On April 2, 2018, I was appointed to the position of an assistant reporter. On March 4, 2020, I will be retiring from The Postech Times. Even as I am writing this column it is surreal to imagine that it has already been two years. It really has passed in a blink of an eye. The end and closure of leaving an organization is always a sad affair. Even though I am leaving on my own accord, it is still unfortunate that I will not be able to enjoy The Postech Times reporter experience anymore.However, along with sad emotions, there is a feeling of fulfillment and happiness. During the two years, I ex

Are you an Electronic Electrical Engineering (EEE) major or interested in things related to them? If so, there’s no doubt that participating in the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas, U.S. will provide you with an unforgettable and invaluable experience. First of all, I express my appreciation for the support from the POSTECH EEE department, for providing us with a new program “Global exploration to CES 2020” for EEE junior students. The program not only gave us the precious chance of visiting CES, but also offered tours of the most popular places in neighboring regions, such as

Since young, I loved making something. I also thought that it would be great if my inventions are used worldwide. One day, I realized that “start-up” is means to fulfill all such desires. Ever since entering graduate school, I thought maybe my research material can become commercialized. One day, a friend from my laboratory suggested me to use his doctor's thesis to establish a new company and since December of 2015, we launched an entrepreneur team under the name of ORGANPRINT. Since then, commercializing ideas derived from research was always a consideration and eventually, in March of 2

When I was young, bananas were a symbol of wealth due to its high price. Only once in a while, when I sometimes suffered from sore throats due to a severe cold, my parents would buy me a banana and I would savor my each moment of it. I still love bananas, but strangely enough, it never tastes or smells good as the ones from back then. Considering this, how good would a banana taste like if it was worth 1.4 million KRW?On Dec. 2019, Italian Artist Maurizio Cattelan, or precisely his art gallery Perrotin, sold Comedian – a banana duct-taped to the wall- for 12,000 USD at the Art Basel Miami Beac

Underneath the beautiful city lights that glitter in the night sky, the citizens of Hong Kong have been battling for their future. It’s been years since the Umbrella Revolution took place, and another storm had struck Hong Kong. Now, once again the city stands in the middle of the chaos, with flames burning with desire for freedom and democracy. More than a million of people are out on the streets, fighting against the chocking hands of China around their necks.When China regained its sovereignty over Hong Kong from the British in 1997, it was under agreement “one country, two nations”, which

I like to walk. If time permits, I usually walk most places. Friends who know I like to walk avoid traveling with me. Because they know what will happen. I once went on a trip to Tongyeong with a friend. We seemed to have walked on that trip except for the time we ate. That day, my friend and I walked about 12 kilometers.Walking with friends or family is good, but walking alone gives me time to think. I used to think about my life, about my friends, or the various aspects of people passing by.I also like to walk on rainy days. Time passes and rainwater flows, but there is a person who seems to

Resolute Courage within SilenceIf someone asks me to introduce to her the most capable feminist, the first to come to mind is the students who resolutely express their opinions even while silent in class. In an ideal educational environment, everyone must feel secure, be able to express their opinions, and have the chance to actively discuss such opinions, but the real-life educational environment often has its limits. Specifically, the less the environment accommodates feminists, and the more students who voiced their opinions were cast under a spotlight, even to the point, where it seemed as

On Nov. 14, 2019, the 2020 College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) took place. During my high school days, whenever the weather got colder, the CSAT was just around the corner and on all of our minds. Despite getting used to college life, the tension and solemnity of taking the test are still haunting. Back in the day, CSAT, a single examination was all there was to life. I was attending an autonomous private high school, so I did not pin high hopes on early admission where high school records were important. Instead, I intensely prepared for the regular admission. Luckily, I got accepted to PO

I always wanted to be an adult. A legal adult is a person who has attained the age of majority, which is 19 in Korea. Receiving perfume and roses for Coming-of-Age Day, I remember thinking “Wow! I am finally an adult now.” However, I could not get rid of the idea that I was a mere child living in a grown body. I knew that many labels which modify myself cannot fully explain who I am.Generally speaking, a child “grows up” to be an “adult”. The growth is often expressed as a process in which the body and mind mature over time. If so, one can say that an adult is a person who lives with a mature

High-impact weather extremes such as heatwaves, floods, and tropical cyclones exert a profound impact on human society and ecosystems all around the world. East Asia is one of the regions with frequent occurrences of weather extremes. For example, Korea had a record hot and long summer heat wave last year, which affected our society and economy considerably including 48 heat-related deaths. This year, we are experiencing more typhoons than usual, which bring extreme winds and rainfalls, creating devastating impacts on our lives and infrastructures. Thus, understanding past and future changes i

