Happy New Year!

As we celebrate our 40th anniversary, the 40th Celebration Committee is planning major events to commemorate this important milestone during the week of May 9, 2011. Since its establishment in 1971, KAIST has achieved more than anyone has dared to imagine. KAIST has become one of the world’s leading science and technology universities, ranked 24th in engineering and IT and 57th in sciences in 2010. Our graduates have made and continue to make significant contributions to industry and academia, and in doing so, to society in general, both in Korea and abroad. Indeed, it is fair to say that Korea’s industrial achievements over the last 40 years might not have been possible without the contributions made by the alumni and the faculty of KAIST. As we celebrate our anniversary, we must reaffirm KAIST’s mission: To contribute to Korea and the Korean people by becoming one of the world’s leading S&T universities and by solving the most challenging problems facing humanity. To achieve this goal, KAIST will continue to hire outstanding professors and attract the best students. We will make strategic investments in innovative educational and research programs, where we can be the most competitive, and at the same time, conserve our resources by eliminating ineffective programs and projects. It is imperative that we make choices that will benefit future generations of students and the Korean people.

Major achievements of KAIST in 2010
For KAIST, 2010 was a year of change and preparation for greater achievements. This was only possible due to the combined efforts of all professors, staffs and students at our university. I would particularly like to mention the aides that were appointed during August 2010, who have helped me enormously during my first term. I extend my gratification to all of them. KAIST has achieved so much last year, but unfortunately I am only able to mention a few of them here.

The Successful Merger of KAIST and ICU
As everyone is aware, KAIST and ICU have successfully been integrated; I believe that staff members and students from both sides have contributed to make KAIST a stronger and better establishment.

Some Achievements of Staff Members
This year has also been one of great achievement for KAIST professors as a whole. Also, many professors have contributed to various projects and programs, doing their part for the improvement of KAIST. Again, it is unfortunate that we cannot mention everyone and everything here.

Bi-Modal Education
KAIST is emphasizing the importance of both analysis and integrative thinking in the cultivation of future scientific minds. For this, we have set up the Freshmen Design Course (FDC) and the Renaissance PhD. Program. Especially, a lot of colleges worldwide have taken an interest in FDC, and are looking to integrate it into their own curriculum. Students who have taken FDC have exhibited a marked increase in the understanding of both science and technology. Professor Kate Thompson and others teaching FDC have likewise found an increase in the students’ capacity for critical thinking.

On-Line Electric Vehicle (OLEV) Project
The OLEV research group led by Professor Dong ho Cho has seen the involvement of numerous professors and research teams, and has seen remarkable progress. Notably, the OLEV system has been successfully installed in Seoul Grand Park. Through the OLEV project, KAIST has demonstrated its potential as a truly global institution, with OLEV being chosen as one of TIME’s “Best 50 Inventions of 2010.” We are actively working towards developing other applications for OLEV technology, such as Shaped Magnetic Field in Resonance (SMFIR).

The Mobile Harbor (MH) Project
Under the leadership of Professor Byung man Kwak and others, the MH team has further developed the MH technology and has used a 1/25th scale model to demonstrate the viability of such technology. The technology is due for actual demonstration in June 2011 with a 1/3rd scale model at sea. Numerous foreign and domestic organizations have shown interest in the MH technology.

New Faculty Members
KAIST, since 2006, has employed approximately 180 new faculty members, resulting in a total of 600 full time teachers working here. Needless to say, we are scouting for the best young minds to employ as our new professors. We will rightfully continue this policy.

KUSTAR-KAIST Collaboration
KAIST has begun extensive cooperation with the Khalifa University for Science, Technology and Research (KUSTAR) on education and research. To support nuclear engineering programs in the United Arab Emirates, KAIST has founded the KUSTAR-KAIST Nuclear Cooperation Center to establish specific education and research cooperation programs. A total of four professors from the Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering have left in August last year to their new posts in KUSTAR.

KAIST Infrastructure
Seven new buildings were completed in 2010. These include the Chunghi and BJ
Park KI Building where the KAIST Institute research laboratories have taken residence, the Lyu Keun-Chul Sports Complex which is being actively utilized by students, and the Paparlado Medical Center which has improved healthcare services within KAIST. All this has been through the combined financial efforts of numerous contributors and benefactors.

