Looking back on my undergraduate days in Civil, Urban, and Geosystem engineering, I was deeply engaged in the mindset that the key to solving big environmental problems was mainly technical — better designs, stronger materials, and more efficient man-made hard and soft infrastructure. However, as I took liberal arts courses (e.g., political science, economics, aesthetics, and history) alongside my engineering classes, I began to see a different side of problem-solving. Learning about institutions (rules and norms) and human behavior made me realize that even the most brilliant engineering solu

Hello everyone, I am Minseop Kim. I entered POSTECH in 2024, and I am currently an applicant for the Department of Life Sciences. One-third of 2025 has already passed, and it’s been two months since the start of the semester. As I watch Postechians prepare for the midterm exams, I realize that time goes by very quickly.Why does time go by so fast? I think it’s probably because you are working hard on something. The process of learning something new and looking for something you’re curious about requires quite a lot of enthusiasm. I also recently had to prepare a presentation in a class, but wh

Setting aside two previous opinion pieces, I want to talk about people. (I promise I will come back with the series.) By people, I mean the different individuals I have encountered in life. Although I am not a social person who meets thousands of people and has hundreds of friends, I know enough to realize that no two human beings are the same. The world is too big to explore everything, but small enough to cross paths with lives that are so different from yours.Before entering university, I lived in a small community. Naturally, I didn’t have many opportunities to meet a wide range of people.

It has been a while since I entered POSTECH as a freshman in 1997. Admittedly, things have changed quite a bit over the years, and my personal experience is bound to be limited. Still, I am grateful to have a chance to discuss my experience and research topics at POSTECH.I was fortunate enough to start my graduate studies at the California Institute of Technology in the United States. California Institute of Technology, also known as CALTECH, is a small school that focuses on science and engineering and was also a foundational model for POSTECH when it was established. Indeed, CALTECH has a sm

Have you ever thought about what a university is truly for? Answers might vary widely—from a place for group activities or meeting new people, to preparing for employment. Indeed, in South Korea, there is a strong perception that university serves as a preparatory step before entering society. However, the core purpose of a university is fundamentally about independently seeking out what one wishes or needs to learn, and nurturing one’s personal growth.POSTECH, recognized as one of the world’s leading universities, offers an optimal environment for achieving these educational goals. Most stude

I have always fantasized about traveling to a completely new place. I love to travel, and I have been to many countries near Korea, but I have never traveled to a place as far away as the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The trip to the UAE was very meaningful to me because it was full of new experiences: it was my first time in the Middle East, my first long-distance trip, my first visit to a desert, and more.Since it is not the most common travel destination for Koreans, a lot of people have been interested in my trip to the UAE. I also was not sure what to expect before I went there. In other wo

The Postech Times interviewed Professor Hyunwoo Kim in the Chemistry department.Please introduce students to the research and advantages of the Sustainable Catalysis & Synthesis Lab.At the Sustainable Catalysis & Synthesis Lab, we are committed to advancing the realms of photochemical and electrochemical organic synthesis. Our primary goal is to redefine photocatalysis and electrocatalysis, enabling the efficient synthesis of value-added molecules from raw chemical feedstock. We endeavor to pioneer a fresh conceptual framework, pushing the boundaries of photochemical and electrochemical synthe

We often hear the saying, “Opportunity comes to those who are prepared.” But what does it really mean to be “prepared?” Does it mean having a high GPA, diverse experiences, or a well-structured life plan?During my time at POSTECH, I realized that there are countless paths in life. Watching people seize opportunities in different ways, I often asked myself: How do I prepare myself to be someone who can seize opportunities?One day, I came across a sentence that struck me deeply: “The more you wander the more land becomes yours.” At that moment, I realized that my time spent feeling lost was not

As a new year or semester begins, many of us set goals and outline plans for self-improvement. However, looking back, it is rare to see all those goals achieved perfectly. We all aspire, but there often lies a gap between who we are now and who we want to be. Recently, I watched a YouTube video that discusses how understanding routines and habits can help us bridge this gap and create lasting change. In this column, I would like to share key insights from that video.For many, achieving personal goals feels like an uphill battle. You may want to exercise regularly, eat healthily, or develop new

Our lab focuses on 3D shape analysis. The main research areas include shape quantification, shape mapping, region segmentation, and shape matching. We study how to quantify and understand characteristics like “convexity” and “smoothness.” Additionally, we research methods to transform complex shapes into more comprehensible forms, partition characteristic regions, and calculate corresponding positions on 3D surfaces to identify morphological similarities or differences. These techniques can be applied to analyze various shapes, with one of the primary applications being the analysis of brain d

