This winter vacation, The Postech Times visited Vietnam and got an opportunity to explore Vietnamese universities. On Jan. 16, we visited VinUniversity, an innovative and new university located in Hanoi, Vietnam. VinUniversity is a prestigious, private, not-for-profit university founded by Vingroup with the mission to develop talents for the future. The university integrates the models of excellent universities, with the aim of making a breakthrough in Vietnamese higher education, and aspires to become a world-class university. At VinUniversity, we had the honor of interviewing Professor Laure

Tell us about your background and your main focus in research.I was a mathematics student during my undergraduate studies and then I went for my Ph.D to Stanford’s aerospace engineering. The specific research area I focus on can be broadly categorized as optimization which is a mathematical way to model a problem from the world where you have to make a decision or prediction.Mathematics is a field that can be applied to lots of real-life problems. I felt math was an opportunity for me to go into any field after my undergrad which is the reason why I choose to study it. I imagine you are hearin

Are there any innovative or unique programs that you would like to introduce to us?I can share with you the philosophy of VinUniversity. The unique motto is “follow very high international standards, especially from the top universities in the world.” The first program is the Ph.D. in Computer Science. We focus on three domains. The first domain is smart healthcare which helps to give smart medical services to many people. The second domain is new materials development. The third one is on environmental intelligence.The second program is undergraduate research. We train undergraduate students

Please briefly introduce yourself.My name is Do Danh Cuong. I completed an undergraduate degree in electronic engineering at Vietnam National University, and then I received the privilege to study at a graduate school in Korea for 2 years in the Master Engineering program (MEng). That was a very big chance for me in a real academic institution because at that time there were not any real academic institutions in Vietnam. In Korea, a lot of people were focusing on research topics and trying to improve things. Then after two years, I went to the Republic of Ireland for a Ph.D. The main reason I

Please introduce yourself.My name is Byeongjee Kang, and I am graduating from POSTECH this February with a double major in computer science and mathematics. My future plans include pursuing a graduate degree in a subfield of computer science, such as programming languages or formal methods.What does winning the Valedictorian mean to you?It is undoubtedly a matter of great pride for me to have achieved the status of Valedictorian. However, I do not wish to attribute undue importance to this distinction since a high GPA is not a guarantee of future success. My focus remains on striving to do my

Every year at POSTECH, a majority of the departments hold an event called “OO Night,” where OO refers to the name of the department. The department faculty members, graduates, undergraduates, and freshmen students without majors can attend the event. Although the events usually take place at the end of the second semester in December, their schedules may vary depending on the department. The purpose of the event is to wrap up the year with department members enjoying a special dinner and building up a sense of belonging and intimacy in the department by socializing with each other.Although the

Last December, two letters about the Writing-Intensive (WI) classes were uploaded to the POSTECH Lounge and drew the attention of many students. The WI requirement has steadily caused a lot of problems such as unnecessary load on specific subjects, curriculum planning, and so forth. Recently, the WI class that opened this spring semester has markedly decreased and received complaints from students who must immediately satisfy the graduation requirements.The WI requirement was established as a required course for students entering after 2018 to improve their writing skills. In WI classes, writi

POSTECH’s representative science communication event that gained much attention, was held on Nov. 25. As it was held face-to-face for the first time in three years, many audiences participated in this event in order to see six presenters who were selected as the final contestants.The event is modeled after Fame Lab, a competition in which people concerned with the field of science speak about their research topics or other scientific issues within three minutes. Introducing My Research also stipulates that speakers should introduce their research without presentation material and use interesti

Homecoming is the tradition of celebrating the existence of an organization. Homecoming is one of POSTECH’s annual events. CHEERO, ELEVEN, POBBA, and TACHYONS welcomed back former members of the club and celebrated in their own unique ways.The Postech Times visited the POSTECH basketball club, POBBA’s homecoming, and interviewed alumni members of POBBA. More than 60 young boys (YB) and old boys (OB) participated in the homecoming event. The main event, a basketball game between YB and OB, was held at the POSTECH gym basketball court on Nov. 19. Students and graduates ate and drank together aft

Are you looking to become a more educated civilian? One excellent place to start is by visiting POSTECH Institute for Civic Educations' (PICE) website. PICE, led by Professor Jung-Ah Woo (Division of Humanities and Social Sciences), has been educating POSTECH students and the citizens of Pohang through providing high quality lectures from 2019. Since then, multiple programs with lectures on civic and cultural education have been held at POSTECH every semester. There are currently three program areas under PICE: civic education for future society, cultural civic course with lectures by expe

