Joint Project Cooperation Kyushu University Wataru Koterayama Vice President 5. Globalization through Interfacing with Existing Networking Technical University of Denmark Lars Pallesen Rector Establishing Global Science and Technology Networking National Cheng Kung University Da Hsuan Feng Senior Executive Vice President Establishing Global Science and Technology Networking University of Technology of Troyes Christian Lerminiaux President The Role of Global Science and Technology Network for Higher Education in the 21st Century Iowa State University Tom I-P. Shih Department Chair Regionalized or Globalized Science and Technology Networking Babes-Bolyai University Calin Baciu Dean, Faculty of Environmental Sciences Globalized Science and Technology Networking Harbin Institute of Technology Shuguo Wang President Connecting Regional Science and Technology Networks for the Global Networking Ritsumeikan University Sadao Kawamura Special Aide to the Chancellor How Can a Publisher Strengthen the Global Network of Universities? Elsevier Youngsuk Chi Vice Chairman
2008.09.18 View 19815
KAIST, KARI to Conduct Joint Research, Exchange Tech Manpower KAIST and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) have agreed to conduct joint researches and exchange technical personnel in order to spur research activities on artificial satellite and other aerospace technology, KAIST announced Wednesday, Sept. 17. An MOU was signed in a ceremony at the KARI Tuesday, attended by senior officials of the two institutions which both are located in the Daedeok Technopolis in Daejeon City. Researchers from KARI will participate in KAIST"s interdisciplinary project of "Space Exploratory Engineering" and the two organizations will also jointly take part in the International Lunar Network (ILN), an international moon exploration program, to accelerate development of space technology in Korea. As a result of the tieup, Dr. Lee So-yeon, Korea"s first astronaut who lived in space for a week aboard a Russian spacecraft this year, will be able to teach and conduct research at KAIST as an adjunct professor. Lee earned her doctorate from KAIST.
2008.09.17 View 13391
World Research University Heads To Discuss Global Networking at KAIST Symposium About 70 leaders of the world"s major research universities will discuss how to strengthen and operate global networks to share faculty, students, facilities and other resources for common advancement at a symposium Monday, Sept. 8, at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul organized by KAIST, Korea"s foremost institute of science and technology education and research. Participants of the 1st International Presidential Forum on Global Research Universities are from 39 universities in 20 countries. They include nine presidents of Korean universities. The international symposium, the first such event to be held in Korea, will proceed in five panel sessions. The subjects of each session and their keynote speakers are: -- "Roaming Professorships: To Whose Benefit?" by Dr. John Anderson, president of the Illinois Institute of Technology, USA,-- "Dual Degree Programs: Future Potential and Challenges" by Dr. Paul Greenfield, president of the University of Queensland, Australia, -- "Sharing Facilities and Expertise" by KAIST President Nam Pyo Suh,-- "An Approach to Joint Research Ventures with NASA" by Yvonne Pendleton, NASA, and-- "Globalization through Interfacing with Existing Networking" by Dr. Lars Pallesen, rector of the Technical University of Denmark. KAIST President Suh said of the purpose of the conference: "Research universities have become global enterprises. Collaborations that were once primarily between individual researchers are now increasingly occurring at institutional and international levels. Similarly, educating students which used to be the responsibility of a single university has now become a multi-institutional undertaking, involving many universities in different countries. "Now leading research universities in many countries depend on the continuous supply of outstanding graduate students from the "feeder" schools of developing nations. There are concerns that the current system may not be serving the interest and need of some institutions, especially those in developing nations. This should be examined and understood to devise international mechanisms that can accentuate the positive aspects of globalization. "Through this forum, we hope to forge an international network of universities that will strengthen the effort of individual universities and create alliance for research and education that can become a new paradigm for global collaboration." Prime Minister Han Seung-soo will give a speech at a dinner after the conclusion of the symposium. President of the Korea International Traders Association Lee Hee-beom will make a welcoming address at the start of the conference. Co-sponsors of the international university presidents" forum include the Dong-a Ilbo, a major national daily, and the Dong-a Science magazine. The research universities presidential forum will be followed on Sept. 9 by an international academic workshop at KAIST"s Daejeon campus on EEWS (Energy, Environment, Water and Sustainability). Under the theme of "Challenges as Opportunities," research teams from MIT, CalTech, the Korean Ministry of Knowledge and Economy, KAIST Institute and KAIST EEWS team will present their research results at the workshop. Major Korean businesses, including SK Energy, GS Caltex and the Samsung Group will also introduce their research programs concerning EEWS, the most pressing prblems of today"s world. A groundbreaking ceremony will be held at the KAIST campus in the afternoon of the same day for the construction of the KI Building, which will house all the eight research institutes of KAIST. The KI for Bio Century, KI for IT Convergence, KI for Design of Complex Systems, KI for Entertainment Engineering, KI for Eco-Energy, KI for Urban Space and Systems, and the KI for Optical Science and Technology were established between 2006 and 2008. More than 230 professors from 18 departments have actively engaged in research activities in their respective fields. KAIST will start construction of the Pappalardo Medical Center in a ceremony on Wednesday with the attendance of Mr. Neil Pappalardo, chairman-CEO of Meditech Inc. of the United States who donated $2.5 million for the project. The medical facility for KAIST students, faculty and the residents of the university area will be completed in September 2009. The President"s Advisory Council (PAC) for KAIST will hold its 3rd general meeting on Sept. 10 to discuss KAIST"s short- and long-term strategies to become the world"s top-ranked research university. The PAC was formed in 2006 with 11 foreign and 14 domestic figures from the business and academic circles. Foreign PAC members include John Holzrichter, president of Fannie and John Hertz Foundation; Donald C. W. Kim, chairman of AMKOR A&E, Inc.; Chong-Moon Lee, chairman of AmBex Venture Group; Byung-Joon Park, founder of Bureau Veritas CPS, Inc.; Lars Pallesen, rector of the Technical University of Denmark. PAC members have advised the KAIST president on international publicity on KAIST"s academic excellence, fund-raising, and promotion of cooperative relations with overseas institutions.
