On September 20-21, 2013, the 8th KSEA Northwest Regional Conference (NWRC) was held at the Alder Hall of the University of Washington in Seattle. KSEA Northwest Regional Conference (NWRC) was founded in 2006 by Seattle-Washington Chapter (Formerly, Pacific Northwest Chapter), Spokane WA-based Northwest Chapter, Portland OR-based Oregon Chapter, and North CA-based Sacramento Valley Chapter, and quickly extended to 6 chapters including North CA based-Silicon Valley Chapter, Boise-based Idaho Chapter. This year newly established North CA-based Berkeley Chapter joins NWRC 2013.
NWRC 2013 was organized by Dr. Jae Hoon Kim (Boeing Research & Technology) as a General Chair, Dr. Deok-Ho Kim (University of Washington) as a Program Chair and Dr. Junho Cha (Intel) as a Local Arrangements Chair with a strong support from seven (7) KSEA Chapters in the Northwest region (Idaho, North California, Oregon, and Washington). With strong Industry, Academia and Research Institutes in the area of bio-nano electronics, information-communication, and energy-transportation system in the Northwest region, NWRC has been focused on the Bio-Nano, Information-Communications, and Energy-Transportation (BN-IC-ET) technologies. Since the first conference (NWRC 2006) held in Seattle, the subsequent NWRCs have been very successful to provide a forum for US-Korea Cooperation and foster networking among Scientists and Engineers in the Northwest region in USA and from Korea.
Under continued sponsorship and partnership from KSEA and KUSCO, NWRC 2013 was successfully organized with a program consisting of a general Gala meeting on Friday evening, and a Plenary Session with the keynote and invited Speaks followed by a double-track 8 Technical Sessions with 32 paper presentations and a Poster Session with 16 papers (by undergraduate and graduate students) on Saturday; this provided insight into current “state-of-the-art” technology and its future trend on the key technologies in Bio-Nano, Information-Communication, and Energy-Transportation.
The 8 Technical Sessions of NWRC 2013 were as follows;
- Basic Biomedical Science
- Convergence Technology
- Energy, Green and Transportation
- Information and Communications
- Material and Nanotechnology
- Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
- Translational Medicine
- Young Generation Forum
Overall, NWRC 2013 was well received by all participants (130 registered) from US and Korea. All the participants (researchers, professors, and students) had great time by exchanging their research topics, recent technical achievements, and technology trends, and by expanding their research network, which in turn would help KSEA members to find their career opportunities of research collaboration. In particular, Dr. Paull Shin (Washington State Senator) and Mr. Young Wan Song (Consul General of The Republic of Korea in Seattle) were invited as speakers at the opening ceremony and warm welcomed by all participants. Many high-quality invited paper presentations from Korea, including Seoul National University, POSTECH, GIST, Korea University, Sogang University, and Chonnam National University, made NWRC 2013 even more successful and meaningful. It should be noted that special sponsorship support from the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Seattle as well as KITECH, GIST, KOSEN, LG from Korea greatly helped the success of NWRC 2013.
Selected comments and feedback from participants are as follows;
“Congratulations, I was very impressed by the quality of conference such as outstanding speakers list, effective coordination of all participating chapters, excellent volunteerism of all members, especially Drs. Jae Hoon Kim, Deok-Ho Kim, Junho Cha, and YG members. I also would like to thank you for your warm hospitality to welcome me and to pay extra attention throughout the conference. I believe your next NWRC 2014 will be a great success…” (Dr. Jung Joo Hwang, KSEA Membership Director).
“I am convinced that this Conference attended by 6 chapters was very meaningful and forward-looking in term of the Creative Economy initiated by the Korean Government. I hope the KSEA would continue playing a good bridging role between Korea and U.S. for the better cooperation in STEM areas” (Consul. Chan-Sik Yoon, Consulate General of the R.O.K. in Seattle).
“I was amazed by scientific quality of the presentations. Although it was a regional meeting, it was great experience in terms of both learning exciting science and knowing good people. I was also impressed by organizers and KSEA people who put a lot of effort for this wonderful conference. I think more senior Ph.D. students can participate next time to stimulate younger generations. In addition, I learned that Seattle has such a great environment for socializing and research as well. I wish bigger success next time!” (Prof. Dal-Hee Min, Seoul National University, Korea).
“Originally I didn’t expect much about the KSEA NWRC 2013 event as I thought it is a local event. However, most of the talks were of very high quality and I learned very much by attending this conference. In particular, I was in the Basic Biomedical Science, Translational Medicine, and Convergence Technology sessions. I wish there were more time assigned for each speaker. Furthermore, meeting with many young generations who are in their early career was fun and rewarding to me. Many of them were also volunteering and their hospitality makes myself feel comfortable. I was greatly satisfied with the contents of the event, and also much impressed by the heartfelt talk of Sen. Paull Shin. Thank you all for making this wonderful event!” (Prof. Euiheon Chung, GIST Medical System Engineering, Korea).
“NWRC 2013, a small regional, but intensive conference was a good chance for me to exchange our interests and be exposed to other researchers who are working in other institutes. I received many information about nano-bio and numerous inspirations for future direction of research. I hope many Korean researchers can join this compact and intensive meeting every year. Thank you” (Prof. Won Jong Kim, POSTECH, Korea).
“It was a very successful event. Thank you for your hard work and warm hospitality. I enjoyed the conference and networking very much. In near future I will let you inform you of the announcement of NWRC 2014 to be held in Portland, Oregon next year. Many thanks again!” (Prof. Sung Yi, Portland State University, Oregon).
“First of all, I’d like to express my deep appreciation to the meeting organization committee for invitation. I am really impressed by the quality of talks given from plenary session to many different area of science, which, I believe, is comparable to that of major scientific meeting. Personally, it was a great meeting for me in that I have an opportunity to meet with many excellent scientists in diverse background. Thank you again for your warm hospitality and hope to meet at the UKC 2014 meeting next year” (Prof. Min-Ho Kim, Kent State University Biological Sciences, Ohio).
Reported by the Seattle-WA Chapter (Compiled by Dr. Jae Hoon Kim, NWRC 2013 Conference General Chair)