Since the return of face-to-face classes in the second semester of 2022, certain POSTECH-related mobile applications have been used more widely among students. The attendance management app and mobile POVIS are two particularly popular mobile applications that students often use. To find out how Postechians assess these apps, The Postech Times conducted a survey targeting undergraduate Postechians from Oct. 18 to Oct. 27. A total of 89 responses have been collected.The survey consisted of three main questions: "Have you ever used the app?", "How satisfied are you with the app on a scale of 1 t

POSTECH has decided to offer the class of 2024 (those who entered POSTECH in 2020) a chance to participate in the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2023. They plan to dispatch students in the class of 2024 from Jan. 3 to Jan. 8, 2023, to Las Vegas, during which the CES 2023 is scheduled to take place (from Jan. 5-8, 2023, in Las Vegas). The CES is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) and takes place at the beginning of each year at the Las Vegas Convention Center in the United States. At the event, new technologies and recent trends in the consumer electron

APGC-Lab is a POSTECH student organization that spreads entrepreneurial culture and organizes startup events that guide Postechians to start their businesses. For those newly aspiring entrepreneurs, APGC-Lab hosts idea-thons, seminars, and talks to provide preliminary knowledge about starting a business and creating a viable business model. In addition, it partners with startup investors from Naver D2SF, Kakao Ventures, Mashup Angels, and POSTECH Holdings to provide students with opportunities to meet and discuss problems with experts in the field.Street Startup Fighter (SSF) is a competition-

Dan Schectman is an Israeli scientist and a Nobel Prize laureate in Chemistry for his discovery of quasicrystals. The Postech Times had the great privilege to interview Professor Schectman, and the following is the transcript of the interview.Walk us through the way you were brought up, and the influences you had during childhood.A novel by Jules Verne called “The Mysterious Island” influenced me very much. I read it many times over in my youth. The story is about five Americans who are stranded on an island. The island has everything but no people. The leader of the group is an engineer, and

POSTECH’s Summer Experience in Society (SES) is a field training program kicked off in the summer of 2016 to help undergraduates design their future careers. Students see how knowledge learned in school is applied in practice by companies and research institutes; learn communication and management skills and expand their view of society. The Postech Times contacted Yangwoo Kwon, the general manager of Student Affairs and SES, for accurate information concerning 2022 SES.Over 250 undergraduates participate in SES every year. Two hundred and eighty-seven, a number close to the number of freshmen

POSTECH consumes quite a lot of energy, particularly, electricity. In a previous article written by The Postech Times in 2001 that discussed POSTECH’s energy usage, POSTECH ranked top in the usage of electricity among the many universities in Korea with approximately 2,700 kWh consumed. Now that 20 years have passed since then, how much electricity does POSTECH consume?The Postech Times investigated POSTECH’s electricity usage over the past three years (2019.1~2021.12) based on the Energy Consumption Report published on POVIS by the Energy Management Committee. The statistic measured monthly e

On April 11, POSTECH shifted to face-to-face classes. After the midterm exam, the number of in-person activities such as group events and private gatherings increased, resulting in a steady increase in confirmed cases. In addition, Student Culture Day was held from May 12 to 13 and the commencement ceremony was held on May 13. Previously postponed workshops and social events also recommenced. Now that COVID-19 regulations have almost disappeared, The Postech Times has looked at the spread of COVID-19 to see if Postechians are safe from the virus.According to the office of safety and health, to

Please introduce yourselfHi. I am a graduate in the Department of Chemistry (CHEM) at POSTECH, class of 2021. I am currently majoring in organic chemistry at POSTECH CHEM Graduate school.What did you value the most during your time at POSTECH? I tried to spend every day diligently. I set goals like getting good grades, participating in different club activities, researching in laboratories and extracurricular activities, and spending time with people I love. I worked to achieve each goal on a daily basis.Please tell us briefly about your experience of taking classes at POSTECH.One thing that I

Achieving My Unfinished DreamWhen I was young, my dream was to become a reporter. In elementary school, I worked for the Seoul Children’s Press Group for three years. I did several interviews and wrote many articles. I felt a lot of pride as a reporter when I saw my article on the front page of the newspaper, and I think my dream began from that experience.As I entered middle school, I became interested in science and engineering, so my childhood dream of being a reporter slowly faded away, but I still did not completely let it go.In high school, I wrote for my school’s English newspaper, but

While there are numerous events and opportunities to dive into the world of entrepreneurship, the sheer diversity could be disorienting for those starting out. This article sums up the key resources available on campus.Undergraduate Research Program (UGRP)The UGRP is funded by the POSTECH Innovation Center for Education and is open for all undergraduates except for those who are on leave or on extra semesters. The program provides funding and guidance for students to realize their ideas that would otherwise be financially and technically infeasible. In a group of three or more students, they a