The process of selecting the final three candidates is underway for the 17^th KAIST presidency, which is set to begin in 2021. The Presidential Candidate Recommendation Committee (PCRC) of the KAIST Professors Association (KPA) have voted to pick the first and second choices out of three potential candidates. Professor Joungho Kim from the School of Electrical Engineering and Professor Yong-Taek Im from the Department of Mechanical Engineering are first and second choices, respectively. Another candidate was nominated separately by the Presidential Candidate Search Committee (PCSC). Among these recommendations as well as other applicants, the KAIST Presidential Nomination Committee (PNC) will choose the final three candidates to be presented to the Board of Trustees, who will make the ultimate decision in appointing the next president in January.

The KPA conducted its vote on October 6 with 451 of the 571 (79%) members participating. Along with Professors Kim and Im, Professor Hyuck Mo Lee from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering was also on the ballot. The first choice went to Professor Kim with 242 (54%) votes and the second choice was given to Professor Im with 303 (67%) votes of a separate second-choice election between Professors Im and Lee.

The KAIST PCSC Committee selected its candidate in late October. The seven anonymous committee members appointed by the Chairman of Board of Trustees and the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSICT) chose former Chairman of National Research Council of Science and Technology and former Head of the KAIST Graduate School of Culture Technology Kwangyun Wohn.

In addition, the university has been calling for domestic and international applicants as well as recommendations. The current six candidates include President Sung-Chul Shin, Provost and Executive Vice President Kwang Hyung Lee, and the aforementioned three candidates.

The five members representing the board, MSICT, and the KPA in the PNC will go through a thorough evaluation and interview process to finalize the three candidates to present to the Board of Trustees. Afterwards, whoever receives the majority vote among the 15 members of the board will be appointed president.

Current President Sung-Chul Shin began his term in February 2017, having received much attention as the first KAIST alumnus to have assumed the position. Over his four-year term, President Shin has brought several key changes to the school operations, such as the push for more gender and international diversity, the establishment of the School of Transdisciplinary Studies, and a greater emphasis on a global KAIST society and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. His term is set to end in February 2021.

Much interest remains to who the new president will be, and what changes they will bring. The appointed president will begin their four-year term starting in March next year.