International Affairs Team

Finding new materials has traditionally relied on years of experimental trials and errors. At Technische Universität Dresden (TU Dresden), Dr. Joohan Nam aims to accelerate that process by combining artificial intelligence (AI) with experimental chemistry. Awarded the prestigious Humboldt Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Dr. Nam will join the research group of Professor Stefan Kaskel at TU Dresden in September 2026. There, he will integrate AI into every stage of porous materials discovery—from molecular design and synthesis to experimental validation—creating a more efficient and systematic approach to identifying promising new materials. The Humboldt Research Fellowship is one of Germany's leading international programs for outstanding early-career researchers. It supports independent research at leading German institutions and recognizes academic excellence, originality, and the potential to establish an independent research career. Dr. Nam earned his Ph.D. in chemistry at UNIST under the supervision of Professor Wonyoung Choe and is currently a postdoctoral researcher in Professor Choe's group. His doctoral research focused on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)—porous crystalline materials whose structures can be precisely engineered to control how they adsorb and separate molecules. His work established new design principles for controlling the dynamic behavior of MOFs, contributing to advances in hydrogen isotope separation. He has published 12 SCI(E)-indexed papers, including three first-author papers in Angewandte Chemie International Edition. His research has also been recognized with the 2025 S-Oil Outstanding Dissertation Award (2025), the 2025 Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Korean Chemical Society, and the 2025 Young Investigator Award from the Korean Synchrotron Users Association. His collaboration with Professor Kaskel began in 2025 through UNIST's Global Postdoctoral Short-Term Research Program, during which he conducted collaborative research at TU Dresden on MOF design, synthesis, and adsorption-property evaluation. Building on that collaboration, Dr. Nam will further integrate AI with experimental chemistry, enabling computational predictions to be rapidly tested and refined through laboratory experiments. With Dr. Nam's selection, Professor Wonyoung Choe's group has now seen two researchers receive Humboldt Research Fellowships this year, following Dr. Jiyeon Kim's selection earlier this year. "Dr. Nam has built a strong foundation in understanding the structural dynamics of MOFs and translating those insights into functional materials," said Professor Choe. "This fellowship recognizes both his research achievements and his vision of expanding materials discovery through AI. We look forward to seeing him develop new methodologies that bridge chemistry experimental and digital technologies in porous materials research." “This fellowship is especially meaningful because it recognizes the research direction I developed at UNIST,” said Dr. Nam. "By integrating AI-driven predictions with experimental validation, I hope to make the discovery of new materials faster, more systematic, and more precise." He also thanked Professor Choe and Professor Kaskel for their mentorship and support, adding that he hopes to strengthen international collaboration and establish an independent research program through his work in Germany.

Five UNIST students will study at leading universities in Europe and Singapore this fall with support from the Kyungdong Scholarship Foundation, which awarded KRW 40 million in overseas exchange scholarships during a ceremony on June 19, 2026. Among this year's recipients is JiNa Kim from the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Each student will receive KRW 8 million in support, for a total of KRW 40 million provided by the foundation. The students will spend the fall semester at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, INSA Lyon in France, and the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). Since launching the program in 2023, the Kyungdong Scholarship Foundation has supported UNIST students in gaining international academic and cultural experience through overseas exchange opportunities. The ceremony also welcomed recipients from the 2025 scholarship cohort, who shared their experiences studying, conducting research, and adapting to life abroad while offering practical advice to this year's students. In his congratulatory remarks, Chairman Chong Rae Park of the Kyungdong Scholarship Foundation and President of UNIST, encouraged the students to view their exchange programs as an opportunity to broaden their perspectives and grow both academically and personally. “Studying abroad is more than an academic experience—it is an opportunity to discover new perspectives and reflect on the future you want to build,” Park said. “I hope this journey becomes a meaningful chapter in your life and inspires you to pursue your goals with confidence.” SuAe Lee from the Department of Design, one of this year's scholarship recipients, said hearing from previous participants helped transform what had once felt like an abstract opportunity into something she could actively prepare for. “Their experiences gave me a much clearer picture of what to expect,” she said. “I'm grateful to the Kyungdong Scholarship Foundation for giving me the opportunity to learn in a new environment, meet people from different backgrounds, and broaden both my academic perspective and global outlook.” The Kyungdong Scholarship Foundation will continue supporting scholarships and overseas exchange opportunities that help UNIST students gain international experience and prepare for careers in an increasingly interconnected world.

