Dr. LEE Youn-ho of the Tongyeong Marine Living Resources Research and Conservation Center (Tongyeong MRC) under the Republic of Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute (KORDI; President KANG Jung-keuk) was selected as one of the professors of the year 2010 of Republic of Korea’s University of Science and Technology (UST; President LEE Se-kyung). He is dubbed the 2010 “Excellent Campus Representative Professor of UST.”

At the 2010 UST Excellent Campus Representative Professors (ECR Professors) and Excellent Major Chair Professors (EMC Professors) Award Ceremony held on December 27, 2010, Dr. LEE, a senior researcher at KORDI and also a professor of the marine biology department of UST, received a letter of citation, a plaque of citation, and a prize of three million KRW as one of the two 2010 UST ECR Professors. The other was Dr. KWON Byung-mok of the Republic of Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology. Five other professors including Dr. LEE Hyeon-kyu of the Republic of Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT) were selected as EMC Professors for 2010.

UST is connected with 29 research institutes. UST selects ECR Professor candidates from among the professors representative of those 29 institutes and evaluates them based on their contributions to the development of UST educational affairs, cooperation between UST and the institute concerned, and development of talent.

Dr. LEE started to serve as a professor at UST in 2005. In February 2009, he became the representative campus professor of KORDI, which is the professorship that represents KORDI at the campus of UST. In this capacity, he has not only facilitated research cooperation between UST and KORDI, but also headed up a range of educational programs to develop marine talent including collaborative lectures and academic cultural festivals.

“Professor LEE Youn-ho has contributed to the development of excellent talent in the marine area while helping launch a marine biology council within UST and leading and encouraging other academic activities to drive the development of marine biology in Republic of Korea,” says a UST insider to explain why he was selected.

Dr. LEE received a doctorate degree in marine biology from the University of California-Berkeley and has since 1997 served as a researcher at KORDI, leading the way in marine biology in Republic of Korea. He also served as head of basic research at the Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology and South Korean representative within the international network of the Ocean Biogeographic Information System, among other posts.

He has continually strived to make marine science more understood by the public by for example participating in the production of a French film “Oceans” as an editor in June 2010. The movie addressed the world of marine creatures.

“I feel that UST should make itself known better and more widely as it has an excellent curriculum,” says Dr. Lee, adding, “This award makes me feel even more responsible, so I will do my best to make UST a university that produces more research outcomes and reaches out to more students.”

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