No doubt, all of you Postechians who are reading this are cultivating your desire to become scientists. So, why did you choose this course of action? Is there a special explanation for it?As a member of the Muenjae School of Undergraduate, I plan to choose Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) as my major this fall semester. To explain why I started to pursue CSE, I must travel back about a decade. When I was in the fourth grade of elementary school, I came across a programming lecture on the Internet that intrigued me immensely. This fascination led me to teach myself coding, study various r

It has already been over three years since I entered POSTECH. If I had to choose the thing that I am most proud of during this period, I would unhesitatingly say it was joining The Postech Times.I have always been a quiet and reserved person. I get shy easily and dislike standing in front of others. Being a reporter, where I could quietly write articles independently, was the perfect fit for someone like me. However, I soon realized that being a reporter is not just about sitting in the office and writing. I had to attend events, conduct interviews, and capture the vibrancy of the scenes in my

Our smart soft materials lab focuses on synthesizing various soft materials based on high-functional polymers and gel. In order to develop more efficient and smart soft materials, we aim to understand and imitate the operating system and mechanism of nature and biological systems. A “gel” is a material that contains a large number of solvent molecules inside a three-dimensional network structure formed by chemical or physical crosslinks of polymer chains. More specifically, a hydrogel, highly similar to biological tissue in its composition and physical properties, is emerging as a biocompatibl

I am just in front of the end of my first year at POSTECH. It is the first moment that has gone this fast in my life. This year was full of fun and tragedy. This is my story about my first year at POSTECH. I hope Postechians can enjoy it.My first month at POSTECH was overwhelming with new things. Only time allowed me to get used to everything, such as lectures, friends, and life in the dormitory. Entering POBBA, the school basketball team was my biggest desire for freshman year since I loved basketball and had dreamed of an enthusiastic experience on the court. The basketball match in the POST

The time has come for me to say farewell to The Postech Times. In Korea, we graduate from elementary, middle, and high school every three years, and just like that, I am about to retire from The Postech Times. The Postech Times, with cherishing memories, have shaped not only who I am as a student but also as a person stepping into adulthood in society. It might be worth reflecting on how these years have helped me grow. As a freshman, I joined The Postech Times with a passion for journalism, which was a new challenge for me. From the very first day, getting familiar with various writing guidel

How much time are you spending looking at a display each day? From smartphones, tablets, and laptops to televisions, displays have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Not just limited to personal devices, but modern innovations, such as kiosks, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are growing immensely, further expanding the role of display in our future. The two most dominant displays currently are LCD and OLED. OLED, in particular, may be more familiar to us, as the brand of our televisions is named after OLED. OLEDs have self-emitting properties where each pixel inde

Hi y’all – I am back! A lot has changed over the past few months: For one I no longer am a reporter for The Postech Times, and for two I moved to Seoul. This is my second week in the metropolis, though I have not gotten many chances to explore the city yet. I am writing this dairy-esque piece – whatever you would like to call it really – on a lazy Saturday afternoon in a crowded Starbucks by the main street of Gwang-Hwa-Mun. This district is a unique area where the grandiose corporate high-rises and the opulent streets of modernism collide – rather harmoniously – with the sobriety and modesty

Love is the keyword I chose to focus on. Following up on the previous column, I left you guys with the question, “Can our lives be happy?” and insisted that I almost seemed to find the way. If you remember, love was one of three sources to be happy. Hence, defining and knowing love is crucial to explain my answer to the question.Love is an abstract thing that we cannot see directly; we can only witness it through our actions. So, although there could be multiple interpretations and ways people define it, I would like to borrow the words from the Bible. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 says, “Love is patie

About the research field of Air Pollution and your Laboratory.Our “Air Pollution Lab” strives to connect science to air quality decision-making. Specifically, we aim to mitigate air pollution exposures and improve social equity of air pollution. Ultimately, our research goal is to alleviate health outcomes associated with air pollution. Our lab conducts research in several key areas: (1) Human exposure assessment of air pollution and health impacts associated with air pollution exposures, (2) Exposure assessment using geospatial modeling (incorporating statistics and machine learning) and sate

The 2024 KAIST-POSTECH Science War (KPSW), AI competition featured AI agents playing “Super Smash Bros. Melee” on the Nintendo GameCube. I want to share the challenges we faced during preparation as the lead of the POSTECH AI team.POSTECH AI team spent four months for discussing with the KAIST AI team the game to choose for our AI agents. After the Spring semester began, we concluded that “Super Smash Bros. Melee” was the best choice. We then formed a joint programming team to ensure we could create AI agents capable of playing the game well.During the joint development period for “Super Smash