The POSTECH Foundation (Chairman Jeong-Woo Choi) appointed Professor Moo Hwan Kim of the Division of Advanced Nuclear Engineering (DANE) / Mechanical Engineering as the eighth president of POSTECH at the second board of trustees meeting of 2019 academic year held on July 17th. He succeeds President Doh-Yeon Kim, whose term expires on August 31st. The new president’s term in office is four years from September 1, 2019 to August 31, 2023.

Regarding the appointment, the board stated, “The newly appointed president Moo Hwan Kim presented the vision of fully realizing POSTECH’s founding tenets by playing up the strengths of a small elite university, in building a model where each unit grows through self-driven innovation. We affirm that he has the capacity to realize this vision.”

Professor Moo Hwan Kim was born in Busan and attended Kyunggi High School, then went onto receive both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nuclear engineering at Seoul National University in 1980 and 1982. He continued his studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and received his Ph.D. in 1986 then joined the POSTECH faculty in the following year.

He is an expert in the field of nuclear safety technology and has held leadership positions in various departments at POSTECH, including vice president of student affairs, admissions, external relations and communications, and planning, and as a professor of Division of Advanced Nuclear Engineering (DANE). He also served as the president of Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS) from 2013 for three consecutive years.

The board further remarked, “We have agreed that the newly appointed president is well-equipped to be POSTECH’s president as he possesses excellent leadership and communication skills and demonstrates strong initiative. The board added, “With this new appointment, we encourage all members of the POSTECH community, including professors, staff, students, alumni, and the foundation to do their best in fulfilling the founding tenets of POSTECH and in growing into a global university.”