“As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly capable of generating information and answering questions, what should students learn—and what role should universities play?” Those questions are at the center of a new book by Professor Jaewon Cho of Civil, Urban, Earth, and Environmental Engineering at UNIST. Published under his pen name, Kang Hadan, the book—whose Korean title references a future vision of higher education—examines how education might evolve in an era shaped by AI, large language models, and digital technologies. Professor Cho argues that many educational systems remain focused on transmitting established knowledge and rewarding students for finding correct answers. Yet today's learners face challenges—from climate change to economic uncertainty—that rarely come with predetermined solutions. In this environment, he suggests, education must place greater emphasis on inquiry, collaboration, and the creation of new knowledge. The book proposes a future learning ecosystem in which students, teachers, and AI work together to explore questions, test ideas, and develop new ways of understanding the world. Teachers serve less as providers of answers and more as guides who help students navigate different perspectives and connect learning to real-world challenges. A recurring theme throughout the book is the need to look beyond conventional measures of achievement. Professor Cho argues that curiosity, experimentation, collaboration, and creative problem-solving may be just as important as grades and test scores in preparing students for a rapidly changing world. The book also examines how emerging technologies could transform the way learning is documented and recognized. Rather than focusing solely on outcomes, future educational systems may place greater value on the process of learning itself—how students ask questions, develop ideas, respond to setbacks, and build knowledge with others. Another key theme is the role of play in education. Professor Cho suggests that meaningful learning often begins when students pursue questions out of genuine curiosity, collaborate with peers, and experiment without fear of failure. “The amount of knowledge we need to memorize is shrinking, while the amount of knowledge we need to create is growing,” Professor Cho writes. “Education should not be about finding predetermined answers, but about developing new ways to understand the world.” At UNIST, Professor Cho teaches and conducts research in environmental engineering, environmental ethics, and the humanities of science and technology. He previously served as director of the Science Walden, where he led interdisciplinary initiatives addressing issues such as climate change, social inequality, and the future of work.

On June 22, UNIST and the Ulsan Ulju Police Station signed an agreement to expand collaboration on campus safety, crime prevention, and AI-based professional training. The partnership will combine UNIST's educational expertise with the police's public safety experience through joint programs for students, staff, and police personnel. The two institutions will collaborate on crime prevention education, educational visits to police facilities, public safety awareness programs, and AI-based training for police personnel, with UNIST contributing its educational resources and academic expertise. “A safe campus is essential for students and researchers to focus on learning and discovery,” said UNIST President Chong Rae Park. “Th with the Ulsan Ulju Police Station, we will continue fostering an environment where every member of our community can study and conduct research with confidence.” Tae Woo Kim, Chief of the Ulsan Ulju Police Station, said the partnership reflects a shared commitment to public safety and community engagement. “We will continue working closely with UNIST to strengthen practical cooperation and build a safer environment for both university members and local residents,” he said.

