The joint research team of POSTECH and University of Basel in Swiss uncovered the mystery of a mechanism used to remember a joyful or unhappy memory in our brain.The team, consisting of Professor Joung-Hun Kim (LIFE, POSTECH), Dr. Oh Bin Kwon (LIFE) of POSTECH, and the research team of University of Basel,solved the mechanism that how Neuroligin-1 protein works as a receptor.Despite the pivotal functions of N-methyl-D-aspartatereceptor (NMDAR) for neural circuit development and synaptic plasticity, the molecular mechanisms underlying the dynamics of NMDAR trafficking are poorly understood. The

For POSTECH students, the upcoming winter break marks more than the end of fall semester. In January 2013, thirty Postechians will be travelling to Ethiopia, Africa to volunteer for three weeks.Undergraduate Student Affairs will start the overseas volunteer program, sponsored by Woori Bank, to help students grow into great talents contributing to the nation and humanity with the core values of honor, commitment to society, and leadership. The project will be run for approximately three weeks in January 2013 in Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in Africa. Students will teach children at l

Professor Inhwan Hwang (LIFE), Prof. Kim, Hyoung Seop (MSE), and Prof. Park, Jong Moon (CE) were selected as fellows of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology (KAST). Prof. Hwnag was chosen as the fellow of natural science area for his outstanding research results in movement process of protein in cell and its role on plant development. Prof. Kim became a fellow in the engineering area for his excellence in interpretation of mechanical behavior of metallic material. Prof. Park has show brilliant results on research of biomass and bioenergy. He was selected as the fellow of the engineerin

A club is a group of people who meet regularly with same profession or share the same interests. In POSTECH, there are about 50 clubs, focused on things ranging from music to study. At the end of October, the article about plan for employment club became a talking point, as what the qualification of becoming club is. Feeling sorry about study groups about employment that have come and go, although employment information at POSTECH is insufficient, some students of department IME planned this club. However, the controversy over whether a group purposing employment can become a club has arisen.

As effective methods of education have been emerging, integrated education across areas of study, called horizontal integrated education (HIE), is becoming a common concept to people. HIE may be familiar to POSTECH students, since POSTECH encourages students to learn humanities, arts and other subjects besides one’s major, to help students develop broad knowledge. However nowadays, along with HIE, a new concept called vertical integrated education (VIE) is being raised. Though concept of VIE is unfamiliar to Koreans, it is a well-known method in many western countries. As HIE is defined as int

As effective methods of education have been emerging, integrated education across areas of study, called horizontal integrated education (HIE), is becoming a common concept to people. HIE may be familiar to POSTECH students, since POSTECH encourages students to learn humanities, arts and other subjects besides one’s major, to help students develop broad knowledge. However nowadays, along with HIE, a new concept called vertical integrated education (VIE) is being raised. Though concept of VIE is unfamiliar to Koreans, it is a well-known method in many western countries. As HIE is defined as int

As fall comes, efforts of POSTECH members come to fruition with winning prizes from various conferences. Professor Kim, Ki-Seok (PHYS) won “Rising Scientists and Engineers Award” from Gyeongsangbuk-Do and Prof. SeiKwang Hahn (MSE) was elected as “The Men of Advancing Scientific Technical Merit” and has continuously won the prizes from conferences.Xu, Kai (MSE Ph.D. candidate) won “Excellence Paper Award” from Korean Nuclear Society, and Byeongjin So (MSE M.S. Ph.D. integrated course) won “Best Poster Award” from the 13th International Conference on the Physics of Non-Crystalline Solids.In addi

Wonyeol Lee (CSE 10, advisor Professor Hwanjo Yu) won the Student Travel Award from 2012 IEEE International Conference on Data Mining (ICDM) by his paper, “CT-IC: Continuously activated and Time-restricted Independent Cascade Model for Viral Marketing.” ICDM is a conference at which papers on field of data mining are presented. The Student Travel Award was started to encourage students to submit papers to the conference. The subject of Lee’s paper is influence maximization problem. When any social network and the number of selected people are provided, selecting a certain number of people that

Professor Kyeongcheol Yang (Math) was elected as the associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Information The- ory, published by IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Elec- tronics Engineers), the biggest academic society in the field of electrical and electronics engineering. It is the first time that a researcher in a domestic organization has been elected as associate editor.The Journal is dedicated to the study of the mathematics of communications and information theory. It is the most prestigious journal in the whole field of electrical and electronics engineering, and had the highest ranking

