As always, UNIST continued to move towards its dream of becoming “World-leading university to advance science and technology for the prosperity of humankind”. The year 2018 has been especially successful and full of inspiring news and alumni success stories. UNIST New Center takes a look at the news stories that captured our attention throughout the year 2018. This list is based on the number of page views, yet we had excluded news stories on university evaluation and research results. (As of December 18, 2018)
1) UNIST Mathematician, Appointed as Professor of Medicine at Hokkaido University (2,534 page views)
Hyojung Lee, who completed her Ph.D. in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at UNIST, is currently working as Assistant Professor in the Department of Hygiene at Hokkaido University in Japan.
Hyojung Lee has recently completed her Ph.D. at UNIST under the supervision of Professor Chang Hyeong Lee in the Natural Science at UNIST.
Dr. Lee became interested in the subject through the influence of her advisor, Professor Chang Hyeong Lee in the Natural Science at UNIST. Professor Lee began his research on the infectious diseases and mathematical modeling, as he observed the spread of the H1N1 pandemic influenza virus in 2009. Dr. Lee was his first student to partake in that research project.
“Mathematics can do more things than we knew about,” says Professor Lee. “I am extremely happy that my first student at UNIST became appointed as a professor at a prestigious university in the world.”
[Related Article] UNIST Mathematician, Appointed as Professor of Medicine at Hokkaido University
2) Celebration to Mark Completion of UNIST’s Symbolic Landmark (2,208 page views)
A new symbolic landmark of UNIST, which now stands in the center of the lower traffic circle, has finally been unveiled to the public in May, 2018.
Designed and proposed by Professor Yunwoo Jeong in the School of Design and Human Engineering at UNIST, the key theme of this massive 20-meter high and 16-meter wide stainless steel sculpture is “Face the Future”.
The new symbolic landmark aims at presenting the school’s vision, UI, and scientific breakthroughs via media artworks.
The newly-established landmark has interactive LED panels, installed on the top surface and bottom of the sculpture. UNIST plans on using the upper LED modules to express the school’s vision, University Identity (UI), and highlight breakthrough innovation conducted at UNIST via media arts. The lower media ring will display latest news and upcoming events at UNIST.
This has been established with the funding provided by President Yun-Cheol Hwang of BNK Kyungnam Bank. Created under the plan of establishing a symbolic landmark that represents the campus, it not only serves as a national ‘Think Tank’, but also a regional research hub.
[Related Article] Celebration to Mark Completion of UNIST’s Symbolic Landmark
3) Dr. Sujeong Baek Appointed as Faculty Member of Hanbat National University (2,175 page views)
Sujeong Baek, who completed her Ph.D. in the Department of System Design and Control Engineering at UNIST, is currently serving as Assistant Professor in the Department of Industrial and Management Engineering at Hanbat National University. This is the first case in the history where a student who obtained both undergraduate and doctoral degrees at UNIST to be appointed as a professor.
Dr. Baek’s research interests lie primarily in the area of smart factory. Known as factory of the future, a smart factory is a highly digitized and connected production facility that relies on smart manufacturing. Because smart factories hold the promise of enabling truly sustainable, efficient and custom manufacturing, it is considered an important outcome of the fourth industrial revolution, or Industry 4.0.
“Thanks to the great guidance of Professor Kim and the academic traditions of UNIST that place great emphasis on convergence and challenge, I was easily able to break fresh ground for the field of smart factory,” says Dr. Baek.
[Related Article] Dr. Sujeong Baek Appointed as Faculty Member of Hanbat National University
4) New Semester Begins at UNIST Industry-University Convergence Campus (2,169 page views)
The new campus of UNIST, dubbed ‘Industry-University Convergence Center,’ has opened its doors in February, 2018.
Located near the Ulsan Industry-University Convergence District, the new campus features research laboratories, lecture rooms, a prototype manufacturing space, as well as a corporate information analysis room.
UNIST Industry-University Convergence Campus.
This four-story, 9,109-square-meter building will be the new home for the School of Management Engineering, the School of System Design and Control Engineering, the Graduate School of Technology and Innovation Management, and the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Management. About 200 students and 20 faculty members will study and carry out cutting-edge research at the new campus.
