As I kept my post at the Severance Hospital funeral hall, I was amazed by the founding chairman’s wide personal connections in economic, political, cultural, religious, and soccer areas. At the same time, however, I wished that the significance of POSTECH’s foundation would have received more attention. He knew the importance of quality human resources in today’s world of creativity and knowledge as well as in the steel industry, which fuels the overall industry. For this reason, I think the establishment of the university, despite difficulties, that fulfilled his gigantic dream has more signi

The foreign readers might not be familiar with Tae-Joon Park, who passed away on Dec. 13, other than the fact that he was the founder of POSTECH. For those who may be curious of the POSTECH founder’s life, The Postech Times has briefly written about the life of Tae-Joon Park from his birth to death.Early AgeTae-Joon Park was born in Yangsan-si, Gyeongsangnam-do in 1927. He moved to Japan when he was six and how he spent his early ages is not known. He entered Waseda University and studied mechanical engineering. After Korea’s independence in 1945, Park came back to South Korea.Return to South

POSTECH recently celebrated its 25th anniversary since its foundation. As many people already know, POSTECH has a special tie with POSCO. In fact, POSTECH could not exist today without the support from the recently deceased founding chairman Tae-Joon Park.A major steel tycoon in South Korean history, Park is also known as the education revolutionist, one of many nicknames he liked to call himself. He always treated education with the utmost importance and is known to have said, “the country is made by outstanding individuals, and outstanding individuals are made by education.”When he first cam

Tae-Joon Park, the founder of POSTECHwas famous as the founder of the iron and steel industry in Korea and led the industry to the top position of Global market. Therefore, he is often called“Steel King.” He holds status with the past president of Korea, Park Chung-hee and started the iron and steelbusiness under the support of the president. Though the business did not seem tobe a success at first, the factory was constructed in Pohang and developed quickly as one of Korea’s main industries. With the development of the industry, there are four more achievements of Park: Politics, Economics, S

One good thing about being a Postechian is you do not need to worry about leg exercises, unless you are too tired to go to class after the overnight lan party at the dorm. Here are fun facts about the 78 Stairs.The origin of the nameThere is a famous rumor concerning the meaning of the name. As the proverb goes, many believe that the origin of the name of the 78 Stairs comes from the Korean proverb ‘For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again.’ Here is the fact. The 13 meters high 78 Stairs consists of seven staircases with 78 steps in total.The legendAccording to the legend of the

There was a POSTECH Orchestra concert on Dec 1, 2011 in celebration of POSTECH’s 25th anniversary. The Postech Times had an interview with Maestro Uihwan Chong. Maestro Chong took the position six years ago when he came to organize the POSTECH Orchestra with Professor Jung Ki Kim of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences.How did you come to lead POSTECH Orchestra?This is a question I was asked five years ago. My wife, then, was a professor at POSTECH. Once I came to POSTECH to see one of the POSTECH’s culture programs with my wife. I somehow met Jung Ki Kim, who’s the head of POSTECH

Kicking off with the front-runner Samsung GALAXY S II LTE which launched in September, Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology is now widely available to many mobile devices. However, extensive use of this blazingly fast device often drains away the power from the phone making it a useless gadget. Many times, it so happens that the phones need to be charged immediately but with no charging point available nearby. To solve this problem, advanced technology has been used in some cellphone designs that make them capable to power themselves with solar energy.Photovolatics, which were once used almost

Did you enjoy Pepero Day with your loved ones? Every 11th day of November is called Pepero Day in Korea. It is similar to Valentine’s Day but couples exchange Pepero rather than chocolate.A stick-shaped Pepero is covered with chocolate syrup at the top. Firstly, Lotte Confectionery, one of the biggest food companies in Korea. got inspiration from the Japanese cookie called Pocky and produced Pepero massively since 1963. As its shape looks like 1, 11/11 resembles that there are four sticks of Pepero; therefore, Nov. 11 is called Pepero Day. Moreover, many young couples enjoy it as a special hol

We usually refer to the principle of dialectic in discussion of how things change and improve; it is a principle that the previous thesis is contradicted by antithesis. Then, there gets to be a synthesis of collusion. The same applies to the communication methods trend. Telegrams replaced the manually delivered letters. The phones replaced the telegrams, and Facebook is replacing Cyworld and other online networks in Postechian background since Sep. 2010. In POSTECH, though the adoption has been little late, Facebook is overriding Cyworld, a social network service that once was the only online

Autumn has arrived in POSTECH, and with it comes the ending days of October, with a bottle of beer, student rock band club Steeler’s performance, and Jack-o’-lantern. The Dormitory for Cultural Exchange (DICE) and Steeler together hosted a Friday Night Party (FNP) for Halloween at the Atlas Hall of the Student Union on Oct.28. Halloween is celebrated in the United States and European countries on Oct 31. The history of Halloween has its roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain- a time used by the ancient Pagans to prepare for winter. The ancient Gaels believed that on the last day of October, t

