“I think that I was chosen as a Thompson Reuters Citation Laureate because of Korea’s dedication to investing in science and technology research on a national scale for the last 20 to 30 years, so I consider this to be more of a national celebration, than a personal one,” said Ryong Ryoo, director (KAIST Distinguished Professor) of the Center for Nanomaterials and Chemical Reactions of the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), when asked about his thoughts on being named a Thomson Reuters Citation Laureate in 2014. Every year, Thomson Reuters, a world leader in intelligent information for researchers and scientists announce the Citation Laureates in each scientific fields. In 2014, Director Ryoo was chosen as the first Korean Thomson Reuters Citation Laureate; he was on the list of candidates in the field of chemistry, along with Charles T. Kresge from Saudi Arabia and Galen D. Stucky from the United States.

As you walk into his office located at the Department of Chemistry of KAIST, you can easily find a glass-framed certificate on his bookshelf. English phrases written in this certificate are as follows: Thomson Reuters Citation Laureate, Chemistry, Ryong Ryoo of the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) and KAIST,Contribution to mesoporous material design.

This year’s Thomson Reuters Citation LaureateAlthough Director Ryoo did not win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, his recognition as the Thomson Reuters Citation Laureate in 2014 entails a significant meaning. Thomson Reuter’s prediction based on their own database of researchers is known to be authoritative owing to its relatively high accuracy. The annual Thompson Reuters list has accurately forecasted 15 Nobel Prize winners out of 44 from its inception in 2001 to 2012. When the Nobel Prize was awarded to Peter Higgs and François Englert (predicted in 2013) in physics, Martin Karplus (predicted in 2011) in chemistry, and James Rothman and Randy Schekman (predicted in 2009) in physiology or medicine in 2013, academics and enthusiasts alike were astounded by its accurate forecast.

Director Ryoo’s research outcomes garnered more than 20,000 citations, and three of his research papers have each received more than 1,000 citations. However, Thomson Reuters makes its predictions based on not only the number of citations but also on the following four stages.
First they make a list of the top 0.1% of researchers who are prepared based on the number of citations for the past 20 years in each research field, and selects researchers who have continuously published highly influential research papers. Then, the achievements of the candidates are evaluated in terms of originality and novelty of the research as well as excellence of the follow-up research outcomes. Finally,the social impact of their research outcomes is determined as well as their contribution to the progress of human society.

Just like selecting Nobel Prize winners, the number of citations, novelty of research, and practical feasibility of research out comes all serve as important standards. Thus, although Director Ryoo was unsuccessful in winning the Nobel Prize in 2014, the fact that he was included in one of the three teams of Thomson Reuters Citation Laureates has great significance.

20 years of dedication on functional mesoporous materials researchHaving worked on only one field for 20 years, Director Ryoo proposed a method for synthesizing a new nanostructure material using porous materials, with pores that are 5 to 20 nm (nanometer, 1 nm = one billionth of a meter) in diameter as a template. He developed zeolites,which have both large and small pores, using this method. As such, Director Ryoo, the creator of zeolites, is a pioneer in the field of functional mesoporous materials.

However, it is not that he studied this field from the first part. Director Ryoo, who obtained his doctorate degree in physical chemistry with a focus on catalysts, stated, “In fact, I did not know anything about material synthesis as I mainly studied structural analysis. However, when I heard about mesoporous materials by chance at a conference held in Japan in the summer of 1993, I decided to perform research in this field.”

Mesoporous materials were first created by Charles T. Kresge group at Mobil (presently Exxon Mobil) in 1992. They developed a porous silica material called MGM-41, which marked the beginning of research in this field. As a latecomer to this field, after failing to obtain the material developed by Kresge’s research team, Director Ryoo had to create the material by himself to use for his research. “After I successfully made that material by myself, I thought synthesis would not be that difficult. This was how I began studying in this field,” he said.

He has continuously performed research on mesoporous materials since he first studied it in the autumn of 1993. Among many researchers working in this field, he has become an influential figure. Indeed, he is invited to give a keynote speech on zeolites at the International Mesostructured Materials Symposium to be held in Brisbane, Australia, in August 2015.

Recognition for his work has grown domestically and internationally in the last 15 years. He received several awards including the Top Scientist Award from the South Korean government in 2005, the World Class Research Front Award in 2007, and the Breck Award,also called the “Nobel Prize in Zeolites,” in 2010. Further, he was selected as a National Honor Scientist of Korea in 2007 and one of the “Top 100 Chemist, 2000-2010” which was published in support of the international Year of Chemistry in 2011 proclaimed by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).

In December 2011, Science selected his research outcome "Directing Zeolite Structures into Hierarchically Nanoporous Architectures" as one of the top 10 breakthroughs of the year, complimenting him for “revitalizing conventional science.” In 2012, he took on a new challenge as director of the Center for Nanomaterials and Chemical Reactions at IBS, since then constantly achieving excellent outcomes as the recognized best scientist in chemistry.

Acceptance to the Creative Research Initiatives on the third attempt“When I was young, I loved analyzing all kinds of animals and plants. I was very observant that I could easily find out a relative relationship between two objects,” Director Ryoo said. In 11th grade, he applied for a science track in high school to be a biologist. However, after facing opposition by his dad who wanted him to be a judge or a member of the National Assembly, he had to move to a liberal arts track.

As he could not give up his interests in science,he persuaded his parents and re-applied for a science track while preparing for the university entrance exam. Finally, he entered the College of Engineering in Seoul National University. “Honestly, it was such a miracle that a student of the liberal arts track was accepted by the College of Engineering in Seoul National University. Preparing the exam was the toughest experience of my life. I would even say that being selected as a Thomson Reuters Citation Laureate is nothing compared to it,” he said, recalling the memory with a smile. He added, “It seems that I used all of my capabilities, including my creativity, at the time.”

