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Giving Time through Virtual Volunteering

[POSTECH’s student online mentoring program runs until December] In line with the current COVID-19 situation, college students are spreading their kindness by volunteering online. A mentoring project that helps local students with their studies, the POSTECH online mentoring program is warming the hearts of our community. As part of this program, the POSTECH students become mentors for younger students residing in rural communities in the Gyeongbuk Province by tutoring math and science and offering career and academic counseling. Currently, 20 POSTECH student mentors and 50 mentees from four middle schools are participating in the program. The POSTECH mentors produce and upload middle school-level math and science teaching videos on the mentoring platform and the mentees watch them and study on their own. If they have questions, they can leave them on the website and the mentors respond with answers on the site directly. As a research-oriented university that specializes in science and technology, POSTECH also operates science experiment mentoring. The mentors produce videos containing experiments designed by them that include the explanation and interpretation on the principles behind the experiment. The mentee students receive experiment kits to conduct the experiments on their own. With these kits, they develop interest and curiosity in science by doing the experiments not seen in textbooks. Moreover, mentors have weekly one-on-one academic and career counseling sessions with their mentees using Vmeeting, a video conference system developed by POSTECH. Mentors hold frank and honest conversations with their mentees and share experiences and expertise to help them reach their full potential. “Through this online mentoring program, local students who have limited learning opportunities due to the COVID-19 situation can get a chance to learn, and POSTECH students in turn feel rewarded for their contribution,” remarked Professor Won-Ki Hong, the director of Innovation Center for Education at POSTECH. He added, “We will continue to develop and operate this virtual mentoring program to prepare for the post-COVID-19 era.”

PIURI Postdoctoral Fellowship Awarded

POSTECH held a presentation ceremony for the PIURI*1 Postdoctoral Fellowship recipients on October 12 at the POSCO International Center. The fellowship is awarded to cultivate outstanding professionals who will lead future innovations in technology. PIURI Postdoctoral Fellowship was initiated to support the research activities of exceptional postdoctoral researchers at POSTECH and to foster capable research leaders. Any research associate or research faculty of any nationality are eligible given that they have obtained their Ph.D. degree within the past seven years. The fellowship was awarded for the first time this year, and the recipients are: Dr. Soumen Dutta of Department of Chemical Engineering, Dr. Omar Ahmed Abdelmottaleb Abdel in Department of the Electrical Engineering, Dr. Sathiya Moorthi Praveen of Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Dr. Akarsh Asoka Kumar of School of Environmental Science & Engineering and Dr. Sangjun Lee of Department of Life Sciences. The recipients of the fellowship will receive up to 35 million won per year for two years and are eligible to reapply. President Moo Hwan Kim congratulated the recipients and remarked, “The goal of this project is to secure excellent postdoctoral researchers which is a vital part of the professors' research activities.” He added, “We have launched the PIURI fellowship at our university to attract excellent talent and will be expanding the efforts in the future.” 1. PIURI POSTECH Initiative for fostering Unicorn of Research and Innovation

Professor Chong Soo Lee Receives Korea’s First ‘Distinguished Article Award’ from ISIJ

POSTECH Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology (GIFT) Professor Chong Soo Lee has received the Distinguished Article Award from the Iron and Steel Institute of Japan (ISIJ) for his contributions to the advancement of the global steel industry. The Distinguished Article Award is conferred to the best paper of the past decade published in the SCI journal, a publication of ISIJ and the Japan Institute of Metals and Materials (JIM). The selected paper must demonstrate excellence in academic and industrial aspects. Professor Lee has been awarded this prize for pioneering the field of hydrogen embrittlement research by quantifying the activation energy of hydrogen and various defects contained in TWIP steel by systematically studying the hydrogen delay destruction in TWIP steel for the first time in the world. It is significant that this award – launched for the first time this year – was awarded to a foreign scholar, which indicates that Korea’s steel research is highly regarded in the global academic circles. ISIJ awards outstanding research papers at its annual conference and the Sawamura Award, given to an excellent paper presenter, was conferred to five POSTECH GIFT professors out of total six Korean recipients so far.