Recently, there were two impressive situations in the cultural industry. The newest season of ‘South Park’, one of the most famous American animations, was removed from Chinese video platforms. Also, ‘Blizzard’, one of the biggest game companies, suspended a professional game player of Hearthstone (a mobile card game). Why did these things happen? That is because of China’s censorship. Nowadays, China is threatening the worldwide cultural industry that criticizes their government or the situation in Hong Kong. Companies that are warned by China have two choices. “Keep their protest to human ri

At the end of the spring semester this year, I was tired of school life. Yet, at the beginning of the semester, I was filled with expectations toward my new environment and knowledge to learn. However, excessive assignments and speedy lessons always made me run out of time, and it led to a lack of sleep. Moreover, I had not been back home to see my family for a long time, which made me mentally exhausted. As the exam period came, the situation became even worse. I concluded that I needed a long break to restore myself. Therefore, I decided not to do anything during the summer vacation.The firs

The modern society is changing faster than ever before. The main concepts of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR): superintelligence, hyperconnectivity, and convergence are already making their way into our everyday lives. At a time like this, a time of revolution, it is of paramount importance to positively adapt to the pace of change and maintain a flexible and tolerant mindset. Following the needs of this era, the educational community is making various preparations to foster young talents with flexible software thinking skills.The keywords for education that emerged from this social back

Why are we such pattern-seeking animals? Recently, I read an article claiming that we are genetically-wired to find patterns because it increases the probability of surviving. It said humans find and justify patterns to reduce the cost of our decisions. In fact, we receive a vast amount of information every day, and there is too much information for us to process. We interpret and store them differently by seeking patterns. It is surprising how humans are adept at finding patterns whether they exist or not. I wondered why we have such a pattern recognition ability and where our pattern-seeking

I have never worn the right size of clothes since I was a kid. Regardless of my taste, I always wore big clothes, hoping to be taller. The decisions I made before I entered POSTECH were no different. I went to a boarding school even though I hated group life. I chose a natural science track even though I liked Korean more than math, and entered a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)-based university even though I was not that good at chemistry. I seemed to have attempted something beyond my ability no matter what I liked or wanted. My school life was not easy, just as wearin

Do you like to travel? Then, what is your travel style? Each person has different ways of traveling and the worth of travel in one’s life is all different. I have traveled at least three places every vacation. With the start of the winter vacation last year, I have not only changed greatly in my style of traveling but also started to find the new worth of it. I used to plan a trip like ‘the one who will not be there again.’ Except for sleep time, I planned a tight schedule so that there were no breaks, and I felt like I had traveled only when I had looked around all the tourist attractions. Ph

In the passport photo I took in elementary school, in my middle school graduation photo, and even in the photo I took at my high school graduation ceremony, I wore the same glasses and had the same haircut. I did not like my haircut that much, but neither did I dislike it. My hair was simply the same haircut done by the same hairdresser at the same barber’s. Covering my forehead, same length all around, and making me indistinctive wherever I went, my hair was the haircut I had always had. My haircut was ‘me’.After the first semester of my freshmen year, I went on a trip to Europe alone and met

*Warning: This review contains pretty big spoilers to the movie and personal thoughts and analysis of the film. Aladdin (2019) is a live-action adaptation of Disney’s all-time beloved animation movie Aladdin (1992). It tells a story based on one of the folk tales of the One Thousand and One Nights. Alike the original production, Aladdin (2019) accompanies fantasy elements with lively music and extravagant choreography. In Korea alone, Aladdin (2019) has been visited by more than 10 million according to KOBIS and is still being starred in most theatres. Considering that it has been more than a

The Organelle Network Research Center (ONRC), which is attached to POSTECH, was selected and newly established in 2017 as a leading science research center development project (SRC) supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Research Foundation. In the ONRC, researchers from the life sciences department of POSTECH are working together with researchers from Seoul National University’s chemistry department, KAIST’s life sciences department, and the College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea to present a new principle to control life phenomena by the dynamic and complex

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… There was a little kid who studied English for 16 hours straight almost every day. You may think that the kid is a genius, but you are way off base. Actually, the kid is me. I will tell you a secret. I was highly absorbed in the animation ‘Bing Bang Boom’, made for learning English. The truth of the mystery is simple. I just loved watching animated features a lot. My parents were concerned, so they threw the video tapes away. It was a bad ending for me, but one thing is sure: They succeeded in stopping me watching it, but they failed to change my true