On Nov. 29 at 19:30 P.M., a famous conductor, Gum Nan-se, and the New World Philharmonic orchestra performed at the POSTECH auditorium as a celebration for POSTECH’s 32nd anniversary, and as part of the 2018 POSTECH cultural program. The performance was open admission.The conductor Gum Nan-se is one of the most beloved composers in Korea and is known as the father of the popularization of classical music. The goal of the performance was to break the stereotype that classical music is difficult and that it is only for a high-brow audience, and to show that classical music concerts can be enjoye

“Daddy will fight to the end.” Samsung Electronics made a formal apology on Nov. 23 to all victims of work-related diseases that were employed on the chip and display production lines. Samsung’s apology was made for the first time in 11 years since Hwang Yu-mi died of leukemia after working for the company’s liquid-crystal display production line in 2007. Since her death, her father, Hwang Sang-ki, requested Samsung to take measures to prevent violations of workers’ rights. He set up an organization: the group of 53 victims named Supporters for the Health and Rights of People in the Semiconduc

Professor Baek Chang-ki (CiTE), Professor Kim Ki-hyun (CiTE), and Cho Hyeon-su (CiTE, Ph.D. Integrated) have developed a fundamental sensor technology by utilizing thermal evaporation, which detects toxic substances such as fluorine and hydrofluoric acid in trace amounts. The team fabricated fluorine‧hydrofluoric acid sensor by utilizing silicon materials and semiconductor processing technology. In addition, by optimizing thermal evaporation, the team has succeeded in detecting fluorine and hydrofluoric acid in water with high a detection limit – fluorine: 1.9ppb, hydrofluoric acid: 4.5ppb. Th

On Nov. 17, the sixth POSTECH Hackathon kicked off in room 502 of the Tae-Joon Park Digital Library. A Hackathon is a term coined by combining ‘hacking’ and ‘marathon’. It is not about what we usually think of when we hear the word ‘hacking’. It is rather a competition of ‘extreme coding’. While general development takes place over time, Hackathon is an event that increases production rates and creates diverse ideas through planning, designing and developing in a short period of time.The POSTECH Hackathon is an annual event held by PoApper, a developer network of POSTECH. This year marks the s

With electrical technologies evolving rapidly, such as electric cars and electric airplanes, the importance of batteries is underscored.Professor Park Moon-jeong (CHEM) has been put in the spotlight with her battery that can be fully charged in six minutes.When sulfur is used in a battery, it has an advantage of giving the battery a significantly higher energy density, thus capacity, compared to a lithium ion battery of the same volume or mass. However, the downside of the sulfur battery is sulfur’s low electrical conductivity, which leads to slower charging, and sulfur’s elution into the elec

Professor Kim Jong-Ku (MSE) and Graduate student Choi Il-yong (MSE) developed a sensor that can sensitively and accurately recognize a tactile response like humans by using Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) nanosprings. The research was introduced in the Advanced Functional Materials.The team strived to model a pressure device that can sense both minute pressure and vibrations based on human fingerprints and skin. By shaping ITO into a form of nanosprings, the team developed a sensitive sensor that overcomes the limitations of polymers. The nanosprings, created easily by using an oblique angle deposition

POSTECH ranked 1st in ‘Innoversity’, 1st in ‘Engineering’, and 2nd in ‘Natural Sciences’ in the ‘2018 JoongAng Ilbo University Evaluation’ conducted by Korea’s JoongAng Daily (KJD). KJD first introduced ‘Innoversity’ (the combination of ‘innovation’ and ‘university’) this year in order to evaluate the universities’ capability in leading world science and technology innovation through research achievements. Our university ranked 1st in the industry-university cooperation research ratio, and in the Patent Application rate to the US, China, Japan, and Europe, ranking 1st overall in ‘Innoversity’.

The government is introducing emergency measures to tackle fine-dust pollution, including limiting the number of diesel vehicles on Korea’s roads. As part of plan to combat the particulate fine dust problem, measures to tackle fine dust will be reinforced and support programs for diesel vehicles will be abolished. The repeal of a ‘clean diesel policy’ was one of the strongest measures. Enacted in 2009, the policy granted benefits to around 950,000 owners of low emission diesel vehicles, including discounts on parking fees and tolls. Diesel cars were encouraged when first introduced to Korea in

Student Leadership Election Committee (SLEC) held the joint speech session of candidate campaigns for Senior Leadership of Student Union of POSTECH (SU) and Female Student Union (FSU) on Oct. 30. During the session, candidates announced their election promises and had a question period. It was broadcasted live by PBS, and several students attended and gave out questions about candidates’ election promises. Because there was no candidate for Dormitory Union (DU) until the last day for the candidate registration, Oct. 22, the election for representatives of DU will be conducted by DU, not SLEC.

