Brief History of SPE-KASEG

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HOME > HISTORY OF KASEG Brief History of SPE-KASEG

Brief History of SPE-KASEG

We have had a tradition of an informal gathering of Korean attendees at the Annual Technical Conference (ANTEC) of Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE), which is annually held in the first week of May, for a long time for more than 20 years. These meetings were more for socializing amongst Korean scientists and engineers working in the areas of polymers and polymer processing. The meetings were held typically during the lunch time in a casual manner in the early days, and typically 30-50 people have been attending the meeting. For example, the number of attendees in 2002 was 45.

The earlier accomplishment of this group includes: the first ever publication of Proceedings of Korean and Korean American SPE members presented at ANTEC 1996 and followed by publication of the same kind for 1997-98 by SPE Korea section, the sister group to us.

In 1999, the SPE - Korean American Scientists and Engineers Group (KASEG) was officially formed with a tremendous amount of efforts contributed from the leading group of Dr. Kun Sup Hyun, Professor Chan Il Chung of RPI, and Dr. Dong-Woo Yu. A draft of the official by-laws was made. The first President, Vice-President, and General Secretary were Dr. Kun Sup Hyun, Professor Chan Il Chung, and Dr. Dong-Woo Yu, respectively. Since then, a new president and staffs were elected in annual meetings, which are held during the ANTEC meeting.

In addition to sharing and net-working, our annual meeting serves as a forum of recognitions for outstanding achievements. For example, with the leadership of Professor Chan Il Chung, Dr. Kun Sup Hyun’s Distinguished Achievement Award of Extrusion Division of SPE was recognized in 2001 and special guests were invited to celebrate the occasion. In 2002, we recognized Dr. Hyun’s Bruce Maddoch's Award from Extrusion Division of SPE and Dr. Joon Boo Park’s Technical Program Chair (Visteon Corporation). In 2004, we recognized those who received awards from SPE and other organizations. The most notable award recipient was Prof. Chan Il Chung who received the prestigious SPE International Engineering/Technology Award. Others included Prof. Chul Bum Park (recipient of a 2.1 million dollar grant, SPE and ASME fellow, and PPS Young Investigator Award), Chung P. Park (SPE fellow) and Kumin Yang (SPE Scholarship).

Also, we have been presenting the Best Student Paper Awards sponsored by KOSEN. Furthermore, some major chemical companies have been participating in our annual meetings and took the opportunity of recruiting many talented researchers. The activities of net-working, member recognitions, presenting awards, and industry participation, are continuing and growing. Now, the enrollment of SPE-KASEG exceeds 200 scientists and engineers, who work both in industry and academia in Korea and North America.