The 30th KSEA Northeast Regional Conference (NRC) was jointly hosted by the KSEA New York Metropolitan (Chapter President [CP]: Eunju Im), Philadelphia (CP: Albert Kim), and New Jersey (CP: Kooksang Moon) chapters and partnered with the Connecticut (CP: Dae Han) chapter on April 2nd-3rd, 2021. This year, NRC specially prepared a celebration of its 30th year collaborating with local societies and KSEA affiliated professional societies (APSs), including KITEE (President: Kyeong Ho Yang), KWiSE NY/NJ Chapter (President: HeaYeon Lee), NYKB (President: Jungeun Baik), and PKSA (President: Heykyeong Jeong). NRC 2021 was a 2-day event, sponsored by nonprofit organizations such as KSEA, Korea-U.S. Science Cooperation Center (KUSCO), Mara Nanotech, Andrew Kim foundation, Dr. Chin Ok Lee, SK, KITEE, and TerraDol. The conference was held in the hybrid format (simultaneous online and in-person) under the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year’s NRC consisted of two plenary sessions, three parallel technical sessions, two parallel non- technical sessions, and a poster session under the following theme: “Insight into the Next 30 Years with Science and Technology”. Its goal was to promote the spirit of service in pursuing technical excellence by exemplifying those who have led such a life of service. This theme simultaneously champions the future of Bio and Healthcare, Smart Science & Engineering, D.N.A (Data, Network, and A.I.), Entrepreneurship, and Young Generation, as well as the social elements of global impact, community, and diversity. Particularly, four invited plenary speakers, Dr. Youngmoo Kim (Drexel University), Ms. Monica Kang (InnovatorsBox), Dr. Seokheun Choi (State University of New York, Binghamton), and Dr. Hey-Kyoung Lee (Johns Hopkins University) shared interesting works, challenges, suggestions on (1) Creativity & Technology: Our Transdisciplinary future, (2) How to Innovate When Everything Feels Uncertain, (3) Bacteria-powered Batteries, and (4) Cross-model Plasticity of Cortical circuits.
In celebration of the 30th year, the NRC had a special session during the in-person meeting. Dr. Kang- Wook Lee led the history committee and gathered the NRC footsteps from the first NRC on November 5th, 1988 to the 30th annual conference. The summary of NRC history has been published in the program book, and Dr. Lee gave a presentation with celebration remarks. In addition, NRC 2021 conference committee presented awards to five former NRC chairs (Dr. Yong Wook Kim, Dr. Kenneth Kun-e Park, Dr. Dong Sung Suk, Dr. Kang-Wook Lee, and Dr. Myung Jong Lee) in appreciation of their dedicated, continued service and excellent leadership for the NRC and thereby contributing to its 30 years of history.
NRC partnered with the Andrew Kim Memorial Foundation again this year to award its 4th scholarship fellows in the fields of life science and engineering. Awardees were Alan Jung Park (Columbia University), David Joon Ho (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center), Ji Yeun Hur (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center), and Sung Sun Yim (Columbia University). Commemorating Andrew Jay-Hoon Kim, an alumnus of the Columbia Engineering School and a victim of the 9/11, this prestigious fellowship has provided not only the financial support for young scientists and engineers to attend the conference, but also a training opportunity to present and discuss their research achievements to a large group of audience.
Taking advantage of the inherent characteristic of online conferences, this year’s NRC provided KSEA members in other States and partners in Korea with the opportunity to attend the conference and attracted a total of 160 participants from diverse geographical backgrounds. Participants included those from more than ten states in the US and 10 from Korea. To improve the networking under the online circumstance, we adopted “Spatial chat”. Many participants enjoyed it.
The 30th NRC was highly successful with an in-person meeting with special guests (e.g., former NRC chairs, KUSCO director, Consul General, sponsor representatives) as well as online webinar sessions amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
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