Editorial pubs.acs.org/cm
International Workshop on Materials Science and Engineering at KAIST Big Ideas in Emerging Materials, August 2, 2016 KAIST, and the palpable appetite for new ideas, constructive criticism, and input with respect to research directions. Thank you to the organizers, led by Prof. Il-Doo Kim and his research team at KAIST, for the inspiring visit; in this day and age, much of the news with regards to science is negative (i.e., diminishing funding, increasing restrictions on fundamental or basic research, and concerns about decreasing scientific literacy), and thus it is inspiring to visit an institution that is full of people who are excited, ambitious, and dedicated to both basic and applied science.
At the beginning of August, 8 editors from American Chemical Society journals converged on Daejeon, Korea’s “Science City”, to present their research to almost 500 students, postdocs, and faculty at a workshop entitled “Big Ideas in Emerging Materials” at KAIST (see Figure 1). It was a wonderful opportunity for the editors to talk about their “day job” their researchwhich ranged from topics on applied nanomaterials, to nanomedicine, to energy issues. Building upon a growing web of domestic and international collaborations with industry and academic institutions, there is a strong sense of “we can do it” at KAIST. According to the latest numbers from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Korea is investing the largest percentage of its gross domestic product of any country, 4.29% (63.7 trillion won, or US$60.5 billion), on research and development.1 Korea’s research enterprise is advancing rapidly, particularly in the areas of materials science and nanoscience, and KAIST is now ranked in the top 10 universities in Asia, according to the Times Higher Education rankings.2 KAIST is a young, public university, and for universities less than 50 years of age, it is ranked sixth in the world.3 What I recall most vividly from this workshop is the incredibly positive attitude of the researchers at
Jillian M. Buriak, Editor-in-Chief
Figure 1. Speakers and organizer of the KAIST International MSE Workshop: Taeghwan Hyeon (Seoul National University, and Associate Editor of J. Am. Chem. Soc.), Dong Qin (Georgia Tech), Younan Xia (Georgia Tech, and Associate Editor of Nano Lett.), Ali Javey (UC Berkeley, and Associate Editor of ACS Nano), Paul Weiss (UCLA, and Editor-in-Chief of ACS Nano), Reginald Penner (UC Irvine, and Associate Editor of ACS Nano), Harry Atwater (Caltech, and Editor-in-Chief of ACS Photonics), Julia Greer (Caltech, and Associate Editor of Nano Lett.), Jillian Buriak (University of Alberta, Editor-in-Chief of Chem. Mater.), and organizer Il-Doo Kim (KAIST). Published: August 23, 2016 © 2016 American Chemical Society
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DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.6b03208 Chem. Mater. 2016, 28, 5567−5568
Chemistry of Materials
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Editorial
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the author and not necessarily the views of the ACS.
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REFERENCES
(1) http://www.nature.com/news/why-south-korea-is-the-world-sbiggest-investor-in-research-1.19997. (2) https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-universityrankings/2016/regional-ranking#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/rank_ label/sort_order/asc/cols/rank_only. (3) https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-universityrankings/2016/one-hundred-fifty-under-fifty#!/page/0/length/25/ sort_by/rank_label/sort_order/asc/cols/rank_only.
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DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.6b03208 Chem. Mater. 2016, 28, 5567−5568
