Every month, KAIST faculty and students garner a multitude of domestic awards. In the middle of April, it was Professor Duck-Joo Lee of the Department of Aerospace Engineering who was awarded for his contributions to science and technology. In the 32nd 21st Century Award Ceremony, hosted by the 21st Leaders Club and the New Industry Management Academy, Professor Lee received the grand prize in the field of technology. The ceremony took place in THE PLAZA Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul.

Professor Lee was recognized for his endeavor in the domestic helicopter industry and assistance to development projects within that industry. Among the projects he partook in is the military KUH-1 Surion, a twin- engine, medium-sized transport utility rotorcraft that was completed in the end of 2012 by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI). He also provided aid in the Light Armed Helicopter (LAH) and Light Civil Helicopter (LCH) project, which is currently in development stages.

Professor Lee joined KAIST in 1988 and, since then, has supervised over more than 26 PhDs and 27 MSs. He currently leads the Aeroacoustics Lab. The lab focuses on research on the area of sound generation due to temporal air distortion caused by aircraft or spacecraft components such as jets and rotors and the reduction of said sounds.

However, his posts of leadership have not been only within our university’s boundaries. Previously, he hosted the 1st Asian-Australian Rotorcraft Forum and Exhibition in 2012, which sought to amplify interactions and relationships between researchers in the Asian and Australian regions, and was the leader of the National Task Force Team of Korean Military and Civil Helicopter. Currently, he is both the vice president of the American Helicopter Society (AHS) — he is the first Korean to hold this position — and the Korea Drone Industry Promotion Association. AHS is the largest and the only international non-profit association in the field of vertical flight development and research.