2008.09.04 View 18141
Satellite Research Lab Named After Late Hyundai Chairman Chung KAIST, Aug. 11, 2008 -- KAIST held a naming ceremony for a research lab which was named after the late Hyundai Asan Chairman Mong-Hun Chung on Monday (Aug. 11) at the KAIST Satellite Technology Research Center. During the ceremony, a seminar room was also named after Dr. Soon-dal Choi, President of Daeduk College, for his distinguished contributions to the development of Korean space science. Back in 1992, the late chairman Chung donated 3.4 billion won (US$3.4 million) to KAIST to build a satellite laboratory for the development of core space technologies and the nurturing of skilled manpower. The naming ceremony was held in commemoration of the 16th anniversary of the launch of Korea"s first small satellite "Uribyeol 1" on Aug. 11, 1992. Chung died in 2003. Dr. Soon-Dal Choi who laid the ground work for Korea"s space development program, served as the inaugural director general of the KAIST Satellite Technology Research Center, the birthplace of Korea"s artificial satellite. On hand at the naming ceremony were a slew of dignitaries including Jeong-Eun Hyun, Hyundai Group Chairwoman and wife of the late Chung; and about 10 chief executives of Hyundai Group companies; Seong-Hyo Park, Mayor of the Daejeon Metropolitan City; Ms. So-Yeon Lee, Korea"s first astronaut; and KAIST President Nam-Pyo Suh. President Suh noted that late Chairman Chung made great contributions to Korea"s artificial satellite development with his donation to the satellite laboratory. He said Dr. Choi is the father of the nation"s satellite program who provided the vision of space development in Korea at a time when Korea lagged behind in the artificial satellite technology.
2008.08.12 View 14718
Prof. Lee Appointed to Advisory Board of the U.S. Joint BioEnergy Institute Prof. Sang-Yup Lee of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, KAIST, has been appointed as a member of the scientific advisory board of the Joint BioEnergy Institute under the wing of the U.S. Department of Energy, university authorities said on Monday (Aug. 4). The Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) is a scientific partnership in the San Francisco Bay area, California, led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). Its partner organizations include the Sandia National Laboratories, the University of California in Berkeley, UC Davis, the Carnegie Institution for Science and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. JBEI
2008.08.07 View 11674
Storing Stably Hydrogen Atoms in Icy Materials Discovered KAIST, Aug. 8, 2008 -- A KAIST research team led by Prof. Huen Lee of the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering has discovered that icy organic hydrates, which contain small cages that can trap guest molecules, can be used to create and trap hydrogen atoms at higher temperatures. The properties and reactions of single hydrogen atoms are of great scientific interest because of their inherent quantum mechanical behavior; experimentally, they can be generated and stabilized at very low temperatures (4 K) by high-energy irradiation of solid molecular hydrogen. The finding was reported in the journal of American Chemical Society and featured in the "Editor"s Choice" in the July 11 issue of Science as a recent research highlight. Hydrogen is a clean and sustainable form of energy that can be used in mobile and stationary applications. Hydrogen has the potential to solve several major challenges today: depletion of fossil fuels, poor air quality, and green house gas emissions. However, the trapping of hydrogen atoms in crystalline solid matrix has never been attempted mainly because of experimental difficulties in identifying the generated hydrogen atoms with either spectroscopic or microscopic technique. "To overcome the barriers and limitations of the existing storage approaches, we have continuously attempted to find the new hydrogen storage media such as icy powders and other related inclusion compounds," said Prof. Lee The discovery follows the breakthrough concept Prof. Lee"s research team proposed in Nature in 2005 to use pure ice to capture and store hydrogen molecules. At moderate temperature and pressure conditions small guest molecules are entrapped in pure ice powders to form the mixed icy hydrate materials. "Stable existence of single hydrogen molecule/radical in icy crystalline matrices may offer significant advantages in exploring hydrogen as a quantum medium because icy hydrogen hydrates can be formed at milder conditions when compared with pure solid hydrogen, which requires the ultra low temperature of 4.2 K," said Prof. Lee. The novel design and synthesis of ionic and radicalized icy hydrates are expected to open a new field for inclusion chemistry and ice-based science and technology. Specifically, the fact that hydrogen atoms can be stably stored in icy materials might provide versatile and practical applications to energy devices including fuel cells, ice-induced reactions, and novel energy storage process, according to the KAIST professor.