He encountered his second biggest challenge when trying to become a professor.“Although I excelled at chemistry, having studied it since my master’s degree, few universities were willing to hire me as a professor in their chemistry department, probably because I graduated from an engineering school. When I was almost about to apply for a position at a laboratory, I was hired as a professor at the Korea Institute of Technology (KIT), which, at the time, only had undergraduate courses,” he said. After that, KIT became KAIST, which would later provide him with a sufficient research environment.

One of his first difficulties he faced as a professor was the limited research funds.“When I first worked at the KIT, the annual amount of research funds was 5 million KRW;it increased to 10 million KRW in the next five years after I was accepted by the Creative Research Initiatives program on my third attempt in 2001,” he explained. At the time, he was selected as the director of the Center for Functional Nanomaterials, which is a Creative Research Initiative designated by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Beyond the wall of research on zeolitesIn 1999, he first developed Carbon Mesostructured by KAIST, known as “CMK,” using a nanocasting method. In 2001, he developed a nanocarbon pipe using porous silica materials as the frame; this was published in Nature. A critical moment came during his research when he began actively examining zeolites. Developing a method for synthesizing mesoporous materials having a zeolite frame proved difficult. He said, “I was thinking of giving up on the research after being stuck in this phase. Then, I happened to look at data of failed zeolite synthesis using small molecules,which were obtained ten years ago, and came up with an idea of applying these data to create a mesoporous material that has a frame of zeolites .”

Based on this novel idea, Director Ryoo asked two graduate students to perform experiments in turn. In recalling that moment, he said, “I thought that the possibility of deriving successful results from this experiment would be nearly 10%. The first experiment was successfully performed, but the result was less excellent than expected.” After two years of constant efforts,he finally synthesized a 2 nm thick nano-plate zeolite, the report of which was published in Nature. Catalytic efficiency increased significantly because of the even distribution of the platinum nanoparticles in the zeolite.

“I had studied zeolites for 15 years, and I would have given up performing research if I failed the experiment at that time. Fortunately, successful experimental results were finally drawn, which became a great hit. In addition, the mesoporous material generated using a crystalline zeolite was similar to that expected by Kresge’s group, which first began research in this field.” Ryoo showed us his business card,pointing to a photo of him holding zeolites. Then he explained, “My paper was deemed interesting for publication in Nature in 2009, and this photo was taken to be used for an interview article on me, the author of the paper.”

In 2011, he synthesized a honeycomb zeolite having small pores (0.55 nm in diameter), with a hexagonal wall having large pores (3.5 nmin diameter), and published his research on the same in Science. This achievement was also selected as one of the top 10 breakthroughs of the year by Science in the same year.

“Am I Nobel Prize nominee?”Subsequently, Director Ryoo became internationally famous, and people began mentioning him as a Nobel Prize nominee. “I saw that I was mentioned as a Nobel Prize nominee at a discussion forum of a blog called ChemBark, which provides news, analyses, and discussions on chemistry topics and chemical research. It was surprising that those who do not know about me mentioned it.”

Among these people were the editors of Nature Chemistry, who recognized the significance of Zeolites and stated that the Nobel Prize should be awarded to those who work in this field. Particularly, it is significant that Director Ryoo achieved what the pioneer failed to obtain in terms of mesoporous materials.

“I guess that if I live for a long time, the possibility of me receiving the Nobel Prize will be about 2%. The reason I was selected as the Thomson Reuters Citation Laureate might be that I have made plenty of efforts in performing research that interested an international audience,” said Director Ryoo. As for the Nobel Prize, he added, “You can receive the Nobel Prize when it is given to you. Thus, I do not have much expectations related to it. Science communities in Korea seem to have a Nobel Prize complex. It might be interesting to talk about a scientist and his research by relating them to the Nobel Prize,but I am sure that does not always very helpful for scientific development.”

Focusing on the study of catalyst applications at IBSDirector Ryoo often receives many questions on whether zeolites synthesized by his research team can be utilized practically as a catalyst. As such,he will focus on studying the applications of nanoporous materials. He shared, “I will pioneer potential applications of this material. It can be mainly used as a catalyst in petrochemistry, and I will analyze its characteristics to promote its development as a catalyst.”

Under Director Ryoo’s leadership, the Center for Nanomaterials and Chemical Reactions consists of five groups. The Center aims to examine the fundamental principles of forming nanostructures through basic chemical research, find a highly efficient nanoreaction catalyst based on the same principles, and solve energy and environmental issues by identifying and controlling a “green chemical reaction.” Director Ryoo said that although he is the head of the Center, he tends to avoid interfering in the respective research projects of each group and give them an autonomy. He also emphasized the role of IBS, mentioning the importance of basic science.

“IBS has been promoting awareness on the importance of basic science and giving the international society an impression that South Korea, as a developed country, is investing in basic science. Further, IBS is concerned with making practical contributions, instead of symbolic ones, to the field of basic science in Korea,” said Director Ryoo.

He also critiqued the IBS, saying, “I know it is important to support recognized scientists, such as IBS directors, but it is also crucial to discover and support young scientists in their early 40's. For example, young members, who are research fellows at the Center, regard themselves as contractual postdoctoral scholars. In this regard,I believe that the structure of IBS should be modified to encourage young scientists to serve at the level of university professors. In this way,talented scientists across and beyond Korea will be eager to join IBS.

Director Ryoo is worried about the future of basic science in Korea. However, if many of his colleagues follow the path he has paved, then his efforts and worries will not have been in vain. Meanwhile, Korea seems poised to greet its first Nobel Prize winner. As for the academic community, its members look on with excitement at the future directions Director Ryoo will take in his research.