Ryong Ryoo, IBS Director and KAIST Professor, selected by Thomson Reuters as a contender for the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

September 30^th, 2014

First Korean ever to be selected, Dr. Ryoo was recognized for the significance of his research in the design of functional mesoporous materials.

The Institute for Basic Science (IBS), the Republic of Korea, has announced on September 25^th that Ryong Ryoo, Director of the Center for Nanomaterials and Chemical Reactions at IBS, and Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), was selected for the 2014 Thomson Reuters Citation Laureates as a possible winner of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Director Ryoo is the first Korean researcher ever to be listed on the Thomson Reuters Citation Laureates.

The Thomson Reuters IP&S analysts have named Director Ryoo in one of the three subjects that they have selected in the field of chemistry. He is recognized for his contributions to the design of functional mesoporous materials, along with Charles T. Kresge from Saudi Arabia and Galen D. Stucky from the USA.

Director Ryoo is known as a pioneer in the field of functional mesoporous materials and zeolite. This has a great significance as he carved out a new research area despite the difficult research environment, by studying inorganic chemistry independently after returning to his home country with a Ph.D. degree in physical chemistry from Stanford University, the US.

Director Ryoo’s research has focused on the synthesis of mesoporous and the design of mesoporous zeolite for catalytic application. He was the first to develop a nanocasting method, which synthesizes novel nanostructured materials using nanoporous materials (e.g., ordered mesoporous silica) with a pore diameter of 2-50 nm (nanometers) as a hard template. This method made him internationally known when he implemented it to first synthesize an ordered mesoporous activated carbon in 1999. This ordered mesoporous carbon is now widely used and is known as “CMK” which stands for “Carbon Mesostructured by KAIST,” the best example of how influential his creative research is.

From 2006, he has been also pioneering and leading the development of the synthesis method for the mesoporous materials built by zeolite frameworks using new designed molecules which can direct hierarchical structure of micropores and mesopores. The outcomes of his recent study have been published in both Nature and Science. His creative research on the design of functional mesoporous materials has possible applications for highly efficient and environmentally friendly catalysts in chemistry, and therefore is expected to impact the development of basic science that would raise the quality of human life.

He was named as one of the “Top 100 Chemists, 2000-2010”, which was published in support of the International Year of Chemistry in 2011, proclaimed by the United National Education, Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). In December of 2011, Science highlighted his research, “Directing Zeolite Structures into Hierarchically Nanoporous Architectures,” as one of the top ten breakthroughs of the year 2011.

His creative research outcomes on the design of functional mesoporous materials have garnered 21,141 citations. Three representative papers concerning this research have each received more than 1,000 citations. His h-index, an index which measures both the productivity and impact of a scientist’s published work, is 69. These statistical figures demonstrate to what extent he has led the development of his field and how big of an impact his work has had on the field of chemistry.

Notes for editors

-         This press release is based on Thomson Reuter’s official press release. For the full text of the release, please see the below:

September 25, 2014

“Thomson Reuters Predicts 2014 Nobel Laureates, Researchers Forecast for Nobel Recognition”

http://thomsonreuters.com/press-releases/092014/2014-nobel-laureates-predictions

-         For further information about Director Ryong Ryoo’s profile, please visit http://cncr.ibs.re.kr/html/cncr_en/people/people_0201.html.
Profile of Ryong Ryoo, KAIST Distinguished Professor: http://rryoo.kaist.ac.kr/sub_01_01.php?pN=1&sN=1

-         For further information or to request media assistance, please contact: Ms. Mi Kyung Ryu, IBS Center for Nanomaterials and Chemical Reactions (+82-42-350-8138; mkryu@ibs.re.kr) or Mr. Han Bin Oh, Overseas Public Relations Officer, IBS Public Relations Team (+82-42-878-8182; ohanvin@ibs.re.kr) 

-         Institute for Basic Science (IBS) was founded in 2011 by the government of the Republic of Korea. With the sole purpose of driving forward the development of basic science in Korea, IBS will be comprised of a total of 50 research centers in all fields of basic science, including mathematics, physics, chemistry, life science, earth science and interdisciplinary science. IBS has launched 21 research centers as of September 2014.

-         The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) was established in 1971 by the Korean government as the first Korean research university specializing in science and technology. Over the past 43 years, KAIST has played a critical role in Korea’s rapid economic growth, conducting the majority of the nation’s strategic research and development (R&D) projects and training highly skilled researchers and engineers necessary to the expansion of Korean industry.