A UNIST autonomous racing team has won first place at RoboRacer, an international autonomous driving competition, held as part of the 2026 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), one of the world's leading conferences in robotics and automation. Team UNICORN Racing , led by Professor Cheolhyeon Kwon of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, claimed the championship title at the competition, which took place in Vienna, Austria, from June 1 to 5, 2026. The team finished ahead of 37 university teams from around the world, demonstrating the strength of its autonomous racing systems under demanding real-world conditions. RoboRacer, formerly known as F1TENTH, challenges teams to develop perception, planning, and control systems for autonomous one-tenth-scale race cars operating under high-speed racing conditions. This year's course introduced significant new challenges. Unlike a conventional flat track, the racing environment included ramps, bridges, and elevation changes that caused vehicles to lift off, land, and experience sudden changes in posture. Success depends not only on speed, but also on the vehicle's ability to perceive its surroundings, accurately estimate its position, and maintain stable control under rapidly changing conditions. Team UNICORN Racing distinguished itself with a technical approach not used by any other team in the competition that was a three-dimensional (3D) LiDAR system. While most teams relied on conventional two-dimensional LiDAR sensors, the UNIST team used 3D LiDAR to capture richer spatial information about the racing environment. The approach addresses a broader challenge in autonomous systems research. In complex three-dimensional environments, changes in terrain and vehicle motion can disrupt perception and localization, making reliable navigation difficult. Processing large volumes of three-dimensional sensor data in real time also requires substantial computing power, particularly on small autonomous platforms with limited onboard resources. To overcome these challenges, the team developed an integrated system that combines 3D perception, localization, path planning, and vehicle control within a compact computational framework. The system maintained accurate localization and stable control even on sections with sharp elevation changes and landing impacts, enabling consistent performance throughout the race and helping secure the overall victory. “This achievement is especially meaningful because it builds on last year's second-place finish and demonstrates the continued progress of our autonomous driving research,” said Professor Kwon. "Our goal is to advance technologies that enable fast and reliable autonomous driving in complex three-dimensional environments." RoboRacer began at the University of Pennsylvania in 2016 and has since grown into a global research and education platform involving more than 100 universities worldwide. By combining real-world racing conditions with autonomous systems research, the competition provides a demanding testbed for technologies that may inform the future of intelligent mobility.

Between classes, research, and meetings, members of the UNIST community pass through the lobby connecting Engineering Buildings 104 through 106. Along the way, they may find a place to take a break, recharge, or simply spend a few quiet moments during the day. Created in 2024 through a collaboration between UNIST and LG Electronics, LG Another Campus at UNIST transforms a section of the campus into a shared space designed around comfort, convenience, and everyday experience. The area features a range of LG lifestyle technologies, including refrigerators, Stylers, StanbyME displays, shoe-care systems, and massage chairs. Rather than standing apart as a showroom, these technologies are woven into the campus setting, offering students, researchers, faculty, and staff a place to rest, recharge, and connect. LG Another Campus is part of LG Electronics' university partnership initiative, which creates campus spaces where students can experience technology in a familiar and accessible setting. At UNIST, the space has become a welcoming environment for the wider university community. On any given day, the space may hold a student taking a short break, a researcher pausing between meetings, or colleagues in quiet conversation—ordinary moments that have made LG Another Campus at UNIST part of the daily life of the university.

Professor Sung Whan Yoon of the Graduate School of Artificial Intelligence (AIGS) and Department of Electrical Engineering at UNIST has been honored with a Ministerial Commendation from the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) for his contributions to digital talent development. The award recognizes his efforts to advance reliable AI technologies, while connecting AI education with real-world manufacturing challenges. A major challenge in applying AI to factories is the gap between the lab and the field. Data collected from actual equipment often differs from the data used to train a model. Changes in materials, machine conditions, operating methods, or data quality can all weaken model performance. In manufacturing, those errors can lead directly to production losses or safety risks. Professor Yoon has worked to address that problem through robust AI algorithms. Robust AI refers to machine learning systems that continue to perform reliably even when conditions change. Rather than pursuing high accuracy only under fixed conditions, his work focuses on AI that can make dependable decisions in real industrial environments. His research has also drawn international recognition. At the International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR) 2025, one of the world’s leading AI conferences, his work on improving the stability of reinforcement learning models was selected for an oral presentation. Oral presentations at ICLR are typically reserved for roughly the top 2 percent of submitted papers. Reinforcement learning allows AI systems to improve decisions through trial and error. In manufacturing, it can help optimize equipment settings and production processes. But factories leave little room for unstable decisions, since one wrong choice can create cost and safety risks. Professor Yoon’s research showed how reinforcement learning models can become more stable under uncertain or changing field conditions, moving the technology closer to industrial use. Beyond research, Professor Yoon has also brought those advances into AI education for manufacturing professionals. Since joining UNIST, Professor Yoon has helped design and run AI programs for industry workers in Ulsan and the southeastern region. The programs are built around problems participants face in their own factories, turning actual production issues into hands-on AI projects. His team has applied reinforcement learning-based optimization methods to manufacturing and processing facilities. The work aims to improve equipment operations while maintaining process stability and safety. This link between AI training and workplace change was a key reason for the commendation. Professor Yoon currently serves as a project leader in the national AI Star Fellowship program. In partnership with SK Energy, he is developing core technologies for robust manufacturing AI that can be used in complex process industries, including petrochemicals. “High performance alone is not enough for AI to succeed in industry,” Professor Yoon said. “AI systems must remain stable even when conditions change. We will continue developing robust AI technologies and connecting them to manufacturing solutions and digital talent development.”

