Ten Outstanding National Scholars Selected

When will Korea have a Nobel Prize winner? Ten recipients were chosen for the Star Faculty support program, which was established to enhance the image of Korea as a place to train Nobel Prize laureates and to guarantee long-term research opportunities for young scholars.

The Ministry of Education and Human Resources and the Korea Research Foundation appointed 10 people for the Star Faculty program on December 12. The list includes Professor Im Ji-soon of the Department of Physics and Astronomy of Seoul National University, who has produced brilliant achievements in basic science.

The list of names is as follows: Chae Dong-ho (Sungkyunkwan University) and Hwang Jun-mook (Korea Institute for Advanced Study) in mathematics; Kook Yang (Seoul National University), Lee Ki-myung (Korea Institute for Advanced Study), Lee Su-hyeong (Yonsei University), and Im Ji-soon (Seoul National University) in physics; Kim Myoung-su (Seoul National University) in chemistry; Choi Eui-ju (Korea University) in biology; and Kim Ki-hyun (Sejong University) and Lee Hyeong-mok (Seoul National University) in earth science.

Applicants for the Star Faculty program must be quoted in the SCI (Science Citation Index) more than 1,000 times unless they are mathematics applicants, who require more than 100 citations, or earth science applicants, who need 300 or more. It was about three times the competitive rate for this time, with the awardees all having passed five stages of examination including requisite inspection, achievement inspection, major inspection, evaluation of foreign experts, and final examination of the board.

The works of Im Ji-soon were quoted in the SCI a total 4,393 times, which is near to the average 5,000 figure of Nobel Prize laureates. Professor Lee Ki-myung has 2,735 citations and 2,715 for Kim Myoung-su.

If one is selected as part of the Star Faculty, 100 million won will be offered annually for theory researches, and 200 million for experiment studies. This will be extended for additional five years when requested.

The program was initiated last year, and the first 11 awardees are known to be conducting research vigorously. The Ministry of Education and Human Resources added mathematics and earth science to the list this year, and it is planning to add engineering and the humanities gradually.

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