Yang Ji-won (born 1949) is a professor in Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at

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 ...

(Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) and CEO of ABC (Advanced Biomass R&D Center), which is a key research institutes for biofuel and bio-refinery in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. He received B.S. from

Seoul National University Seoul National University (SNU; ) is a national public research university located in Seoul, South Korea. Founded in 1946, Seoul National University is largely considered the most prestigious university in South Korea; it is one of the three "S ...

, and Ph.D. from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

. He joined

as a faculty member in 1986 and his research area has covered a wide range of topics in environmental biotechnology. Dr. Yang has more than 200 publications and supervised 50 post-graduate students. Recently, he served as a Vice-President for External Affairs of KAIST for 4 years. Since 2010, he serves as a CEO of ABC. ABC is currently striving for being a global leader in the biofuel and bio-refinery technology. Approximately 200 million US dollars will be funded by MEST(Ministry of Education, Science and Technology) for 9 years. More than 200 experts in a wide variety of research fields including biochemical engineering and molecular biology are employed or participated in ABC. He is a recipient of various awards for significant contribution to the research innovations in environmental or microalgal biotechnology from the South Korean government or many academic societies. In addition, Dr. Yang showed various activities across many fields of academia, civil society, and government. Dr. Yang had served as the President of Korean Society of Biotechnology and Bioengineering, and the editor-in-chief for the Korean Journal of Soil and Groundwater. He also served as a judge of national R&D projects for South Korean government and an active member in environmental NGOs, appointed as a co-chairman of the Green Consumer Network and the chairman of the

Daejeon Green Growth Forum The Daejeon Green Growth Forum is a think tank established for open exchange concerning environmental policy involving members of academia, research institutes, business, central and local government, NGOs, religious groups and the media from arou ...

. With these experiences, he is working to build an international ecocity coalition committed to the sustainable development.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Ji-won 1949 births Living people KAIST faculty South Korean engineers Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni South Korean chief executives