The Korean-American Scientist and Engineers Association (KSEA)-New York Metropolitan Chapter hosted “Young Scientists’ Night” on October 8th, Saturday, 2022 in Manhattan, New York from 2:15 pm to 6:00 pm. Approximately, eighty two passionate and intelligent young scientists and engineers were gathered to network, connect, and share ideas and their expertise. This event turned out to be a great success as it served as an opportunity to reunite with each other and foster new relationships.
Young Scientists’ Night (YSN) is a continuation of the annual flagship event for the New York Chapter since 2017. During this event, we were aiming to not only increase social interaction among the younger generation (young professionals and graduate/undergraduate students) of KSEA members but also to connect with regular members. Furthermore, one of the purpose of the event is to drive new members, and we were able to recruit 21 new members and membership renewals in total.
This was the first time holding the event at a bar setting with an open bar included, and the programs of the event were led by Keven Kim, Young Professional Director, and Hye Min Kim, Young Generation Director. The event began with a speed networking session with coffee, and then officially the bar + cocktail hour was started. We also invited a special speaker from the Rochester Institute of Technology as a special speaker, professor Tom Oh. He shared his long journey and valuable experiences in KSEA with our young generation. As the event preceded throughout the afternoon, the members were able to connect with more people during the networking game. There was also a raffle prize which was sponsored by KSEA HQ, the Korean/US Science Cooperation Center (KUSCO), New York Korean Biologists (NYKB), and Cosmax.
The event attracted a very diverse group of attendees. Most of the attendees held doctoral degrees (47%), but we also had 11% holding Bachelor’s Degrees and 9% holding Master’s Degrees. Also, there were 18% of current graduate students and 15% of undergraduate students. These attendees were from various 39 different affiliations; 21% from St. John’s University, 11% from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 7% from Columbia, 6% from New York University, and many others from companies such as Uber, Tik Tok, Thermo fisher, Google, Meta, CDG Architects, and etc. 38% of attendees were in Health/Medical field, 19% were in Life Science field, another 19% were in Computer/Data Science field, 9% were in Engineering field, and there were also Physical Science, Finance/Business, and Visual Art/Music/Performing field as well.
Despite the fact that it was the very first time for the event to be held in a bar setting, the event was successful with positive feedback that everyone enjoyed the open bar and networking session. Moreover, the bonds that were created during this event will allow the young generation and young professional groups to grow and progress. Also, the connection between KSEA and the young generation from this event will improve and strengthen other KSEA events such as KSEA Math and Science Olympiad (KMSO), North Regional Conference (NRC), Y-gnite, US-Korea Conference (UKC), and others. The Young Scientists’ Night (YSN) will continue to expand and develop to become a necessary event for the young generation and professionals in New York, East Coast, and the entire United States.
Reported by
Ohbong Kwon
KSEA New York Metropolitan Chapter
KSEA e-Letters 