KAIST Finances
As mentioned above, the donations and contributions of numerous people have resulted in KAIST’s combined finances reaching record heights of approximately 1 trillion won. These funds will all go towards further improvements and further research projects.

Globalization of KAIST
KAIST’s international reputation has been rapidly gaining momentum, through initiatives such as the KUSTAR-KAIST cooperation scheme and events like its participation in the World Economic Forum (WEF). The active involvement of numerous professors and students in international conferences and academic forums has helped this further. Recently, New York City of the United States invited KAIST to establish a campus in New York City with their “significant commitment in the form of capital and City-controlled land – given KAIST – Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology’s outstanding reputation in the academic and research community, we would be excited for you to work with us on this initiative. As we learn more about your vision for KAIST – Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology’s presence in New York, we will work closely with you to ensure the optimal degree of support achieve your ambitions and priorities.”

Recognitions
In 2010 numerous professors at KAIST have won numerous awards in light of their achievements, and have been given important posts in international academic conferences. It is, again, unfortunate that everyone cannot be mentioned.

Thoughts for 2011
KAIST will announce Vision 2025 at its 40th anniversary celebration. Vision 2025 will outline KAIST’s plan for becoming one of the leading universities in the world. This document has been created by the Office of Academic Planning under the direction of Dean Hee Kyung Park based on the inputs provided by all academic and administrative units of KAIST. Vision 2025 will address six key characteristics that all leading research universities possess. These include:
• High concentration of outstanding people, including scholars, scientists, engineers, researchers, professors, students, and staff
• “Idea factory” that continues to generate new ideas, theories, and paradigms
• Strong financial base built on a generous budget, endowment, and continuing stream of gifts
• “Freedom” to pursue ideas and dreams without undue external constraints
• Commitment to respond to national crisis and to solve major societal problems
• Strong educational programs and pedagogy
We will prioritize the most exciting and promising programs from Vision 2025 and invest our resources to realize the dreams and aspirations embodied in this document.

Staff
For KAIST to become the world’s best research university, we must possess the finest minds in the appropriate field. Excellent scholars, scientists, engineers, researchers, professors, students and staff must be able to work at KAIST. Of course, KAIST’s professors are all very talented individuals. However if KAIST is to actively step into newly emerging fields, we must have more professors in basic research fields. For this, KAIST will employ prospective talents to beef up and reinforce its basic research division to more than twice its current size, and also reinforce its bio-brain science, physical science, material chemistry and mathematics departments.

Research in Key Areas
For KAIST to become a true leader in science and technology, it must perform vital research in several of the key areas mentioned above. Also, it must be able to actively educate its students about such subjects, entailing revolutionary new methods of education. This will almost certainly influence Korean education as a whole. We must correctly perceive the challenges that face us, and be able to work towards overcoming them. There are several areas that we are striving to improve upon:
- Healthcare systems
- A green transportation system.
- Green energy

The KAIST Education Plan
A leading university’s educational excellence should be guaranteed. A research university’s graduate school environment should be one where professors and students are ‘partners in learning.’ This is only possible by ‘education through research.’ Stemming from this approach KAIST will establish a ‘KAIST Education Plan’ centering the effective utilization of software and Information Technology in education, or Education through Digitized Discrete Knowledge Acquisition (EDDKA). This new scheme also includes the ‘KAIST Education 3.0 Project’, which will serve to instill creativity in the students. I have no doubts that this will bring about a revolution in Korean education.

Additional Physical Facilities
2011 will witness the construction of four new buildings, such as the Kim Byung Ho IT Building, the Donald Kim Wing, and the Chung Moon Soul Buidling II for neurological research. Also, the construction of a lab animal facility will begin, with the partial financial assistance of the Daejeon City Council.

Technology Transfer
KAIST will do its best for its research to be utilized widely and effectively in society. For this there must be active transfer of technology from research institutions to all levels of society. KAIST should be able to profit from applications of its patents like other universities such as MIT. We will strengthen the KAIST Technology Licensing Office (TLO) to be more effective in transferring technologies. We also will work to transfer OLEV, SMFIR, and MH technologies to industry in 2011, thereby generating profit for the university.
This New Year’s message has been much longer than I intended. Nevertheless, I hope that the thoughts I have presented can be discussed throughout the year as a basis for ongoing growth and success.

I wish everyone of the KAIST family a Happy, Healthy and Productive New Year.

January 3, 2011
KAIST President Nam Pyo Suh