POSTECH's GIFT Course Popular on Coursera

The course offered by the Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology at POSTECH on Coursera have become popular as more than 10,000 students have enrolled in the course. Created by professors Youn-Bae Kang, Nack Joon Kim, Sung-Joon Kim, and Dong-Woo Suh of GIFT, ‘Ferrous Technology I ‧ II’ has been steadily gaining popularity. The course provides a comprehensive overview of basic research on steel such as steelmaking, microstructure and phase transformation, and their applications. 33% of the students around the world who enrolled in the course have stated that it was helpful for their professional growth. 50% of them have received higher salary or promotion after taking the course. “The course was very interesting and useful," commented Riya, one of the students enrolled in the course. She remarked that all topics discussed were clear, simple, yet detailed. She added, “I would like to thank Coursera and POSTECH for making this free course available during the pandemic.” Another student named Tharun also expressed his gratitude, noting, “There are few online courses on this subject.” He added “This course is very useful for those who are interested in the steelmaking process and particularly for those who are in the steel industry.” Meanwhile, the professors who created the course made headlines for donating all their compensation to the Tae-Joon Park Digital Library Remodeling Fund.

Ding-Dong! Book Delivery from the Library

[POSTECH’s Tae-Joon Park Digital Library starts door-to-door book delivery service] POSTECH’s Tae-Joon Park Digital Library starts a service that delivers books borrowed by the students to their homes to accommodate the current situation brought on by COVID-19. The library made the decision to offer a ‘Book Loan Delivery Service’ for students who cannot physically come to the library in light of all classes being held online. The service was started to help the undergraduate students living far away from campus who have difficulty accessing the library as all fall semester courses are also held remotely. The students may request more than two books at one time and return the books using designated shipping companies with the collect on delivery (COD) option. For more information on this service, please visit the library website (https://library.postech.ac.kr/bookdelivery). “We started the book delivery service to meet the student’s desire for reading and to protect their right of education,” remarked Professor Hee-Kap Ahn, the vice president of Academic Information Affairs at POSTECH. He continued, “We hope that the students will take advantage of this service as it was a bold decision made to curb COVID-19’s effect on student’s reading activities.” Adapting to the circumstances brought on by COVID-19, the library will change its acquisition policies accordingly to acquire more online books to encourage reading amongst students without having to visit the library.

Professor Jisoon Ihm Receives the IAAM Scientist Award

[Recognized for his research capacity and prominent contribution to developing the materials science field] Jisoon Ihm, a Distinguished Visiting Professor at POSTECH’s Department of Physics has been awarded the 2020 IAAM Scientist Award from the International Association of Advanced Materials (IAAM). Professor Ihm was selected as a winner for making groundbreaking advances in the field of materials science and especially recognized for his research titled ‘Manifestation of axion electrodynamics at the edge of topological insulators’. After graduating from Seoul National University and completing his Ph.D. at UC Berkeley, Professor Ihm worked at MIT, Bell Labs, and Seoul National University, then joined POSTECH in 2016. In 2011, he became the first Korean physicist to be appointed a foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in the U.S. and has been actively engaged in international academic activities. IAAM, a Sweden-based international academic organization well-known for its authority and scope in the field of materials science, confers the award to a world-leading scholar every year, and requests a lecture from the winner. All components of the event, including the award ceremony, were held online on September 17 due to COVID-19.

POSTECH and the Vingroup Scholarship Program of VinUniversity to Raise Global Leaders in Science and Technology Together

