On Monday, we arrived in Pohang, a coastal city at the bottom right of the Korean peninsula. We were here to visit POSTECH, a university that just joined Global E3 and a school with which Pitt is trying to develop a stronger relationship. POSTECH stands for Pohang University of Science and Technology, and it is one of the top three engineering schools here in Korea.

The campus on arrival was beautiful, with modern architecture, as the school is only in its 40th year, and lots of green space, all unkept and in its natural state, with various tall grasses and plant life. Walking through brought a sense of serenity and excitement, as the campus felt very inspiring. This inspiration is also backed by their stats, which place them in the top 50 or top 100 for all their offered majors.

When we began touring the engineering facilities, we saw how they drew heavily on the great scientists and Nobel laureates of the last century, with imagery and quotes throughout the campus. This inspiration is clearly not just for looks, as we learned about their strong dedication to research, with nearly 1 million USD in research funds per faculty member.

We then met some students who shared their experiences at the school and in engineering in general. One of these students was a PhD candidate who had studied abroad at Pitt and is intermittently a visiting student conducting research with one of our Professors in the Industrial Engineering department. The other student was a rising junior who would be joining us in Pittsburgh in the fall as part of an exchange program.

We also learned that this offer is also extended to us and that we could spend a semester at POSTECH, which is extremely intriguing and something I will definitely take more time to consider.

We then got to tour some of their labs and see some of the super interesting fields they are working on, including: antennas, semiconductors, nanomaterials, Quantum Computers, and Trapped electrons. This was all super impressive and really further showed their commitment to research, especially the quantum computers, which they had three: one standalone and two they were working on to link and create a sort of Quantum internet.

Then we got to tour a facility that is really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: their linear and circular particle accelerators. This is so unique, as most of the world’s particle accelerators are highly classified and require significant clearance to gain access, so it was especially cool that we were able to see one. They told us about various drug and general science research studies conducted using their accelerators, including, notably, early COVID-19 treatment. We also learned that the linear accelerator was over a kilometer long and accelerated particles to 10 megaelectronvolts, which is a ton of energy.

Overall, it was an incredible opportunity to explore all of these facilities, and it has really inspired me to think about where my career as an engineer might take me!