Professor Kang Kwanhyeong of the Department of Mechanical Engineering died at Pohang Stroke and Spine Hospital on Oct.1 at the age of 44. The cause was brain tumor. Prof. Kang was among the first matriculating class (1987) of POSTECH, and had earned M.S. and Ph.D. at POSTECH before becoming a professor of mechanical engineering in 2005. Prof. Kang presented his research, which received a lot of attention from academia, while undergoing cancer treatment and surgery since 2006, when his malignant brain tumor was found. This February, he developed the world’s first technology that can diagnose di

As dementia is increasing with population aging, POSTECH Ergonomic Design Technology Lab (Professor Heecheon You) and the Department of Neurology of Samsung Medical Center (Advisor Prof. Na Duk-ryul), Seedtech, and Humanopia developed a music-game, “Smart Harmony,” to prevent dementia. Smart Harmony will be displayed to public in a contest hosted by Gangnam-Gu Center for Dementia on Oct. 19.Smart Harmony is a music game console that requires users to concentrate on a timing bar, moving through flow of music, and shake an electrical stick for ensemble. It can enhance health of brain by activati

The Department of Creative IT Excellence Engineering (CITE) was established in 2011 as part of the project “IT Consilience Creative Program” by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy and funded by the government and enterprises. In its first semester, CITE accepted 20 undergraduate students and 18 graduate students. The concept of CITE revolves around education that students choose for themselves; the object is to create new value, which others have not imagined, through convergence without any boundary between disciplines. Since CITE is established by government project, the support per student in

Baekhee Lee (IME Ph.D. candidate) and Jihyoung Lee (IME M.D. candidate) won the prize in “The 1st Asian Student’s Business Model Competition,” which was held in Tokyo on Sep. 3. Their winning item was a business plan about a perimentry tool for early detection of glaucoma, “I-care.”They established a venture business EyePia based on the technology of I-care, which was presented first in 2011, they then developed I-care that can satisfy the increasing demands of the market and compensate for the limits of existing perimentry tools. They also created a new business model to promote I-care.I-care

The student association fee has been an issue among students for a long time. In the nineties, it prompted demonstrations in campus against trials to ban on collecting extramandatory fees. It is still an issue that a large fee has been collected under the guise of voluntary support for the Student Association. Therefore, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) changed the policy from recommending to commanding that extra fees, including medical insurance and the student association fee, not be embeddedin tuition. Universities that violate this policy will face sanctions of red

The 11th KAIST-POSTECH Science War was held in POSTECH campus during Sep. 14-15. Although remarkable efforts of players and staffs were fully shown, whole aspects of the progress in the Science War seemed cold. In general, the number of spectators and cheering were minimal.Aloof attitude of POSTECH students in each event has been an issue for a long time, including not only festivals on campus but also external events like the Science War. To solve this problem, the Science War Preparatory Committee has provided many remembrance and cheering tools, and even held galore prize lottery in the eve

Sanitation workers protested against the university, claiming poor labor conditions and hardships of life, for three days from Jul. 25 to 28. The university recently has changed the method of selecting janitorial service company (from private contact to the lowest tender method) for more fairness and transparency. Consequently, “Gyeong-Po” was selected as the new janitor service company instead of the former company, “Geum-Won”, and the contracted price was reduced from 1.77 billion KRW to 1.58 billion KRW. However, sanitation workers insisted because the university only specified bidding cond

Information Technology Service Team (ITST) decided to unify the distribution method of the university-purchased software to HEMOS (hemos.postech.ac.kr), from using HEMOS and iDisk.Originally, software over 2GB in size has been distributed through software distribution club of iDisk, because of technological issue about downloading and uploading on HEMOS. However, as using iDisk is inconvenient, as it is required to register and receive approval to use the club, ITST unified availability to HEMOS only. Users can now download and use all kinds of software that POSTECH distributes through one rou

Sep. 5th is the one-year anniversary of President Yongmin Kim’s inauguration. As his first year is coming to an end, The Postech Times interviewed him about what he has emphasized and what he plans for the future.

What is appropriate technology and why is it needed?One man, whose expertise is in environment and carbon emission, developed very efficient and eco-friendly linear compressor, which is only used in very expensive refrigerator, and agonized how to use this in good way for poor people using least efficient refrigerator. So, he used carbon tax. If carbon emission is decreased, government pays the emission difference as compensation. With support from environmental organization, he added high-end technology, and gave it to the poor people. High-tech is given to destitute poor. How delightful thin

My respectful mentor said, “Keep a cool head, see life through a warm heart”. Reporter has a role not only of pinpointing trouble between society and individuals with sympathy, but also of analyzing dispassionately. So I’m ashamed that my former activity as a reporter has been too passive, inactive, and reluctant. From now on, recognizing the role of a newspaper as the most direct and traditional method to communicate with public, I’ll deliver fair, unbiased fact, and not be lazy about gathering information. Though the university may seem like a very tiny place, issues hiding here aren’t diffe