Living in Korea is not always a simple task, especially if you are a minority. One big minority group in Korea is the foreigners, and we decided to look into the lives of some foreign students who eat the Halal lunchboxes provided by POSTECH food services. Most students who apply for them are Muslims as Islamic laws permit them to only consume meat produced by slaughtering animals under specified procedures. The Postech Times decided to briefly look into their life in Korea and asked them about their opinion on the halal lunchboxes. Please introduce yourself.Hello. My name is Ainu, a graduate

Professor Natasha Powell (Tasha) and Prof. Victoria Elliott (Tori) at the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences run the “Tea Time with Tasha and Tori”. They have been living in Korea for more than a decade and hope to share their knowledge with international students through a series of T-Time sessions. Below is an excerpt from a conversation with Prof. Tasha and Tori about the T-Time.Through my [Tori] past experiences, I have realized that international students are thirsty for more information about POSTECH and Korea in general but are unsure where to get answers. Especially during the

The Postech Times interviewed one of the Undergraduate Group Research Project (UGRP) teams that was awarded the grand prize: the team of Hwang Yewon, Han Gangmin, Kim Sohyun, Lee Hoseok, and Hong Jungi.Please introduce your UGRP research topic.(Kim) We developed Pooding, a meal recommendation app for Postechians. We improved on the latent factor collaborative filtering recommendation algorithm. Pooding gives personalized recommendations and context-based recommendations by considering factors such as the popularity of the menu and type of food. Additionally, it provides information on restaura

The Postech Times met the three baristas of Coffee Nearme, the cafe at the Student Union Building of POSTECH.Please introduce yourself.(Nam) Hello, I’m Nam Chun-hee, the manager of Coffee Nearme.(Yang) I’m Yang Soon-young, a barista of Coffee Nearme.(Woo) I’m barista Woo Seong-hwa. What is your job at Coffee Nearme?(Nam) As a manager, I am in charge of the store. My job is to manage the store in various ways. First, I establish a store operation plan by analyzing the sales and SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat). I create strategies to manage current customers and attract new custom

Due to the COVID-19, all physical education courses are being conducted non-face-to-face. The Postech Times met Professor Kim Myung Soo (HSS), who strives to guide physical education classes despite the current situation.Please give a brief introduction about your work.Currently, I am a physical education coordinator in the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences. In the past, I taught physical fitness, skiing, and kendo, but now I only teach physical fitness classes.How are the current physical education courses conducted?Students at POSTECH must complete a physical fitness class and selec

The POSTECH counseling center is a welcoming place composed of professors and counselors that are willing to listen and offer support to all Postechians seeking help. To introduce the counseling team to more Postechians, The Postech Times interviewed Senior Counselor Eunyeong Jang who has worked at the POSTECH counseling center for three years.Could you introduce the main responsibilities of the counseling team?Our two main areas of work are having personal counseling sessions with Postechians and conducting psychological surveys. Students and other Postechians seek the counseling team for dif

To a large extent, it is human nature to explore and discover new things. It is in this broad sense that the pandemic has challenged the very definition of what makes us living humans. Notwithstanding the global hardship, college students from around the world have challenged themselves and set out to explore Korea. Among many, these are the three courageous exchange students who joined us for an interview: Mariatu Davies (United Kingdom), Fabian Mayer (Germany), and a kind student from Vietnam who wished to stay anonymous.How has your experience been so far?I [Fabian] am enjoying my experienc

Currently, there are 86 custodians around POSTECH who work tirelessly so that we may live, study and work in a clean and pleasant environment. To thank them, The Postech Times interviewed Kim Soon-ae, a custodian at POSTECH for nine years.Please introduce your work.I come to school at 7:15 A.M. and start cleaning at 7:30 A.M. I clean the first and second floors of the LG Cooperative Electronics Engineering Building.Is garbage disposal and recycling at school satisfactory?Though waste disposal is much better than it used to be, it is still not being done properly. In particular, food waste is a

The term “Maker” refers to a person who realizes ideas through creative activities. “Maker Space” is a place where Makers can make what they want on the spot with various equipment and there is one in C5. Professor Park Ju-hong (CiTE) is in charge of the Maker courses and Maker Space at POSTECH. The Postech Times interviewed Prof. Park Ju-hong to gain insight into the Maker Space and Maker courses.Can you briefly explain about the Maker Space at POSTECH and what you are in charge of?I open a basic Maker course called “Maker Introduction”. The course was motivated by the course of MIT Media Lab

The Infectious Disease Control is an institution at POSTECH that manages the university’s quarantine and safety of Postechians in response to infectious diseases. Regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, the Infectious Disease Control is assessing the infection situation in POSTECH and reviewing quarantine regulations. The Postech Times interviewed Joon Won Park, director of the Infectious Disease Control, to take a closer look at what he does.What are your duties as the director?I am taking care to ensure that all members of the university are safe from infectious diseases. Specifically, I determine

