Index Live:
Growing Korean Research Performance
in an Uncertain World

Dr. Cassidy R. Sugimoto is Tom and Marie Patton Professor and School Chair in the School of Public Policy at Georgia Institute of Technology. Her research examines the formal and informal ways in which knowledge is produced, disseminated, consumed, and supported, with an emphasis on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Sugimoto was a professor of Informatics in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering at Indiana University Bloomington from 2010-2021 and served as the Program Director for the Science of Science and Innovation Policy program at the National Science Foundation from 2018-2020. She has received the Indiana University Trustees Teaching award (2014), a national service award from the Association for Information Science and Technology (2009), and a Bicentennial Award for service from Indiana University (2020). She holds a bachelor’s in Music Performance, a master’s in Library Science, and a doctoral degree in Information and Library Science all from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Hyuck Mo LEE received a PhD from MIT (1989) and has been a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) at KAIST since 1989, until retirement in August 2024. Prof. Lee was the Department Head from 2011 to 2019. During his tenure, he established what has proven to be a very productive Global Alliance Program with MSE departments of MIT, Argonne National Lab, Imperial College London, Tohoku Univ, Nanyang Tech Univ, and Northwestern Univ. As a result, the Materials Science of KAIST has earned great international recognition - it was ranked 13^th place in 2017 and 2018 by the QS World University Subject Rankings.

To date, he has published about 250 articles. He has received numerous prestigious awards. They include the Presidential (Korea) Young Scientist Research Award (2000), KAIST Distinguished Teaching Award (2009), KT (Korea Telecommunication) Endowed Chair Professorship (2018-2021), LS Academic Award of Korea Institute of Metals and Materials (2018), Order of Science and Technology Merit (2022) and Order of Service Merit (2024) from the Korea Government. Currently, he serves as a Director General of the Directorate of Basic Research in Science and Engineering at the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea.

Prof. Kwon earned his doctoral degree from MIT and his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Seoul National University (SNU) in chemical engineering major. He is currently a faculty member in the School of Chemical Engineering, Department of Semiconductor Engineering, Department of Future Energy Engineering, & Department of Quantum Information Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) in South Korea. Prior to joining SKKU, he served as a principal research scientist at the Korea Institute of Science & Technology (KIST), specializing in the design of advanced materials for semiconductor applications. His research focuses on multi-scale and multi-physics computational studies aimed at advancing semiconductor materials and processes. Additionally, his work extends to the design of renewable energy materials and devices, including perovskite photovoltaic materials and the electrochemical reduction of CO2. Prof. Kwon has also contributed to various government initiatives, including science and technology policy, foreign policies for global scientific collaboration, strategies to ensure the stability of South Korea's semiconductor supply chain, and human resource development in STEM fields. He has published over 80 scientific papers in prestigious international peer-reviewed journals, including Science, Nature Electronics, Science Advances, Nature Communications, and Advanced Materials.

Sungjoo Lee earned her first Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Seoul National University (SNU), Seoul, Republic of Korea, in 2007, and her second Ph.D. in Technology and Innovation Management from the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at Sussex University, UK, in 2019. She is currently a Professor of Industrial Engineering at SNU. Before joining SNU, she spent a year as a visiting scholar at the Centre for Technology Management, Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge, UK, and ten years at the Department of Industrial Engineering at Ajou University, Republic of Korea, where she held positions ranging from Lecturer to Full Professor. Her research interests include technology roadmaps, patent analytics, and R&D planning. She also serves on the editorial boards of several leading journals, including Technological Forecasting and Social Change and the Journal of Engineering and Technology Management.

Prof. So Young Kim is the Vice President of International Office of KAIST and a former head of the Graduate School of Science & Technology Policy of KAIST. Specializing in R&D policy, she is has led large S&T policy projects on research funding and evaluation, basic science, science and engineering workforce, science-based ODA, and emerging technology governance. As a public intellectual, Prof. Kim has served numerous governmental committees including Special S&T Committee of the Presidential Commission of National Inclusion (as a chair), the Spent Nuclear Fuel Policy Review Committee Chairperson (as a chair), and the National S&T Vision Committee. Elected to the Korea Academy of Science and Technology, Prof. Kim received her B.A. and M.A. from Seoul National University and her Ph.D. and M.S. from Northwestern University with Fulbright Scholarship.

Seokkyun Woo is an Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Science and Technology Policy at KAIST. He holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an MS in Statistics from the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering from the same institution. Prior to joining KAIST STP, Seokkyun was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center of Science of Science and Innovation at Kellogg School of Management. His research involves understanding how the work organization of science and innovation are structured and how they in turn influence the rate and direction of research activities with the goal of providing effective science and technology policy. His work integrates perspectives from various disciplines including the sociology of work, the sociology of science, and public policy. In addition to his primary focus, his current research explores the cultural evolution of science and inventions by leveraging large-scale digitized historical archives and advanced computational methods.

Professor Moon Choi is the Head of the KAIST Graduate School of Science and Technology Policy. Since founding the Aging and Technology Policy Lab in 2014 (http://aging.kaist.ac.kr), she has led novel research at the intersection of the longevity revolution and the digital revolution. Her lab specializes in identifying and addressing social issues related to aging populations and emerging technologies, providing insightful policy analysis and recommendations. Dr. Choi is a consultant for the United Nations and serves on several policy committees for various Korean ministries. Her interdisciplinary academic background includes a bachelor's degree in Biochemistry from Yonsei University, a master's degree in Social Welfare from Seoul National University, and a doctoral degree in Social Welfare with a concentration in Gerontology from Case Western Reserve University. She served as the Science Program Chair for the 2022 World Conference of Gerontechnology and the CRAFT Chair of the ACM FAccT Conference 2022. She is currently on the steering committee of ACM FAccT. She has also served as an associate editor and on the editorial boards of leading journals, including the Journal of Transport & Health and the Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences.

Dasom Lee is an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Science and Technology Policy at KAIST. She received her PhD in sociology and a minor in quantitative methods from Vanderbilt University, USA. She worked as a tenured assistant professor at the University of Twente in the Netherlands before joining STP, KAIST. Dasom's research focuses on identifying societal and legal challenges of AI and cyber-physical systems and publishes on regulatory solutions and harmonization.

Sotaro Shibayama is Professor at the University of Tokyo, Institute for Future Initiatives / Graduate School of Public Policy. He earned a Ph.D. in the field of R&D management as well as master’s degrees in pharmaceutical sciences, economics, and mathematics. His research fields include economics of science, sociology of science, management of R&D organizations, STI policy, and higher education.