To make sure that airlines don’t go out of business in this tough economic climate, I am just back from a very stimulating week in Seoul, where I visited Seoul National University and Yonsei University.
At Yonsei, Aloysius Soon has been making a great effort to establish a collaborative network of material theorists, in the same spirit as the TYC in London. I was honoured to speak in their symposium series.
At SNU, I spent time visiting many of the professors in the Department of Physics - in Korea there is a split between fundamental materials research and research applied to topics of interest for industry (Samsung, LG, etc.). At SNU they balance this very well: a number of groups study fundamental issues associated with topological insulators, superconductors, multi-ferrorics, while treating applied issues associated with phase change memory, resistance-switching in oxide-based RAM, and thin-film field effect transistors. Having a grasp of both extremes can be very rewarding academically. I learned a lot from my short stay (with many new project ideas).
It was a stimulating week (filled with many culinary delights that are unique to Korea), to end a stimulating year. Happy winter holidays to all and sundry!