The 1^st KAIST Emerging Materials e-Symposium was held for 5 days from September 21 to 25 under the theme of ‘Big ideas in emerging materials’. At this symposium, 21 world-renowned scholars including Prof. Sir. Andre Geim of University of Manchester in the UK, the 2010 Nobel laureate in physics, has participated as keynote speakers, and presentations and discussions were carried out online via YouTube and Zoom.

Hosted by the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE), the main purpose of this event is to share the innovations in technology and the latest achievement in the fields of materials engineering, chemical engineering and chemistry. In addition, the symposium aimed to provide students and researchers from all around the world with the recent issues and ideas, that cover topics such as nanostructures for next generation applications, chemical and biotechnology for environmental and industrial applications, and materials innovation for pragmatic applications.

The symposium consisted of 7 sessions, including ▴application of soft electronic devices using nanomaterials, ▴nanostructure control on advanced materials, ▴leading areas of advanced materials and nanomaterials research, ▴next generation energy materials and functional materials, ▴editor-in-chief panel discussion on “Opportunities over Challenges.”

Especially during the panel discussion, Prof. Paul S. Weiss of UCLA, editor-in-chief of ACS Nano, Prof. Zhong Lin Wang of Georgia Tech, editor-in-chief of Nano Energy, Prof. Hui-Ming Cheng of Tsinghua University, editor-in-chief of Energy Storage Materials, Prof. Jiaxing Huang of Northwestern University, editor-in-chief of Account of Materials Research, and Prof. Teri W. Odom of Northwestern University, editor-in-chief of Nano Letters have participated, introducing their journals to the audience, and discussed the research status in the fields of emerging materials and the directions that international academic journals must take.

Prof. Il-Doo Kim and Prof. Hyuck Mo Lee served as co-chair of the symposium, and Prof. Steve Park and Prof. Kibum Kang served as program chairs. In particular, the administrative team of the DMSE (team leader Ms. Hyunsook Min), student reporters (MS candidate Mr. Minjoon Kim, PhD candidate Mr. Hyunseung Kim), and Prof. Il-Doo Kim’s lab members (Dr. Jaewan Ahn, PhD candidates Mr. Dong-Ha Kim, Mr. Hamin Shin, and Ms. Song Lu) have worked hard for organizing this event. Dong-Ha Kim, a member of the program committee, said, “It was an honor to see the speakers whom I have always wanted to attend lectures of in one place, and I look forward to meeting scholars who lead the research in a wider range of fields”. Prof. Woochul Jung who served as a session chair commented, “It was truly an exemplary symposium, showing that it is possible to exchange knowledge and expand research directionalities online, even in a situation where it is difficult to hold offline conferences and workshops due to COVID-19.”

Prof. Il-Doo Kim said, “Because this was the first symposium to be held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were difficulties in the preparation process. However, with the active support of the members of KAIST DMSE, we are happy to have finished the 1st emerging material symposium very successfully,” and revealed future plans by adding on, “As the KAIST Emerging Materials Symposium will be a premium international event ambitiously prepared and continuously held by DMSE, we hope to host it again successfully next year, and contribute to the scientific development of the Republic of Korea through active exchange and cooperation with world-renowned scholars.”

This international symposium was sponsored by KAIST, Korea Academy of Science and Technology, Wearable Platform Center (Prof. Byeong-Soo Bae, MSE). On the first day, it started with 3995 simultaneously connected participants, and ended successfully hosting 9881 participants on the last day. Lecture videos recorded during the symposium will be uploaded on KAIST DMSE YouTube channel, “K-Materials”, with the consent of the presenters.