▲ The participants of the opening ceremony and symposium in front of the R&D Center: President KIM Doo-Chul (4th from right, front row), President YEOM Jae-Ho (5th from left, front row), Professor William E. MOERNER (5th from right, front row), Director CHO Min-Haeng (4th from left, front row)

The IBS Center for Molecular Spectroscopy and Dynamics (CMSD), led by Director CHO Min-Haeng, held a ceremony and an academic symposium on May 19 at the R & D Center in Korea University to celebrate its official opening.

The CMSD was selected last December as the 24th IBS center among the current 26 centers. The center is located in the R & D Center of Korea University, its host institution. This Extramural Center of IBS has recruited world-class researchers and established sophisticated research equipment and infrastructure in order to help identify the structure of molecules at femtosecond (10-15 of a second) levels through multi-dimensional spectroscopy. Both KIM Doo-Chul, President of IBS and YEOM Jae-Ho, President of Korea University, attended the ceremony and the symposium; the first two events to publicly announce the launch of the CMSD. President YEOM said, “I hope this new research space at the R & D Center will enable the competent researchers with passion to generate significant research outcomes.”

▲ Celebrating the opening, in front of the CMSD: Director NAM, Professor MOERNER, Director CHO, President KIM and President YEOM (from left to right)

William E. Moerner^*, Nobel laureate and Stanford University professor, delivered the key-note speech of the symposium. Two IBS directors: HYEON Taeg-Hwan (Center for Nanoparticle Research) and NAM Chang-Hee (Center for Relativistic Laser Science), along with CHOI Won-Shik, the associate director of the CMSD also participated and delivered presentations including the latest research trends in their respective fields.

The new center aims to develop tools to film rapidly moving, nano-sized molecules in real time. Furthermore, it will identify characteristics of new and functional materials which play an important role in explaining biological phenomena at molecular levels and in resolving current energy and environmental issues.

“Environments conducive to creative research are important to IBS. The R & D Center of Korea University will set a good example of such environments where competent researchers can fully devote themselves to their creative research,” said President KIM of IBS. “I hope the Center for Molecular Spectroscopy and Dynamics will become a new global hub in its field and produce outstanding research outcomes and leaders of the next generation,” he added.

*William E. Moerner won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry in recognition of his contribution to developing super-resolved fluorescence microscopy.

▲ Celebrating the sign unveiling of the CMSD: Professor MOERNER, President KIM, Director CHO, President YEOM, former Minister of Science and Technology KIM Si-Joong and Director HYEON (from left to right)