Jung-hwan Lee, the president of the Korea Institute of Materials Science, a government-funded research institute under the

Ministry of Science and ICT, was appointed as a chair professor in the Department of Advanced Materials Science & 

Engineering at Kyungnam University. At the appointment ceremony held in the office of the president of Kyungnam University

on Thursday, September 30, Lee committed to actively nurture future talents.

Kyungnam University, a leading private school in the local community, has appointed those who have outstanding

achievements in various fields and have high morals as chair professors to actively guide students' career directions and

cultivate their capacities.

Lee joined the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (the former institution of KIMS) in 1982 and has served as the head 

of the Material Forming Research Center, the director of the Industrial Technology Support Division, and the director of the

Senior Research Division. In 2007, since the establishment of the Korea Institute of Materials Science affiliated with the Korea

Institute of Machinery and Materials, he, as a vice president and president, put the utmost effort to launch the institute

with independent status. As KIMS was acquired its independent status last year, he has been recognized for his contributions

and appointed as the first president.

Lee has contributed greatly to the development of local industries by serving as the chairman of the Korean Society for

Technology of Plastics, the chairman of Changwon branch of the Korea Engineers Alliance, the chairman of the Korea

Industrial Engineers Association and an expert member of the Kyungnam Economic Innovation Promotion Committee. He is

actively supporting the government's policies for the Materials, Parts and Equipment (MPE) as the chairman of the policy

system of the Special Committee on MPE of the Presidential Advisory Council on Science & Technology, and a member of the

MPE Competitiveness Reinforcement Committee. 

Lee said, “Fraunhofer in Germany, Europe's largest applied science research institute, cooperates with universities in the local

area. The director of the institute is unconditionally appointed as a professor and students from each university take

internships to assist researchers in the research institute. With an active human resource exchange system of KIMS, a leading

researcher can concurrently serve as a university professor or a professor can lead a research project at KIMS. With this

opportunity, I will do my best to nurture future talents with customized knowledge and experience for the local industry

development.”