With the main theme, “Future Preparedness: Smart Technologies and Science”, KSEA Georgia Chapter (KSEA-GA) hosted the fourth Southeastern Regional Conference at Sonesta Gwinnett Place hotel (Duluth, GA) on March 8, 2014. More than 150 people participated in this conference. It was composed of three technical sessions, Korean Women in Science and Engineering (KWiSE) session, and Young Generation (YG) session. The conference began with welcoming speech by the GA Chapter President, Prof. Sang Hyuck Park (Georgia Gwinnett College), and followed by keynote speech by Prof. Youngsoo Richard Kim at NC State University. Prof. Kim gave a special talk titled, “Successful Life as a Korean-American Professional”. He explained different types of leadership and emphasized how to become the most valuable leader. After the keynote speech, General Manager David Koh at KITECH USA gave congratulatory speech on behalf of Dr. Choon Keun Park at KITECH USA. He addressed how KITECH USA creates good relationship between technology industry in Korea and scientists and engineers in the United States.
Following the speeches, 23 speakers from universities, private sector, and government spoke their specialty in four technical sessions, where Biology, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, and KWiSE sessions ran concurrently. Along with these technical sessions, there was YG session for undergraduate and graduate students. It was to offer a great opportunity for them not only to have invaluable mentoring time with experienced people from Industry and Academia but also to establish strong professional network in the southeastern region. In the session, 80 students were split up to six small groups and had a Q&A session with the previous KSEA-GA YG leaders, invited panelists and guest speakers. They shared their knowledge and experience with students in terms of applying internships and jobs as well as going to graduate school. Then, the students also attended poster presentation competition and a job fair, where they learned other students’ research and had a chance to interview with Hyundai Power Transformers USA. After all the five different sessions, there was an ceremony awarding the best poster presentation prizes to three groups of students, and the conference was finally closed by Prof. Chong Woo Park (GA Chapter President-Elect)’s closing remark. Overall, most participants were satisfied with the conference quality and impressed with growth of KSEA GA chapter. The SERC 2014 was an excellent example of how local chapters are operating to accomplish the mission and visions of KSEA and KUSCO.
