An internationally recognised pioneer in the field of mechanical engineering will receive an honorary doctorate from The University of Queensland – the first Korean ever to do so.
Dr Nam Pyo Suh, the 13th and current President of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST), will receive a Doctor of Engineering honoris causa at a special ceremony at UQ’s Customs House tomorow Tuesday, May 15, at 6pm.
With its 7000 students and 600 teaching staff, KAIST provides highly qualified scientists and engineers for basic and applied research and is regarded as the most prestigious science and technology institute in the country.
Based in Daedeok Science Town, Daejeon, South Korea, KAIST is regarded as the Korean equivalent of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States.
Dr Suh is the creator of axiomatic design theory and credited with the development of microcellular plastic and as being an authority in the field of tribology – the phenomenon encountered whenever there is relative motion between two surfaces.
Tribology studies concern friction, lubrication and wear which are at the foundation of many everyday processes such as applying lipstick or hair-conditioner or the movement of an artificial hip in a socket.
Dr Suh’s axiomatic design theory has been adopted by many industrial firms and taught at many universities (including UQ) throughout the world.
Axiomatic design principles have been used to create new materials, products, processes, systems, software and organisations to solve a vast array of industrial problems.
Dr Suh is the author or co-author of seven books including The Principles of Design (1990), Axiomatic Design: Advances and Applications (2001), Complexity: Theory and Applications (2005) and Axiomatic Design and Fabrication of Composite Structures (2006), all published by Oxford University Press and all regarded as academic bibles in the evolving field of axiomatic design.
He has published more than 300 journals in scholarly publications as well as more than 50 US patents including for axiomatic design software and microcellular plastics.
His inventions form the bases for several successful commercial and industrial technologies and he has founded a handful of companies based on these technologies.
Microcellular plastics are used worldwide under trade names including MuCellTM and TrexelTM.
Dr Suh’s distinguished 49-year career includes positions with the National Science Foundation in Washington DC, the University of South Carolina as well as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he was Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering from 1991 until 2001.
He was the principal architect of the highly successful Five-Year Plan of Korea for the period 1980–1985.
Receiving his PhD from the illustrious Carnegie-Mellon University in the United States in 1964, Dr Suh went on to publish more than 300 papers in scholarly journals.
Media inquiries: Shirley Glaister at UQ Communications (+61 7 3365 1931).
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