In May, UNIST's new Open Stage series opened with two conversations that approached the AI era from very different worlds: the game of Go and contemporary media art. Together, they offered a sharp answer to a question now facing universities everywhere: when AI can generate answers, what should humans learn to do better? The first UNIST Open Stage event, held on May 6, brought together UNIST Collaborating Professor Sedol Lee and Go grandmaster Changho Lee. Under the theme " The Future Foretold on the Board ," the two reflected on how AlphaGo changed professional Go and what that shift reveals about judgment, creativity, and learning. Their message was not that AI has made human thinking less important. It was the opposite. AI may calculate faster and suggest stronger moves, but people still decide which questions matter, how answers should be interpreted and what values should guide action. In that sense, the board became more than a metaphor for competition. It became a way to think about education in a time when correct answers are increasingly easy to obtain, but meaningful questions are harder to form. The discussion also turned to failure and resilience. In Go, losses often remain longer than victories. They demand review, humility and a willingness to rethink one's assumptions. That lesson sits close to the educational philosophy behind UNIST's School of GRIT Convergence Studies: students need not only knowledge, but also the capacity to stay with difficult problems, cross disciplinary boundaries and build their own intellectual path. The second UNIST Open Stage event, held on May 28, shifted the conversation from the board to possible worlds. Internationally acclaimed media artist and UNIST Collaborating Professor Ayoung Kim led a screening and artist talk under the theme " Expanding Stories and Possible Worlds: Imagination in the AI Era with Media Artist Ayoung Kim ." Through works including Delivery Dancer's Sphere (2022) and At the Surisol Underwater Lab (2020), Professor Kim explored how technology changes the conditions of human life — how people move, work, remember, survive and make choices. Her worlds are fictional, but they are not detached from reality. They make visible the pressures already shaping society: platform labor, algorithmic systems, climate crisis, migration and the uneasy relationship between human agency and technological environments. “Imagining a possible world is not an escape from reality,” Professor Kim noted. “Rather, it is a way to see the questions we have missed in the present more clearly.” That idea connected naturally with the first UNIST Open Stage . Sedol Lee and Changho Lee asked what human judgment means when machines can produce powerful answers. Ayoung Kim asked how imagination can reveal the hidden structures that shape human choices. One conversation began with Go; the other with media art. Both arrived at the same educational principle: the future will belong not simply to those who know more, but to those who can ask deeper, more original questions. For UNIST, the Open Stage series is more than a public lecture program. It is an expression of the direction behind the School of GRIT Convergence Studies, which aims to support students in designing their own academic pathways around original questions. As AI transforms how knowledge is accessed and produced, UNIST is placing greater emphasis on intellectual breadth, creative risk-taking and the ability to connect science, technology, art, and the humanities. In that sense, the first two Open Stage events offered a fitting beginning. They showed that the AI era is not only a technological transition. It is also a human one — a challenge to rethink how we judge, imagine, learn, and create.

