Cheolmin Park, Yonsei University

Cheolmin Park is currently a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the College of Engineering, Yonsei University, and an adjunct researcher at the Spin Convergence Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). He is also the director of the BK21 Education and Research Division for Futuristic Human-centric Materials and Center for Artificial Synesthesia Materials Discovery. He received his BS degree and MS degree from the Department of Polymer and Fiber Engineering from Seoul National University in 1992 and 1995, respectively. He received his PhD degree from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2001. Additionally, he was a research scientist at KIST. After a postdoctoral fellowship from the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at the Harvard University, he joined Yonsei University in 2002.

Cheolmin has been active in MRS throughout his professional career. He has presented his various research works more than 90 times at MRS and also served as a meeting chair of the 2018 MRS Spring Meeting. He is one of the delegates of Polymer Society of Korea (PSK) to facilitate the participation of PSK at the 2022 MRS Spring Meeting. His involvement in other societies includes ECS and SPIE, where he serves as a member-at-large for the Division of Photoelectronic Polymeric Materials Science and Engineering. Furthermore, he has been appointed to the Board of Directors of PSK, Korean Institute of Metals and Materials (KIMM), and Korea Flexible & Printed Electronics Society. Additionally, he serves as an associate editor of Science and Technology of Advanced Materials and Macromolecular Research while being a board member of the Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Electronic Materials Letter, and Display and Imaging. He has authored over 200 SCI articles, 70 patents, and delivered over 100 invited seminars. He has been recognized eight times as the Yonsei outstanding professor in the last 10 years and was appointed the Underwood Distinguished Professor at Yonsei University in 2014.

His research focused on the development of self-assembled polymers and hybrid materials, where he utilized tailored nanostructures for a variety of photoelectronic applications, including non-volatile ferroelectric polymer memories, block copolymer structural color displays, and alternating current light-emitting sensing displays. He is the recipient of PSK-Wiley Young Scientist Award in 2002, PSK-Mid-career Researcher Award in 2014, PSK-KOPTRI Award in 2020, and KIMM-Information and Electronic Award in 2016. He also received a minister award from the Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning in 2015. Furthermore, he has consulted technology transfers he developed for industries, such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. He has successfully interacted with scientists, technologists, and executives from the Ministry of Science, relevant industries, and international universities and institutes.

Candidate's Statement

Since its establishment in 1973, MRS has grown with its unique character as an interdisciplinary materials research organization and has provided a platform for global communication and knowledge dissemination in the field of materials research by proactively fostering material solutions and enhancing the MRS community. This successful and proud platform is faced with a new era of the 4th Industrial Revolution with unprecedented technological challenges and, at the same time, opportunities presented by artificial intelligence, metaverse, carbon neutrality and autonomous mobility. Additionally, the new normal we have never experienced with the pandemic requires substantial reconstruction of the MRS to strengthen our community and continuously forward our mission. Thus, the role of MRS has become increasingly significant as a world-leading material research society for innovators and scientists.

Second, MRS should be in a leading position for the industry to fulfill its environments, society, and governance (ESG) mission. MRS has always embraced critical issues in the industry and society, such as dealing with the weaponization of material resources. The recent worldwide trend for ESG requires the innovation of new materials for clean and safe environments, efficient renewable energies, and convenient human-to-human/human-to-machine connectivity. Convergent research and development with various interdisciplinary fields is critical to continually harness techniques and concepts from new fields to establish new materials. MRS must be expanded to enable such innovative ideas and to find ways to contribute to the new normal.

Finally, MRS must continuously devote itself to promoting diversity in the global material community in the future. Based on the core tenant of the Diversity Statement of MRS, MRS must expand their programs for students from underrepresented groups, women in materials science and engineering, and scientists from developing countries.

The success of all these goals ultimately relies on the society to maintain innovative, passionate members and volunteers. I believe the role of the MRS board is to plot the course for the future to not only maintain our standard of excellence but also improve the society by encouraging innovation in all that we do. With the firm basis on an interdisciplinary and global perspective that MRS has pursued, we must begin to design a new materials research approach that will expedite the prosperity of the new normal society.