Five Teams Finalized for the BK21 Plus Program

Five research teams from Ajou University were chosen for the BK21 Plus Program (Brain Korea 21 Program for Leading Universities and Students) hosted by the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the National Research Foundation (NRF). The BK21 Plus is the second phase of the BK21 governmental program initiated by the MOE, with the objective of developing talents at the master's and doctoral level.

The MOE announced, on August 16^th, the 195 research groups and 280 research teams, from 64 universities nationwide, for this program. Two research groups and three teams were selected from Ajou University. Notably, a research group is a unit that applies to the faculty level of a department of a graduate school; whereas, a research team refers to a smaller unit that is applied by each professor.

The two groups chosen as research groups are the Convergence-Based Future Energy System Program headed by Professor Kim Ki-hong of the Department of Energy Systems and the Molecular Science and Technology Program headed by Professor Lee Bun-yeoul of the Department of Molecular Science and technology. Both groups deal with the convergence of multiple scientific and technological disciplines.

The Convergence-Based Future Energy System Program Group, in cooperation with researchers in physics, chemistry, material engineering, chemical engineering and energy, will determine means to establish environmentally-friendly sustainable energy systems and will conduct research into energy systems for next-generation transportation devices as well as develop and commercialize original energy technologies. 

The Molecular Science and Technology Program Group will conduct technology transfer and develop experts in related areas by producing superior research papers and securing original patents through basic research in the area of chem-bio (integrated area of applied chemistry, biotechnology, dentistry and pharmacology).

On the other hand, the three teams chosen as finalists are the Autonomous Networking Software Research Team for Smart Inter-device Collaboration led by Professor Ko Young-bae; the Innovative Digital Manufacturing System Research Team headed by Professor Park Sang-chul; and the Reliable Mobile Software Workforce Development Team led by Professor Jeong Tae-Sun.

The selected research groups and teams will receive financial support for graduate student research scholarships, new researcher labor costs and operational costs until 2019 (pending an intermediate evaluation in 2015). This year, a total of KRW 2.469(approximately 2.469 million USD) billion will be provided to five research groups and teams from Ajou University.