Prof. Sang Ouk Kim is the professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at KAIST. He obtained his Ph.D. at KAIST in 2000 in the field of polymer science & engineering and experienced the postdoctoral research at University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. Prof. Kim has joined the Department of Materials Science & Engineering of KAIST as an assistant professor at 2004, where he has been promoted to the associate professor and full professor at 2007 and 2012, respectively.
Prof. Kim's research interest is principally focusing on the ‘Directed Nanoscale Assembly of Polymers and Low-Dimensional Nanomaterials‘. Noticeably, he has contributed to the pioneering research works for the directed self-assembly of block copolymers during his postdoctoral period in University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, which is widely appreciated as the cornerstone for directed self-assembly concept over worldwide. Prof. Kim further succeeded in the world-first integration of block copolymer self-assembly with a conventional semiconductor lithography process (ArF Lithography) through an industrial collaboration with Samsung Electronics. Since then, this novel idea of directed self-assembly (DSA) has been enlisted in the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductor (ITRS) as a strong candidate for the next generation nanoscale lithography principle. Prof. Kim is also a pioneer, who has extended the idea of directed nanoscale assembly toward many different inorganic low-dimensional nanomaterials, including carbon nanotubes and graphene. The novel concept of directed assembly of graphene based materials is highly appreciated as a critical breakthrough for the real-world application of the carbon nanomaterials. In addition, Prof. Kim has established the methodologies and application researches relevant to chemical modification and doping of graphene based materials, where the world-first discovery of graphene oxide liquid crystal is highlighted as a significant achievement both in academia and relevant industry fields.