The Student Committee on Pedagogy & Education (SCOPE) is a student union that promotes educational communication within the campus. This year, SCOPE discussed various educational issues, including online classes due to COVID-19, military credit recognition issues, and class capacity increment for English courses. The Postech Times interviewed Seo Sung-gyo, chairman of SCOPE, to take a closer look at what he does.What motivated you to join SCOPE?I am sure many Postechians studied hard in high school. Likewise, I strived to absorb the knowledge I learned, whether it involved cramming or self-dir

In order to improve the creativity and writing skills of POSTECH members through reading, the “Reading Postechian” program is underway. As part of the program, Professor Kim Sang-uk (LIFE) is publishing a series of book reviews titled “Book Trip with Prof. Kim Sang-uk” on the Tae-Joon Park Digital Library’s website every month. The Postech Times recently interviewed Prof. Kim Sang-uk about his series. What is the motive behind “Book trip with Prof. Kim Sang-uk”?It is a campaign introducing interesting books I read. Students need to learn the ability to learn and grow on their own during univer

The Guamegi Startup Competition (Guamegi) is a program hosted by POSTECH’s Research and Business Development Foundation (PRBDF) to facilitate the development and realization of creative business ideas. This program is open to all members of POSTECH; any inspired Postechian can sign up for Guamegi to benefit from all the goods that it has to offer. To gain a detailed glimpse into the program, The Postech Times interviewed Ryoo Ji-ho (ME 17), a participant and awardee of the 2019 Guamegi.Why did you sign up for Guamegi?Tech start-ups require a person or a group with technology to commercialize i

The majority of Postechians visit the student dining hall in Jigok Community Center at least once a day for lunch or dinner. Therefore, the hall is always packed with hungry students, and staffs busily run up and down to provide the students with the best food. To acknowledge the efforts put in by those who prepare meals for Postechians everyday, The Postech Times interviewed nutritionist Jo Hyun-young of the Food Services. What do you do as a Nutritionist?My main job is placing orders for the ingredients, inspecting them, and developing meal plans, but I also supervise personnel as well as hy

The Graduation Party took place on Nov. 21. It was a successful event for both participants and organizers. The organizers, who are known as “Graduation Preparatory Committee”, are not a formal workforce. In spite of attempts to make it official for the consistence of Graduation Party, there are practical problems ahead. The Postech Times interviewed Lee Hye-lin (CE 16), this year’s head organizer of the Graduation Party. She is now the head of the 33rd Student Union’s Steering Committee. Organizers were comprised of the head of each department and staffs were from the Steering Committee.When

With POSTECH moving toward being a bilingual campus and striving for globalization, the influx of exchange students visiting POSTECH has increased. The foreign students live with Korean roommates in the DICE dormitory. To get more insight into what it’s like in DICE, The Postech Times interviewed Noh Jin-u (CE 14), head of the DICE dormitory.Why did you apply to live in DICE?When I went back to school after I was discharged from the military, I could not find anyone to share a room with. If I were to live with someone that I did not know, I wanted to live with friends from foreign countries an

There is a place in POSTECH where the lights are kept on 24 hours. It is Tae-joon Park Digital Library where people visit to study, to borrow books, or to take classes. Many Postechians spend a lot of time there, and there are people who work silently for them. There are 21 Campus Police in total working for the security of POSTECH. There are securities in the Situation Room, the library, on the Patrol team, in the Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology, the gymnasium, the dormitory, the Pohang Acceleration Laboratory, and the POSTECH Biotech Center. All security personnel works day and nigh

On May 16, a group of POSTECH graduate students hosted the “Foreign Exchange Seminar” to introduce and share opportunities and information regarding pursuing graduate school studies in a foreign country. The Postech Times interviewed Roh Hee-jung, one of the hosts of the event. Why did you host the seminar? First of all, the current standard of research in Korea is very high. So depending on personal preferences, studying in a domestic university might be a better choice for some people. However, considering the capabilities of each and every Postechians, if an individual hopes to research in

There are three big events in POSTECH every year. Freshmen orientation, which is held around February, and POSTECH-KAIST Science War, which is held in September, and the last one is Sunrise Festival held in May. In this year, from May 8 to May 10 the Sunrise Festival was held. The festival is a good example of students’ spontaneity, as it is prepared and executed by students from beginning to end. The Postech Times interviewed with the lead organizer of the Sunrise Festival, Noh Jin-u (CE, 14).“What is the theme of this festival?”The motto of this festival is ‘Happy Circuit’. Advisory Committe

From Feb. 10 to Feb. 14 the freshman orientation (OT) for the class of 2019 was held. Just like any other major events, there were bumps in the road during the event. The ban on the orientation fees that senior students used to pay was a big issue. To get more insight on such matters, The Postech Times interviewed the lead organizer of the orientation, Kim Jeong-won (LIFE, 14).“What is so special about this Freshman Orientation?”We focused on various complaints that have been raised in previous orientations. To improve and better the 2019 OT, we delayed the first event back two hours every mor