The new campus has a nickname “UNI-CON VALLEY”, which was carefully selected by the jury through the official naming contest for the Industry-University Convergence Campus, held in March 2018. The name has the meaning of “New Silicon Valley to Facilitate UNIST’s Convergence”.
[Related Article] New Semester Begins at UNIST Industry-University Convergence Campus
5) Distinguished Professor Rodney S. Ruoff Named as Potential Nobel Prize Winner (1,660 page views)
Rodney S. Ruoff, Director of the Center for Multidimensional Carbon Materials (CMCM) at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) and Distinguished Professor in the School of Natural Science at UNIST, was selected to the 2018 hall of Citation Laureates on September 20, 2018.
Announced each year by Clarivate Analytics, this designation celebrates researchers whose influence is comparable to that of Nobel Prize recipients, as attested by exceptionally high citation records within the Web of Science.
Rodney S. Ruoff, Director of the Center for Multidimensional Carbon Materials (CMCM) at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) and Distinguished Professor in the School of Natural Science at UNIST.
“I am deeply honored to be included in the list and would like to note the hard work and dedication from many students and postdocs who have worked in my group, as well as from the colleagues that I have been fortunate to collaborate with,” says Distinguished Professor Ruoff.
Clarivate Analytics is the global leader in providing trusted insights and analytics to enable researchers to accelerate discovery. Again this year, it has revealed a new class of top-tier scientists whose research has been cited at high frequency – with papers typically in the top 0.01% globally most-cited – and whose contribution to science has been transformative, even revolutionary.
Distinguished Professor Ruoff has been given the honor in recognition of his profound contributions to our “understanding and development of carbon-based materials including for capacitive energy storage and understanding the mechanisms of operation of supercapacitors.” Unfortunately, the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics was not awarded to him. However, the news about his inclusion on this year’s Citation Laureates by Clarivate Analytics has served as momentum to let the world know about UNIST and its excellent researchers.
[Related Article] UNIST Faculty Member Named as Potential Nobel Prize Winner
6) The 2018 UNIST Commencement Ceremony (1,582 page views)
Each February, UNIST follows the tradition of festive academic ceremonies of matriculation and graduation. The 2018 UNIST Commencement Ceremony, held in Gymnasium on February 12, was a little more special than usual, as President Moon Jae-In visited UNIST to deliver his commencement speech, for the first time since the establishment.
UNIST’s Class of 2018 throw their mortarboards in the air to celebrate their graduation. South Korean President Moon Jae-in also visited UNIST to wish them continued success in their education and careers.
At the ceremony, President Mooyoung Jung awarded 61 honorary Doctoral, 192 Master’s, and 704 Bachelor’s degrees. It turns out, since its opening in 2009, UNIST has a total of 3,376 graduates in science and technology, including 179 Doctoral, 666 Master’s, and 2,631 Bachelor’s students.
[Related Article] The 2018 UNIST Commencement Ceremony
7) UNIST Celebrates Newest Cohort of Rising-star Distinguished Professors (1,539 page views)
UNIST has announced the selection of 6 extraordinary scholars to be induced as ‘Rising-star Distinguished Professor’, the highest honor the university can bestow upon faculty members who are under the age of 45.
Clockwise from left to right are the newly-appointed ‘Rising-star Distinguished Professors: Professor Joonbum Bae, Professor Jaesik Choi, Professor Jeong Min Baik, Professor Hyunhyub Ko, Professor Sang Hoon Joo, and Professor Jang Hyun Choi.
Honored this year are ① Professor Joonbum Bae (School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering), ② Professor Jaesik Choi (School of Electrical and Computer Engineering), ③ Professor Jeong Min Baik (School of Materials Science and Engineering), ④ Professor Hyunhyub Ko (School of Energy and Chemical Engineering), ⑤ Professor Sang Hoon Joo (School of Energy and Chemical Engineering), and ⑥ Professor Jang Hyun Choi (School of Life Sciences). Professor Eunmi Choi in the School of Natural Science has been appointed the first Rising-star Distinguished Professor‘, which officially began in October, 2017.
