KSEA Northwest Regional Conference (NWRC) 2024

Report by Byung Kim, NWRC 2024 Conference Chair/Idaho Chapter President

The KSEA Northwestern Regional Conference (NWRC) 2024 was held in the Interactive Learning Center at Boise State University in Boise, Idaho from January 27 to January 28, 2024. The KSEA NWRC was organized by the KSEA Idaho chapter, along with the KSEA Seattle Washington Chapter and KSEA Sacramento Chapter, with the support of KSEA HQ and the Korea-U.S. Science Cooperation Center (KUSCO). The theme of the conference was “Issue-Resolution for Research and Developments,” aimed at identifying current issues and future resolutions in various science, technology, and engineering fields. We invited recognized researchers and engineers from industry and academia, representing various research areas from local KSEA chapters in the northwest region. The invited scientists and engineers presented exciting and intriguing topics, including DNA nanophysics, artificial intelligence, and quantum computations.

The conference opened with welcoming remarks by Dr. Yongho Sohn, the 52nd president of KSEA, and the conference organizers. The Keynote Speaker, Harold Kim, a Professor of Physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology, presented “Probing the Anisotropic Bendability of DNA.” Other notable presentations included Allon Kim (Disney), Officer of the KSEA Seattle Chapter on “Generative AI Current Trends,” Jeung Hoon Lee (Boise State University) on “Exciton Delocalization in DNA-Templated Dye Aggregates,” Kyungduk Ko (Boise State University) on “Interval Estimation of Means Robust to Skewed Long Memory Data,” Sukyong Yun, YG President of the KSEA Seattle Chapter (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) on “Estuarine Nutrient Pollution Impact Reduction Assessment through Euphotic Zone Avoidance/Bypass Considerations,” and Kyeong Sik Park (Inha Technology College) on “Development of GNSS-based Buoy-type Automatic Water Level Measurement Device.”

The NWRC 2024 was very successful, contributing to advancements in emerging STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) for the US and Korea. The KSEA NWRC 2024 provided valuable opportunities for understanding perspectives in STEM fields. It also promoted networking among KSEA members in the Northwest region, enabling them to meet new people and exchange ideas around their work and research areas.