El Niño, a phenomenon where sea surface temperature of the tropic pacific rises, affects precipitation and atmospheric circulation around the globe, causing anomalous climate. The problem with El Niño is that it can only be detected merely six months before its occurrence.Professor Kug Jong-seong from the Division of Environmental Science and Engineering (DESE) at POSTECH and Park Jae-heung, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Hawaii, along with the Japanese Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology have announced in Scientific Reports that El Niño and La Niña can be predicted 17 m

Professor Cha Hyung-Joon (CE) and his team developed a system which utilizes a bioengineered mussel adhesive protein (MAP) to deliver drugs for selective parts of treatments and to improve cancer treatments.Generally, as drugs can only be applied to the body as a whole, resulting in many side-effects, thus limiting the treatment process. Accordingly, the development of an effective drug delivery system that allows for a selective delivery has been called for. Existing systems apply drugs directly to tumors, but were without an adhesive function that allowed drugs to hold on in designated areas

The POSTECH Graduate School of Information Technology(GSIT) will be the first to introduce an online short-term master’s courses called the ‘Nano Master’ program out of all Korean universities. The online courses will focus on popular current fields in Korea – specifically blockchain and artificial intelligence.GSIT will offer a few courses of the blockchain and artificial intelligence master’s degree online; if one completes all quizzes, assignments, projects, and exams and acquires a grade of at least 70% from the online course, GSIT will accept the equivalent offline course as ‘completed’.

Police are probing allegations claiming that a famed bakery named Mimi Cookie bought cookies from Costco and sold them as homemade, organic products at higher prices. Mimi Cookie mostly sold its goods through e-commerce and social networks. In addition, it was not a licensed e-commerce business operator. It only registered its offline store in Eumseong, Chungcheongbuk-do according to the authorities. The cookie scandal is only the tip of the iceberg. False advertising and unlicensed businesses have an effect on Korean consumers. Korean consumers filed 498 complaints regarding online transactio

In 2016, a tragic catastrophe took place at a military base in Ulsan, South Korea; when five kilograms of gunpowder scheduled for disposal, interacted with an unknown ignition source and exploded, harming twenty soldiers. Also, a lot of national defense expenditure is used for the disposing and managing of deteriorated weapons and gunpowder.Park Tai-ho, a professor of Department of Chemical Engineering, and his team have found a way stop the gunpowder from exploding. The team’s research was conducted under a humid surrounding to prevent the gunpowder from exploding. The team identified the rel

Professor Kim Ki-moon (CHEM) has published the world’s first book on, ‘Cucurbiturils: Chemistry, Supramolecular Chemistry and Applications’ through World Scientific.Publication of the first text book in the field of Cucurbiturils, is significant in that it presents a benchmark for future study of Cucurbiturils. Prof. Kim is a world authority in the field of Supramolecular Chemistry, and has also contributed to the development of nanotechnology and biotechnologies based upon it. The book discusses the development of research related to the history of Cucurbiturils, interaction with various mole

On Sept. 20, a joint concert was hosted for all, free of admission, at the POSTECH Auditorium by POSTECH and Univ. of Stuttgart Orchestra (AOUS).AOUS was founded more than 50 years ago and has been performing worldwide. Currently, the orchestra is in Asia to visit Asian universities with exchange programs and partnership with Stuttgart. The POSTECH Orchestra has performed along with AOUS. POSTECH Orchestra was established in 2006 with a purpose to cultivate sentiments and develop a unique POSTECH culture with musical elements. It is consisted of many students, professors, employees, researcher

A joint research team consisting of Professor Cho Dong-woo (ME), Kim Dong-sung (ME), Dr. Choi Young-jin (ME), and Professor Park Sung-jea of Korea University of Technology and Education have developed artificial muscles that replicate human muscles substantially more than before. They achieved this by utilizing the extracellular matrix of the muscle cell and deep X-ray lithography technology. The research team developed a cell culture board with smooth wave patterns measuring tens of micrometers using deep X-ray therapy technology. This substrate has a wave pattern like the shape of an actual

Professor Jo Moon-ho (MSE) and his research team have developed an easy and economic ‘laser doping’ technology, which can automatically dope a two-dimensional semiconductor just by using laser light illumination. The research team has also succeeded in writing monolithic integrated circuits on a two-dimensional semiconductor.The two-dimensional atomic-layer semiconductor, a candidate for the next generation of semiconductors, has faced technical challenges since normal doping process could not be applied to the doping process in order to create high-performance circuits. However, thanks to the

The puma was shot to death about four hours after it escaped it enclosure at Daejeon O World through a door left unlocked by staff. Authorities said it was an ‘inevitable’ decision to shoot the animal, as initial attempt to capture it using a nonlethal air gun with a tranquilizer had failed. “The safety of the general public may have been at risk unless they shot the animal,” they added.However, protesters said that it actually did not escape the zoo and did nothing to attack people either. It was not the puma’s fault that the door was left unlocked. She was locked up for eight years and just

“We found about 80,000 tons of buoyant plastic currently in the GPGP.” Micro plastics, tiny fragments of plastic smaller than 5mm in size, make up the majority of items in GPGP (Great Pacific Garbage Patch). This trash vortex is getting bigger, and is now estimated to be fifteen times the size of South Korea. On May 28, the EU decided to phase out a plan to ban the use of the 10 most widely used the disposable plastic products, including straws and coffee sticks, by 2021. Korea’s annual use of plastic for packaging per person is the second largest in the world. The number of vinyl used per per