KUSCO is pleased to announce our support for the KSEA NWRC 2012 which was held from Friday, November 2 to Saturday, November 3 at the Sacramento Marriott at Rancho Cordova, California. About 120 participants facilitated the networking and shared their knowledge and experience on the diverse areas in science and engineering. The NWRC is an annual event co-organized by four KSEA local chapters in the northwestern regional states, including the Seattle-Washington Chapter, Oregon Chapter, Silicon Valley Chapter, and Sacramento Valley Chapter. Especially in this year, the conference committee invited members from Boise, Idaho to promote the establishment of a new local chapter in that area. The new Boise-Idaho Chapter was successfully founded after the NWRC, and from next year, it will be the fifth co-organizing chapter for the NWRC.
There were pre-conference events on Friday, November 2. About 40 people enjoyed a golf outing or a trip to a local winery during the day, followed by welcome dinner at the conference hotel in the evening. More than 70 people attended the dinner. In the social time after the dinner Mr. Woo-Jin Lee, the S&T Program Director of KUSCO, presented an overview of the KUSCO and its outreach and support programs for Korean-American scientists and engineers.
The main conference on Saturday, November 3 was consisted of three parts: (a) General Plenary Session, (b) Forum Sessions, and (c) Technical Sessions. The participants included 2 keynote speakers in the plenary session and 40 general speakers in the forum and technical sessions. In the plenary session Mr. Bob Pieplow, Chief Engineer in California Department of Transportation, and Dr. Jae-Hoon Kim, Executive of the Boeing Company, delivered keynote speeches on the topics of “Overview of Transportation in California” and “Technology Convergence in Wireless Mobile Communications,” respectively.
There were two forum sessions after the plenary session: “Korea-US FTA Forum” and “Young Generation (YG) Forum.” Participants in the FTA forum discussed the status of Korea-US FTA and its potential impacts and opportunities to the KSEA members. The technical sessions took place after lunch break, and they were divided into 8 sessions on 6 tracks, including BTH (Bio Technology and Health Science), CEE 1 & 2 (Civil and Environmental Engineering), CIT 1 & 2 (Communication and Information Technology), MAE (Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering), MNT (Materials and Nano Technology), and EGT (Energy and Green Technology).
As noted, the NWRC 2012 was successfully fulfilled with the supports and dedications of the sponsors, participants, and volunteers. The Seattle-Washington Chapter will be the next hosting chapter for the NWRC 2013.
