The Division of IT Convergence Engineering held the third International Symposium on IT Convergence Engineering (ISITCE 2011) at the POSCO International Center on Jul. 14 and Jul. 15. Renowned scholars of Information Technology (IT), Nanotechnology (NT), Biotechnology (BT), and Networks assembled at POSTECH to discuss the subject of ‘Ubiquitous Healthcare & Ubiquitous Environment’.

14 outside scholars, 25 POSTECH professors and 155 students participated in the symposium under four fields of studies including Autonomics, Communications & Networks, Nano Sensors & Systems, and Biotechnology.

The special presentation was delivered by Se-Jung Oh, the president of National Research Foundation. Three keynote speeches were delivered by distinguished Prof. Kang G. Shin of the University of Michigan, Prof. Prasant Mohapatra of the University of California at Davis, and Prof. Yongmin Kim of the University of Washington (the new president of POSTECH).

POSTECH ITCE, founded in 2008 as a unit of national project called World Class University (WCU), claims to conduct research of high impact on daily life by integrating IT with other fields of engineering. Cooperating with industry, ITCE aims for contribution to the economy.

“Ubiquitous Healthcare and Ubiquitous Environment,” the main interest of ITCE’s research, refers to something always attached to daily life. In the case of Ubiquitous Healthcare, a small attached or inserted electronic device can sense physical changes of the patient. After that doctors can diagnose and prescribe accordingly. Ubiquitous Healthcare is not only about the medical care, it also contains devices which can support the life of a person automatically and at all times, as does Ubiquitous Environment, which improves industrial environment.