2008.08.07 View 12682
Home-Grown Transparent Thin Film Transistor Developed KAIST, Aug. 6, 2008 -- A KAIST research team led by Profs. Jae-Woo Park and Seung-Hyup Yoo of the Electrical Engineering Division has developed a home-grown technology to create transparent thin film transistor using titanium dioxide., university authorities said.The KAIST team made the technological advance in collaboration with the LCD Division of Samsung Electronics and the Techno Semichem Co., a local LCD equipment maker. Transparent thin film transistor continues to enjoy a wealth of popularity and intensive research interest since it is used in producing operating circuits including transparent display, active-matrix OLED (AMOLED) display and flexible display. The new technology is significant in that it is based on a titanium dioxide, the first such attempt in the world, while the technologies patented by the United States and Japan are based on ZnO. Researchers will continue to work on securing technological reliability and developing a technology to mass-produce in a large-scale chemical vapor deposition equipment for the next couple of years. "The development of technology to produce transparent thin film transistor will help Korean LCD makers reduce its dependence on foreign technologies, as well as maintain Korea"s status as a leader of the world"s display industry," said Prof. Park. KAIST has applied for local patent registration of the technology and the process is expected to complete by this October or November. International patents have been also applied for in the U.S., Japan and Europe. The new technology was introduced in the latest edition of the Electron Device Letters, a journal published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers or IEEE, a New York-based international non-profit, professional organization for the advancement of technology related to electricity. It will be presented at the International Display Workshop 2008 on Dec. 5 in Niigata, Japan.
2008.08.07 View 14255
KAIST Professors Article Featured as Cover Thesis of Biotechnology Journal An article authored by a research team of Prof. Sang-yup Lee at the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Dr. Jin-Hwan Park at the KAIST Institute for the BioCentury has been featured as the cover thesis of the August 2008 issue of Trends in Biotechnology. The paper, titled "General strategy for strain improvement by means of systems metabolic engineering," focuses on the application of systems biology for the development of strains and illustrates future prospects. Trends in Biotechnology, published by Cell Press, is one of the most prestigious review journals in the field. Jin-Hwan Park, the primary author of the research thesis, said that the KAIST team"s research work was expected to provide substantial help to researchers involved in biotechnology industry. The strategy has been established on the basis of the experiences gained in the actual microbial production process using the systems biology methods which his research team has recently worked on, Prof. Park said.
2008.07.24 View 13892
KAIST Professor Named International Research Grant Reviewer Prof. Kwang-Hyun Cho of the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, KAIST, was appointed as a research grant review committee member of the international Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) for 2008-2009, university authorities reported. The HFSP is a funding agency that supports international collaboration in interdisciplinary, basic research in the life sciences. It was initiated in 1989 by G7 countries as the sole funding program for international researches in neuroscience and molecular biology. The HFSP now has a membership of 35 countries and Korea joined the program in 2004. Prof. Cho will be responsible for reviewing grant applications in the field of systems biology. Prof. Cho received B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from KAIST in 1993, 1995, and 1998, respectively. He has been working as a director of the KAIST Institute for the BioCentury and KAIST"s Laboratory for Systems Biology and Bio-Inspired Engineering. He has been serving on editorial advisory boards of various international science journals, including Systems and Synthetic Biology (Springer, Netherlands, from 2006), BMC Systems Biology (BMC, London, U.K., from 2007) and Gene Regulation and Systems Biology (Libertas Academica, New Zealand, from 2007). He is a senior member of the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) affiliated with the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers (IEEE). His research interests cover the areas of systems science with bio-medical applications, especially systems biology and bio-inspired engineering based on molecular systems biology.
2008.07.18 View 17185

KAIST, 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea T.042-350-2114 F.042-350-2210(2220)