The distinction of ‘Rising-star Distinguished Professor‘ is given to faculty members under the age of 45 whose work has made an outstanding contribution to their fields or disciplines, and to UNIST. The title includes an honorarium for salary and research support.
[Related Article] UNIST Celebrates Newest Cohort of Rising-star Distinguished Professors
8) UNIST Unveils New 3D Printed Electric Boat (1,510 page views)
UNIST campus is home for more than just students and scientists. Thus, the Gamak pond, located in the center of UNIST, is always full of visitors, ranging from a wild river otter to a flock of geese, as well as colorful koi carps.
A special guest that recently visited the Gamak Pond was a 3D-printed electric boat by Professor Namhun Kim in the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering at UNIST. Their new creation, called ‘3D Willy’ is an electric boat, in which the whole body is manufactured with 3D printing. The name ‘3D Willy’ is said to come from Dolphin Willy, roaming freely in the sea.
“The current economic crisus has hit the shipbuilding industry and Ulsan has suffered greatly from this,” says Professor Nam. “We came up with the idea of building a 3D-printed electric boat in the hope of establishing a more lively interest in Ulsan’s shipbuilding industry.”
The boat appeared to the public via EBS documentary channel ‘EBS Education Journal’ on September 14, 2018. And it was also exhibited at the 3D Printing Tech Festa 2018, which is held at University of Ulsan from Septemerb 13 to 15, 2018.
[Related Article] UNIST Unveils New 3D Printed Electric Boat
9) UNIST Alumni Hired by One of Silicon Valley’s Coveted Tech Companies (2,169 Views)
Taehoon Kim, who completed his B.S. in computer science from UNIST, just began his new career as an expert in artificial intelligence (AI) at OpenAI, one of Silicon Valley’s coveted tech companies.
In IT-related industries, Taehoon Kim is already famous for developing powerful AI algorithms and deploying them across its services. The following is link to his website: https://carpedm20.github.io/
During his undergraduate years, Taehoon distinctly stood out amongst its peers when it comes to computer engineering. Besides, in IT-related industries, he is already famous for developing powerful AI algorithms and deploying them across its services. He had released over 20 open source frameworks that are based on Google DeepMind and all those have laid the foundation of his entrance into Silicon Valley. Indeed, top executives of Silicon Valley’s best-known IT firms had even asked him to work with them.
OpenAI is a non-profit AI research firm that aims to promote and develop friendly AI in a way that will benefit humanity as a whole. The company has recently received world-wide attention for being supported by some of Silicon Valley’s biggest names, including Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.
[Related Article] UNIST Alumni Hired by One of Silicon Valley’s Coveted Tech Companies
10) Seven UNIST Researchers Named ‘World’s Most Highly Cited Researchers’ (1,104 page views)
Seven UNIST researchers have distinguished themselves with inclusion in the the prestigious Clarivate Analytics list of ‘Highly Cited Researchers’ for 2018. The annual list, published on November 27, includes researchers with multiple papers ranking in the top 1% by citations for their field and publication year. This year, about 53 Korean researchers named to 2018 ‘Highly Cited Researchers’ list, which includes 7 faculty members from UNIST.
Seven Highly Cited Researchers at UNIST named in Global Highly Cited Researchers 2018 List. From left are Rodney S. Ruoff, Jaephil Cho, Jin Young Kim, Christopher W Bielawski, Kwang Soo Kim, Sang Il Seok, and Jong-Beom Baek. l Photo Credit: Kyoungchae Kim, Ahn Hong Bum
Now in its fifth year, the citation analysis identifies influential researchers as determined by their peers around the globe, as well as those who have consistently won recognition in the form of high citation counts over a decade. The seven UNIST researchers named are: ① Distinguished Professor Rodney S. Ruoff, ② Professor Jaephil Cho, ③ Professor Jin Young Kim, ④ Distinguished Professor Christopher W Bielawski, ⑤ Distinguished Professor Kwang Soo Kim, ⑥ Distinguished Professor Sang Il Seok, ⑦ Professor Jong-Beom Baek.
[Related Article] Seven UNIST Researchers Named ‘World’s Most Highly Cited Researchers’
