[News] KSCEE Hosts a Midwest Conference on Careers for Frontier Science and the 4th Generation Industrial Revolution Technology

The Korean-American Society of Civil and Environment Engineers (KSCEE) together with KSEA Chicagoland Chapter, Michigan Chapter, and Iowa City Chapter hosted a Midwest Conference on Careers for the Frontier Science and the 4th Generation Industrial Revolution Technology. This conference was to connect established engineers/scientists/entrepreneurs with young generations and guide young generations (graduate students and early careers in their 20’s and 30’s) for helping their career development. The conference was held at Marriott Courtyard Hotel in Schaumburg (a suburb of Chicago) from 1:30 pm to 8:30 pm on November 18, 2017, with about thirty participants from six states of Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Texas. It was also multi-disciplinary with participants from various fields of science and engineering of Physics, Civil Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Physical Education, Mechanical Engineering and Construction Engineering. The conference was honored by a presence of the KSEA’s immediate past President Jaehoon Yu. 

Dr. Young-Kee Kim, Louis Block Distinguished Service Professor and Chair of Physics Department at University of Chicago gave a very thought-provoking keynote presentation on “visibility and invisibility in particle physics”. Participants had a great opportunity to hear about a leading edge research agenda in the frontier science. Three speakers then addressed the 4th generation industrial revolution technologies in their research fields. Dr. YeongAe Heo, Assistant Professor at Case Western University presented about “climate change effects on the aging petrochemical infrastructure risk and coastal community resilience,” Dr. Stephen Baek, Assistant Professor at University of Iowa, about “deep learning on non-Euclidean data”, and Dr. Jun-Seok Oh, Professor at Western Michigan University and Director of Transportation Research Center for Livable Communities about “applications of 4th generation technologies for livable communities”. These presentations led to discussions on how the 4th generation evolutionary technologies could be applied in various disciplines of science and engineering.

Five panel members were invited to share their career experiences to help young generations at their early career to learn from their success and failure stories. Three panel members were from industry and two were from academia as follows:

  • Benjamin Lee, 2nd Generation Korean-American Research Scientist, INVIA Medical Imaging Solutions
  • Ahreum Amy Han, Catastrophe Modeling Consultant, Allstate Corporation, Lecturer, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
  • Jaeyoung Jung, Ford Motor Company
  • YeongAe Heo, US-Educated Young Professor, Case Western University
  • Stephen Baek, Korea-Educated Young Professor, University of Iowa

After the career panel discussion, Dr. Gloria Kim, President of Chicagoland Chapter and Associate Professor at Northwestern University, led a discussion on the planning of the upcoming Midwest Conference in February 2018. Last but not least, during the networking dinner time, Dr. Hosin “David” Lee, President of KSCEE and Professor at University of Iowa (former 40th KSEA President), gave a presentation on “how to improve transportation safety”.

A group photo with participants (late arriving participants are not included)

Dr. Young-Kee Kim, Louis Block Distinguished Service Professor and Chair of Physics Department at University of Chicago