Seoul National University College of Engineering Honors Six Faculty Members with 2024 Shinyang Engineering Awards
Celebrating the Achievements of Emerging Faculty Leaders in Education and Academia at the 20th Award Ceremony


▲ (From left) Prof. Kyunghan Lee (Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering), Prof. Jeong-yun Sun (Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering), Prof. Yong-Lae Park (Dept. of Mechanical Engineering), Dean Young-oh Kim (College of Engineering), Prof. Yongju Choi (Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering), Prof. Sung-joo Lee (Dept. of Industrial Engineering), Prof. Takuji Oda (Dept. of Nuclear Engineering).

On the October 16th, the Seoul National University College of Engineering held an award ceremony at the College of Engineering Building 38 to honor six professors as recipients of the 2024 Shinyang Engineering Awards.

The Shinyang Engineering Award, established through a fund donated by the late alumnus and founder of Taesung Chemical Co., Mr. Jung Seok-kyu of the Shinyang Cultural Foundation, aims to promote excellence in education and research among SNU engineering faculty. Since 2005, the annual award ceremony has recognized outstanding professors under 49 who have recently been promoted to full or associate professor and have achieved exceptional results in education or research. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the awards.

The six recipients of the 2024 awards include:
1. Education Award: Prof. Yongju Choi (Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering), Prof. Sung-joo Lee (Dept. of Industrial Engineering), Prof. Takuji Oda (Dept. of Nuclear Engineering)
2. Academic Award: Prof. Yong-Lae Park (Dept. of Mechanical Engineering), Prof. Jeong-yun Sun (Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering), Prof. Kyunghan Lee (Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering).

Dean Young-oh Kim praised the achievements, stating, “Your dedication to outstanding educational and research efforts has significantly contributed to the growth of the College of Engineering despite challenging internal and external circumstances. The Shinyang Engineering Award is a meaningful recognition of your achievements, especially in education, research, and industry-academia collaboration. I offer my warm congratulations to all recipients for their commendable contributions.”

Recipient Highlights:
Prof. Yongju Choi developed five online courses on environmental engineering and water pollution control, shared on the university's free online platform SNUON, and introduced four new courses integrating current academic trends. Prof. Choi expressed gratitude, reflecting on his early teaching challenges and acknowledging the support from colleagues.

Prof. Sung-joo Lee led significant educational innovation initiatives in the College of Engineering, including a new extracurricular program developed with AI fintech company Quantit, as well as leading major projects in industry-innovative analytics and technology management education. He thanked his department and students for their support.

Prof. Takuji Oda was recognized for expanding international collaboration with Japanese universities, including Tokyo University, and establishing an interdisciplinary course on the social dimensions of nuclear energy. He expressed gratitude, emphasizing the importance of his work in advancing student education and fostering international educational cooperation.

Prof. Yong-Lae Park published 40 SCI papers and presented at 25 conferences in the fields of soft robotics and wearable robotics, with papers appearing in top journals. He acknowledged his research team’s contributions, emphasizing future work in developing practical robotics applications to enhance quality of life.

Prof. Jeong-yun Sun published 40 SCI papers in materials engineering, with research recognized by a Next-Generation Scientist Award from S-OIL Science and Culture Foundation. He thanked colleagues and supporters, expressing commitment to continued excellence.

Prof. Kyunghan Lee achieved recognition in the mobile computing field, winning best paper awards and contributing a novel connected computing architecture for 6G design. He expressed gratitude to his lab team and faculty mentors, emphasizing future goals in network-computing integration.