During this day of the trip, we visited Yonsei University and learned about their engineering program. We also got to tour their labs and start-ups. Looking back on this day, I recognized a stark contrast between the area surrounding Yonsei and other areas we have visited. Surrounding Yonsei, there are many bustling businesses catering to college students, such as clubs, bars, and restaurants. Around Myeongdong, near our hotel, although the streets are busy, there are more families and a bigger range of the age group of people here.
Although the area around Yonsei seems like a party focused region, the students there are very dedicated to their academics. Yonsei University is one of the top colleges in Korea. When we were here, we first had a general tour of the university and their main landmarks. Similar to how Pitt has a mascot of the Panthers, Yonsei’s mascot is an Eagle. In addition, there is a statue of the founder, Horace Underwood, on campus. His statue represents that people who seek education can come find it here.
We first started our tour of the engineering school at the electrical and electronic engineering department. We got to walk around classrooms and labs with all kinds of equipment. More specifically microscopes that could even see electrons. We then moved to the biomedical engineering department where we toured a research lab and a start-up company. The research lab was focused on studying cell activity in the brain through the use of mice. By doing this, it can help discover more about how the human body works and how to prevent diseases like Alzheimer’s. The start-up lab was focused on possibly developing organoids for human use in the future. This part of the tour taught me a lot about the importance of ethics in research as well as how important funding is for start-up companies.