MRI RESEARCHER WINS SAMSUNG INSIDE AWARD
Seung Ho Park a newly minted Ph.D. in Materials has turned his doctoral thesis into a $10,000 cash prize in the third annual Inside Edge Award, sponsored by Samsung Electro-Mechanics, a division of Samsung Electronics. Along with the award, Park received a job offer from Samsung and, if accepted, support for one year of postdoctoral research.
This is the second major recognition for Park’ research, which integrates a millimeter-size ultrasonic piezoelectric motor into a package made of low temperature co-fired ceramics and allows optical fibers to be aligned with great precision and lower cost. In Sept. 2007, a team of scientists consisting of Park’s co-advisors Clive Randall, director of the Center for Dielectric Studies, and Kenji Uchino, director of the International Center for Actuators and Transducers, both part of the Penn State Materials Research Institute, and Richard Eitel, a former graduate student in Materials now teaching at the University of Kentucky, were recognized with the R & D 100 Award, given by R & D Magazine for the 100 most significant products of 2006.
The Samsung contest was open to all students -- undergraduate, graduate and post-doc – in a variety of science and engineering disciplines, including materials, electronics, software, optical engineering and basic science. Out of a field of more than 100 who submitted abstracts, and 70 who were chosen to submit a 20-page thesis, eleven finalists were invited to give presentations at Samsung Electro-Mechanics Central R&D Institute in Korea. Park emerged the overall winner.
“It was like my thesis defense,” says Park. Professors from the university and company managers grilled the 11 contestants for two days on their understanding of their subject, their creativity, and their presentation skills. In a ceremony celebrating the anniversary of the company’s founding, Park was presented with a trophy and the $10,000 award.
Currently, Park is working as an adjunct researcher at MRI and as a research and development engineer with Micromechatronics Inc, a State College-based developer of piezoelectric devices, founded in 2004 by Prof. Uchino. While he decides whether to accept the Samsung offer, Park waits to see if the device he helped develop, and for which Penn State has filed a patent application, will find its way into the marketplace.