Jiyeon Kim, who earned her Combined MS-Ph.D. degree in chemistry at UNIST under the supervision of Professor Wonyoung Choe, has been awarded the prestigious Humboldt Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Dr. Kim is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Professor Bettina Lotsch at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (MPI-FKF). Beginning next year, she will continue her independent work at the institute through the fellowship, one of Germany's most internationally respected programs supporting outstanding early-career researchers. The Humboldt Research Fellowship supports exceptional scholars from around the world in conducting independent research at leading German institutions. Fellowship recipients join the global “Humboldtian” academic network, which includes more than 30,000 researchers and numerous Nobel laureates, including Omar Yaghi and Susumu Kitagawa. Dr. Kim entered UNIST in 2013, majoring in chemistry and energy engineering, and completed her doctoral studies in 2024. During her graduate studies, she was selected for Korea's Global Ph.D. Fellowship program and received the Yebong Best Dissertation Award , one of UNIST's highest honors for doctoral research. This fellowship follows another major international recognition earlier this year, when Dr. Kim was selected for the Elisabeth Bauser Fellowship at MPI-FKF. Named after the institute's first female tenured scientist, the fellowship recognizes promising early-career women researchers demonstrating exceptional academic achievement and leadership potential. Her work focuses on advanced materials design and catalyst systems for sustainable energy and carbon-neutral technologies. She has drawn attention for bridging fundamental materials chemistry with catalytic applications, particularly through innovative design strategies involving metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs). Dr. Kim also contributed to the development of the “Up-Down Approach,” a materials design strategy featured in Nature's Nobel Prize in Chemistry collection. Her research further explores quasiperiodic moiré phenomena and crystallographic materials systems, connecting inorganic chemistry, structural science, and catalytic reaction control. At MPI-FKF, she is extending these approaches toward controlling chemical reactions within porous COF architectures. By engineering nanoscale reaction environments, the research aims to advance next-generation catalyst platforms for carbon dioxide reduction and sustainable energy production. “It is a tremendous honor to pursue independent research in an environment that strongly values scientific autonomy,” Dr. Kim said. “The materials design experience I gained at UNIST has become an important foundation for my current work at the Max Planck Institute.” She also expressed gratitude to Professor Wonyoung Choe and her collaborators in Korea and Germany for their continued mentorship and support, adding that she hopes to further strengthen academic exchange and collaborative research between the two countries through the fellowship. Dr. Kim previously received the Rising Star Award from the International Union of Crystallography at the Asian Crystallographic Association Conference 2024 in recognition of her contributions to innovative materials design strategies in crystallography and framework chemistry.

Across disciplines ranging from human‑inspired engineering to the frontiers of theoretical physics, UNIST scholars are earning distinction for work that broadens the reach of scientific understanding and innovation. Engineering Human Senses | Professor Hyunhyub Ko Honored with Presidential Commendation Professor Hyunhyub Ko, Head of the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, has received a Presidential Commendation at the commemorative ceremony of the 2026 Science and ICT Day for his groundbreaking work in bio-inspired electronic systems. Professor Ko's research translates human sensory functions—touch, taste, and hearing—into flexible electronic platforms. His team developed electronic skin capable of detecting pressure, fine texture, and temperature, as well as artificial sensory systems, such as electronic tongues and cochlea-inspired acoustic sensors. They also introduced ultrathin, skin-attachable speakers and microphones that expand possibilities for wearable interfaces. Beyond devices, his lab designs functional materials inspired by nature, including MXene-based nanochannels and temperature-responsive adhesives. These technologies are regarded as enabling components for next-generation wearable healthcare, tactile robotics, immersive AR/VR, and the Internet of Things (IoTs). Read More at UNIST News AI Meets Fundamental Physics | Professor Rak-Kyeong Seong Wins 2026 Baekcheon Physics Award Professor Rak-Kyeong Seong from the Department of Mathematical Sciences has received the 2026 Baekcheon Physics Award from the Korean Physical Society (KPS), recognizing his pioneering contributions to theoretical particle physics. Professor Seong introduced machine learning to tackle non-perturbative problems in quantum field theory and string theory—long viewed as analytically intractable. His early work, using AI to predict the complex geometry of Calabi–Yau manifolds remains a cornerstone in bridging data science and mathematical physics. Invited talks at major international forums—including the University of Cambridge, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and Kyoto University—underscore the global impact of his research. His work embodies a new paradigm in fundamental science, where the boundaries between physics and artificial intelligence (AI) grow increasingly porous. Read More at UNIST News