Lee, Kwang-Hyung

President, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

President Kwang Hyung Lee is a futurologist who pioneered multidisciplinary studies and research

at KAIST. He  advocated  that  the  convergence  of information, biology, and nano-technologies

would be critical for future industries, playing a crucial role in establishing the Department of Bio

and Brain Engineering in 2001 and the Moon Soul Graduate School of Future Strategy in 2013.

He then served as the inaugural head of both faculties.

President Lee has extensive administrative experience at KAIST, serving as Associate Vice President

of the International Office, and Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs since early 2001.

He is also serving as a member of the Korea Presidential Education Committee.

An ardent champion of entrepreneurship and startups, he has advised the first generations of KAIST

startup entrepreneurs such as Nexon, IDIS, Neowiz, and Olaworks. President Lee, drawn to creative

thinking and flipped learning, is famous for watching TV upside down. Such pioneering ideas and

his unusual thinking style were modeled in the ‘eccentric professor’ role featured on the TV hit drama

of ‘KAIST’ from 1999 to 2000.

An alumnus who earned his MS in industrial engineering at KAIST in 1980 after completing

his undergraduate studies at Seoul National University, President Lee joined the KAIST faculty in 1985

upon receiving his PhD in computer science from INSA de Lyon in France.

A computer scientist as well as fuzzy theorist whose research area extends to AI, bioinformatics,

fuzzy intelligent systems, and foresight methods, President Lee has published more than 70 papers

in international journals and textbooks on system programming, fuzzy set theory and its applications,

and three-dimensional creativity. He also invented a fuzzy elevator, subway operation controller,

and AI transportation controller.

A fellow at the Korea Academy of Science and Technology and the National Academy of Engineering

of Korea, he was decorated by the Korean government and  the  French  government  in  recognition

of  the  innovative  education  and research initiatives he has pursued.