On March 25, The 9th KAIST Institute for the NanoCentury (KINC) Fusion Research Award was awarded to Professor Il-Doo Kim and Professor Seokwu Jeon from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Professor Myungeun Seo from the Graduate School of Nanoscience and Technology. The ceremony was held at the KAIST Institute Faculty Conference room.
The KINC Fusion Research Award was established to promote the integration of various areas of study in KAIST research laboratories and celebrate the outstanding research accomplishments of KAIST professors. The recipients of the award are assessed based on the previous year’s research accomplishments. They should conduct outstanding research and foster an atmosphere that encourages interdisciplinary research projects. In contrast to the previous KINC Fusion Research awards, two separate divisions were established for the hosting of the 9th award: the “Outstanding Integrated Research Award” and the “Most Proliferate Publisher of Integrated Research Award”.
The “Most Proliferate Publisher of Integrated Research Award” was awarded by examining the candidates’ participation in KAIST, extracurricular research projects, and the number of papers the candidates have published. The grand prize was awarded to Professor Il-Doo Kim, who received 1.5 million KRW, while the excellence awards were given to Professor Myungeun Seo and Professor Seokwu Jeon, who received 500 thousand KRW each. However, no recipients were chosen for the “Outstanding Integrated Research Award”, which is awarded to a cooperative research team on the quality of the research project and the degree of interdisciplinary collaboration.
Professor Tae Jung Hee from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, who serves as the research director of KINC and the chief organizer of the KINC Fusion Research Award, commented, “Integration is a keyword in the changes that face our future society. I hope that the award ceremony emphasizes the significance of the advancement of integrated technology. KINC will play a leading role in the culturing of a technological environment that encourages the integration of research.”