At noon, a bus arrived in Andong Hahoe Folk Village. This trip was organized by the International Relations Office (IRO), and was also a collaborative program with the Dormitory for International Cultural Exchange. The members of this tour consisted of 40 foreign students and seven Korean students, including two reporters from The Postech times.One of the groups, which include reporters, went to Hahoe marketplace first. There were many shops which sold various things about Hahoe Village, such as small masks and traditional necessaries. Some international students were interested in acupressure

Here comes October again, a beautiful month for travelling and sightseeing as the weather is not too cold yet, and there are many festivals held around nearby areas. Located in the middle of Gyeongsangbuk-do, Andong is a place where genuine Korean tradition is still alive. Despite the recent boom in the tourist industry by adding it to the UNESCO World Heritage List on 2010, Andong Hahoe Folk Village has not lost its touch with its rich cultural heritage, providing visitors a taste of the essence of Korea’s traditional lifestyles.Hahoe Village holds its significance in that it has preserved th

The second session of the Seoul Forum (see page 2) discussed how to manage the cooperation system of universities, industries, and research institutes. As a really “hot potato” of this era, there was a careful discourse on what we should do to transfer scientific innovations from universities to industries. Additionally considered is what the mission is of universities to have desirable interactions with industrial firms.President Yongmin Kim opened the session with his keynote lecture, emphasizing the awareness of university members on commercialization of basic research is always required. T

There were many interesting points that occurred during the recent POSTECH & KAIST Science War held at KAIST. Nobody could anticipate the result of the competition until the basketball game finished. If supporters were asked to choose the most interesting points of the Science War, they would likely pick the dramatic victory and unexpected outcome of the competitions. While POSTECH gained the championship easily by winning from every category except AI programming in the ninth KAIST & POSTECH Science War, no one could know the result until the end and every student from both universities watch

The electrifying thrill that the Postechians felt after winning the basketball game at the Science War still remains even after several days have passed. It was unforeseeable who was going to win literally until the very last second. However, very poor organization and lack of preparation from the KAIST preparation committee made everyone frown. Praise is due for the diligent work of POSTECH’s preparation committee. Such a dramatic success would not have been possible without their hard work both by day and night for the past three months. The committee consists of a group of students who spen

One way to step forward may be to seek for novel and noteworthy features of others. This can also be done when looking for an area to strengthen the character of university education. The Postech Times took its step to several Scandinavian universities, of which there was one interesting institution to share with the readers. Aalto University, where its campuses are nestled within Helsinki Metropolitan Area and Southern Finland, is the chosen destination.▶ Established in 2010▶ 20,000 undergraduate and doctoral students▶ 2,300 international students from 90 nationalities▶ 340 full-time professo

A new education course was made by the POSTECH leadership center. This course was named Activity-based General Education Curriculum (ABC). As the name suggests, ABC is far from other major courses of POSTECH as it would make students do novel activities like going to the Naval Academy, attemdomg freshman seminar and culture colloquium. Therefore these courses would help students to make future plans and promote intellectual depth. All Postechians must finish 10 credits to graduate. 4 units are essential parts, so postechians can select 6 credits of what they want to take. The group activity wh

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Korea? Kim-chi? Hangul? Perhaps for the young generation, K-pop, or Korean pop music, would be first. With Hip hop and R&B being its mainstream genres, K-pop is gaining international popularity increasingly faster in the recent years. K-pop received its first foreign attention from nearby East Asian countries like China and Japan. First introduced with the original soundtracks, OST’s for short, of popular drama series or movies, K-pop now competes against other mainstream musical genres in those countries. It is now knocking on the m

The summer vacation is coming. Even for really busy graduate students, it is definitely impossible to talk about an enjoyable life without any holidays, especially in summer. Nevertheless, a typical term of a vacation for graduate students is not so long; they are granted only a few days of vacation and it is not enough to visit their home countries.Then, how can international university members fulfill their holidays? Just escape from Pohang, and head for wonderful places in Korea. The Postech Times offers special recommendations for your enjoyable vacation. Reach all over the country with a

In 1998, Russia declared a financial moratorium, and the country’s bonds lost their value. Consequently, Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM), the biggest hedge fund of the time, collapsed with 1.25 trillion dollars vanishing into the air. This incident is recorded as one of the great financial accidents in history. Surprisingly, most of the members of LTCM were mathematicians with Ph.D.’s, and the two of them were among the most well-known financial engineers, Merton and Scholes.What is financial engineering?Financial engineering is a cutting-edge area of study which designs and evaluates fina