The “2012 KSEA-NE Annual Technical Symposium and Young Generation Forum” was held on Feb. 25 at MIT. The Annual Technical Symposium is the biggest event of the New England chapter. It has offered a great opportunity for the participants to meet peer Korean-American scientists and engineers and establish a strong network among people with diverse backgrounds every year. The theme of this year was “Technologies for Next Generation” focusing on energy, material, biotechnology, and medical science. The distinguished invited speakers discussed the current state-of-art technologies and shared their prospects for the future. In overall, 12 renowned speakers and over 150 participants participated during the KSEA New England Chapter.
As a keynote speaker, Dr. Yesook Kim presented about the ‘Project Portfolio Management’ with her expertise and experience in the pharmaceutical industry and additionally, Dr. Moonsu Han, a distinguished economist, gave a special talk about the US economic outlook for 2012.
In Bio/Health session, Dr. Hakho Lee (Harvard Medical School) presented with the title of “Diagnostic Magnetic Resonance (DMR) – a Chip-Based Magnetic Sensor for Medical Diagnosis”, Dr. Young Chun Jung (Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc.) discussed for “New Drug Development and Approval”, and Dr. Kyung-Ah Kim (Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology) talked about the “Generation and Characterization of a Novel c-Met Antibody”.
In Energy/Material session, Dr. Daeyeon Lee (University of Pennsylvania) talked about the “Designer Drops and Bubbles”, Dr. Jin Wuk Sung (Dow Chemical) discussed for “Overview of Advanced Patterning Materials and Next Generation Photoresist”, and Dr. Hyo Sug Lee (Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology) presented for the “Computational Chemistry for Energy Materials”. Dr. Kang-Won Wayne Lee (University of Rhode Island) also introduced his work for “Solar Energy Harvesting from Roadways”.
The symposium also featured a parallel session for “Young Generation”, which refers to those who immigrated to the US with their parents when they were young and those who were born and grew up in the US with parents who emigrated from Korea. They often face a different set of challenges from their parents. Dr. B. Christopher Kim (Oxford Bioscience Partners), Mr. Joseph Yoon (Method Electronics), Mr. Jungwook Lim (Lycos), and Dr. Yoo-Taek Lee (Emmanuel College) shared their expertise and experience to help them develop their full career potential.
During the intermittence, the selected fourteen posters were presented and gave an opportunity for the participants of ninety to expand their network. The opportunity was extended by the banquet.