I wish a happy and prosperous new year to all POSTECH members and their families.

As we embark on a promising new year, unfortunately the overall outlook for this year seems to be guarded, as uncertainty remains high in the global economy.  However, history teaches us that changing times and uncertainty also open up new and unforeseen opportunities.  No matter what adversity may lie ahead of us, if we have a steadfast vision and work together holding our heads high, I am sure that we will be able to overcome any difficulty and turn crisis into a stepping stone to greater success.  Let us encourage each other, have confidence and courage to take on new challenges for the POSTECH’s long-term best interest, and develop a better understanding of one another through open and active communications.  I am confident that 2013 will bring us one step closer to realizing POSTECH’s founding tenets if we stay positive and focused.
The year 2013 will be a particularly important year for POSTECH, as we solidify a foundation for POSTECH’s second leap toward becoming a world-leading university over the next several decades.  To make great strides in this effort, we will launch the “World-leading University Initiative,” with the aim of giving more autonomy and authority to individual academic departments so that they could pursue their own distinctive strategies with follow-through implementations to excel in education and research in the world stage while keeping in line with the university’s overall vision and directions.  This initiative will require in particular placing a greater emphasis on education and focusing on multidisciplinary collaboration in research with high impact.
At the same time, the university’s efforts to create a culture of excellence based on transparency, ethics and integrity will continue in 2013.  Many changes were made last year in this respect, including the establishment of the Ethics Advancement Team, the introduction of the Ombudsman system and the student volunteer program, and the drive for procurement innovation.  However, the importance of the high ethical standards cannot be emphasized enough.  I sincerely ask for the continued and conscious effort of all POSTECH members (from undergraduate students to President) to make all activities on campus meet our rigorous ethical and moral standards, suitable for a world-leading institution of higher learning.
Since its establishment, POSTECH has risen to many challenges and achieved a great deal.  2012 was not an exception.  In 2012, POSTECH was ranked first in 100 under 50 Young University Rankings by the Times Higher Education and named one of Top 100 Global Innovators by Thomson-Reuters.  In addition, 3 research centers of the Institute for Basic Science were set up on our campus, and the construction of the 4th generation synchrotron light source was started.
These impressive achievements of the past year would not have been possible without the dedication and hard work by our faculty, staff, students and researchers.  On behalf of the entire POSTECH community, I would like to thank each and every one of you who contributed in various ways to the advancement of POSTECH in 2012.  I hope that we can make 2013 another great and memorable year for POSTECH with courage and creativity and by working together more closely than ever in our joint effort towards our common goals.
Once again, I wish everyone a Happy New Year!