KUSCO supported the 9th Young Generation Technical and Leadership Conference 2013 which was held on January 4th-6th in LA, CA. This event brought together 200+ young leaders from across the nation to spark a spirit of collaboration amongst Korean-Americans and provided an exchange for them to break past personal goals, glass ceilings, and ignite their careers. The program featured a combination of networking sessions, workshops, talks by industry leaders and technical presentations. This years’ conference boasted the most successful program-to-date, with tailor-made sessions for undergraduates, graduate students, and young professional, for those on academic and private industry tracks.
This year’s speakers included:
- Jae H. Kim, Ph.D., Executive/ Senior Technical Fellow at Boeing Research & Technology, who spoke about the “Technology of the Future”.
- Michael Yang, Founder & Board Director of Become.com, who spoke of his journey as a entrepreneur in Silicon Valley
- Jay H. Chung, Ph.D., President and CEO of Tayco Engineering, Inc, who talked about his success in solving mission-critical problems for NASA’s space shuttle program
- Dennis Hong, Ph.D., Professor & the Founding Director of RoMeLa in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Virginia Tech, the world’s leading roboticist, who spoke about his new and hot robotics projects.
- Christopher Park, Ph.D., Assistant Member & Attending Pathologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, who spoke of being a physician-scientist, and of Korean Culture.
- Haejung An, Ph.D., Senior Chemist at U.S. Food and Drug Administration, who spoke of issues related to women in the workplace.
- Dennis Kwon, Producer of MythBusters at Discovery Channel, who spoke of the fun challenges, explosions, and science performed on his award-winning television show.
The dynamic program had three components:
- Undergraduate Program. Through fun team-oriented activities, the participants naturally built foundations for further networking and teamwork. The college students participated in an icebreaker, learned career skills in the workshop “Choosing the Right Path”, and had fun singing and presenting in “Karaoke Presentation.
- Graduate Student Program. This included an intense speed networking session, followed by career panels featuring academics and professional in engineering and health sciences, and the chance to present and learn new ideas, through the technical presentations.
- Professional Program. The professionals started with a warm and engaging icebreaker, and transitioned to a workshop on presentations. The program also included plenty of time to get to know each other, and a chance to form the relationships needed for a strong, successful Korean-American community.
In addition, the “Building your Personal Brand”, “Mentoring”, skits, and the dinners and lunches brought together participants from across the Undergraduate, Graduate and Professional categories.
The response was overwhelmingly positive, and a former participant writes:
“I have never felt so proud to be a Korean American. To see familiar, yet unfamiliar faces walking around the conference introducing themselves to me was an experience that I cannot describe in 50 words or less. I have a changed perspective in life: commitment to hard work and giving back.”
