Suh Nam-pyo
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Suh Nam-pyo (; born 22 April 1936) was the thirteenth president of
KAIST The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) is a national research university located in Daedeok Innopolis, Daejeon, South Korea. KAIST was established by the Korean government in 1971 as the nation's first public, research ...
from 2006 until 2013, succeeding Robert B. Laughlin and succeeded by
Sung-Mo Kang Sung-Mo “Steve” Kang is an electrical engineering scientist, professor, author, inventor, entrepreneur and 15th president of KAIST. Kang was appointed as the second chancellor of the University of California, Merced in 2007. He was the first ...
.


Personal life

Suh was born in
Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
on 22 April 1936. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1954 to join his father who was teaching at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
. He completed his high school education at Browne & Nichols School before entering
MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the mo ...
as a freshman in 1955. He was naturalized in 1963 in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
.


Career

Suh began his career at MIT in 1970, where he was the Ralph E. & Eloise F. Cross Professor, Director of the Park Center for Complex Systems (formerly the Manufacturing Institute), and the Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering for ten years from 1991 to 2001. He was also the Founding Director of the MIT Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity (1977–1984), the Founder and Director of the MIT-Industry Polymer Processing Program (1973–1984), Head of the Mechanics and Material Division of the Mechanical Engineering Department (1975-1977), and a member of the Engineering Council of MIT (1980–1984 and 1991–2001). In October 1984, Suh took a leave of absence from MIT to accept a Presidential Appointment at the
National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...
where he was in charge of engineering. President Ronald Reagan appointed him to this position and the U.S. Senate confirmed his appointment. During his tenure at NSF, he created a new direction for the Engineering Directorate and introduced a new organizational program structure for supporting engineering research in order to strengthen engineering education and research and "to insure that the United States will occupy a leadership position in engineering well into the 21st century." He returned to MIT in January 1988. Suh was named president of
KAIST The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) is a national research university located in Daedeok Innopolis, Daejeon, South Korea. KAIST was established by the Korean government in 1971 as the nation's first public, research ...
in June 2006, and was re-elected to his position on 14 July 2010. He is also the Ralph E. & Eloise F. Cross Professor, Emeritus, M.I.T. As the President of KAIST, he provided framework for two large-scale systems, On-Line Electric Vehicle (OLEV) and Mobile Harbor. During his term of office, he innovated the tenure review system for professors, increased the diversity of the faculty by increasing the number of female and international professors, provided more chances in admission for the students from non-special-purposed high schools, required English lecture for all undergraduate courses to better prepare students for international leadership, and introduced design education for all first year students to help them develop problem solving abilities. He also contributed to improve major educational indices of KAIST in terms of world university ranking and the reserved amount of donations. However, there were concerns that his policies while president of KAIST encouraged "academic Darwinism" among students, and during his presidency a spate of suicides took place at the university. When a KAIST student wrote a blog post that was critical of his policies, Suh sued him for libel. Suh was also criticized for decisions to award honorary doctoral degrees to some of the board of trustees of KAIST, which could be seen by some as unethical as the board of trustees oversees Suh's role as the president of KAIST. Out of 16 honorary degrees awarded, at least seven were given to the former or present board members.


Education

* B.S., Mechanical Engineering, 1959,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
. * M.S., Mechanical Engineering, 1961, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. * Ph.D, Mechanical Engineering, 1964,
Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...
.


Honorary doctorates

* Eng. D. (Hon.), Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA. * L.H.D. (Hon.), University of Massachusetts-Lowell, Lowell, MA. * Tekn.Dr. hc, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden * D. Eng honoris causa, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia * Doctor Scientiarum Honoris Causa, the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Israel * Doctor of Science and Technology (Hon), Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA * Doctor Honoris Causa, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania * Doctor Honoris Causa, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal * Doctor Honoris Causa, Universitatea Tehnică „Gheorghe Asachi”, Iași, Romania.


Awards

* 2008: Inchon Award


Korean Wikipedia article dispute

The
Korean Wikipedia The Korean Wikipedia () is the Korean language edition of Wikipedia. It was founded on 11 October 2002 and reached ten thousand articles on 4 June 2005. As of , it has articles with active users and is the largest Wikipedia. History The ...
's article on Suh was the subject of frequent vandalism and
edit war A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the pub ...
ring, allegedly by Suh himself or his secretary.


References


External links


Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suh, Nam-pyo 1936 births Living people Carnegie Mellon University College of Engineering alumni South Korean emigrants to the United States Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni MIT School of Engineering faculty Presidents of KAIST Buckingham Browne & Nichols School alumni ASME Medal recipients Recipients of the Ho-Am Prize in Engineering Nam-pyo