On August 27, POSTECH and the Vingroup Science and Technology Scholarship Program for Overseas Study for Master’s and Doctoral Degrees managed by VinUniversity signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to implement the scholarship program and to actively cooperate to support the education, scientific research, and training of Vietnamese students. Through this agreement, POSTECH has become the first scholarship-program partner of the Vingroup Scholarship Program in South Korea. ‘The Vingroup Science and Technology Scholarship Program for Overseas Study for Master’s and Doctoral Degrees’ provides scholarships to qualified Vietnamese students to complete their master’s and doctoral degrees at leading universities in the world including POSTECH. Thanks to this MOU, the Vietnamese scholarship recipients, chosen through a rigorous selection process conducted by VinUniversity, will receive full support from both Vingroup Scholarship Program and POSTECH for the duration of their study at POSTECH. In establishing this partnership with VinUniversity, President Moo Hwan Kim of POSTECH remarked, “We are pleased to strengthen the partnership with VinUniversity, which is a promising educational institution in Vietnam nurturing outstanding students. As we promised when we met at POSTECH last year, we will provide full support to cultivate the students from VinUniversity in research and education of science and engineering. Furthermore, this agreement is a big first step in our partnership, and we will strive for further progress by mutual educational and research exchange. We look forward to having talented students from VinUniversity on our campus.” Dr. Le Mai Lan, Vingroup Vice-Chairwoman and President of VinUniversity, stated, “VinUniversity first visited POSTECH in November 2019 to discuss about how our two universities can collaborate with each other. I am delighted that since then, POSTECH has joined hands with us in supporting the Vingroup Science and Technology Scholarship Program to help build the human resources for Vietnam. In Vietnam, Vingroup has established VinUniversity with a mission to educate their most talented students to become future leaders with a clear vision, skills, integrity and great promise. In Korea, POSCO had set up POSTECH with a common mission. As POSTECH and VinUniversity share many similar backgrounds and values, I strongly believe that this is the very first stepping stone in terms of collaboration between our two institutions. As much as we look forward to having the first Vingroup scholars attending POSTECH, we also hope that VinUniversity will collaborate more closely with POSTECH in various academic aspects.” VinUniversity is a private university founded by Vingroup, the biggest conglomerate in Vietnam mainly focusing on technology, industrials and services. VinUniversity was established following the approval by the Prime Minister of Vietnam in March 2018. The University opened its campus earlier this year and welcomed the inaugural cohort of students in Fall 2020.

POSTECH and SK Hynix Join Hands for Social Data Science

On August 28, POSTECH and SK Hynix Inc. established a partnership for developing the Social Data Science major successfully. Through this partnership, the two institutions will cooperate closely in education and research for making progress in social data science, and to work together to nurture research specialists and joint research. The agreement includes funding for cultivating research specialists, commissioning personnel and educational programs, co-hosting conferences, seminars and workshops, and exchanging and utilizing technical information. In addition, they will organize and operate active research and technology exchange groups to strengthen substantial cooperation. The signing ceremony was replaced with the exchange of agreements by mail to prevent the re-proliferation COVID-19.

POSTECH and Samsung Display to Cultivate Future Vietnamese Leaders Together

POSTECH, Samsung Display and three Vietnamese universities held a joint MOU signing ceremony at the Samsung Display Giheung Campus to cultivate future leaders of Vietnam together. With this MOU, Samsung Display will select outstanding students in science and engineering from the three universities to provide opportunities to gain professional knowledge and conduct cutting-edge research in cooperation with POSTECH. Through this process, they plan to cultivate future leaders who are also familiar with Korean culture. The program will be operated from September 2020 to August 2024, and graduates of the program will have the opportunity to work at Samsung Display Vietnam (SDV). The collaboration, based on POSTECH’s prominent education system and research outcomes in the field of display materials, is expected to contribute to promoting the exchange between Korea and Vietnam through a close academia-industry cooperation. The online live ceremony was attended by POSTECH President Moo Hwan Kim and Samsung Display President & CEO Dong-Hoon Lee from Korea, VNU-UET Vice Rector Chu Duc Thrinh, HUST Vice President Huynh Quyet Than and GUST Rector Vu Dinh Lam in Vietnam.

Professor Wonyong Choi Appointed as Advisory Panel of Nature Sustainability

Professor Wonyong Choi of POSTECH’s Division of Environmental Science and Engineering, and Department of Chemical Engineering has been appointed as an advisory panel for the journal Nature Sustainability. Prof. Choi earned his B.S. in chemical technology from Seoul National University in 1988, an M.S. in physical chemistry from POSTECH a Ph.D. in environmental chemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 1996. His research areas are focused on semiconductor-based photoelectrochemical systems and environmental chemical processes to address various aspects of environmental and energy-related issues. After joining the POSTECH faculty in 1988, Prof. Choi received the Young Scientist Award in 2005, KAST Science and Technology Award in 2015, and the Korea Engineering Award in 2018. He has also been designated as a highly cited researcher from Clarivate Analytics last year. Launched in January 2018, Nature Sustainability is a journal of highest authority, publishing the the best research about sustainability from the natural and social sciences, as well as from the fields of engineering and policy.