What Must Be Done, The Path to Take, That Is My ‘Research’ … UNIST Dr. Ma Kyung-Yeol, ‘S-Oil Outstanding Thesis Award’

Research on Two-Dimensional Materials Wins 10 Million KRW Grand Prize in Chemistry

Advisor Professor Shin Hyun-seok Also Awarded 5 Million KRW Prize Money

Professor Shin Hyun-seok (left) and Dr. Ma Kyung-yeol (right) are smiling brightly in front of the UNIST Low-Dimensional Carbon Innovative Materials Research Center.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] “I am grateful for the best research environment. I will do what I must do according to my mentor's advice and quietly follow the path I must take. I will become a next-generation researcher who endlessly challenges myself.”

Dr. Ma Kyung-yeol from the Department of Chemistry at UNIST (President Lee Yong-hoon) expressed his unstoppable feelings upon receiving the award.

On the 9th, Dr. Ma received the Grand Prize in the Chemistry category of the ‘12th S-Oil Excellent Dissertation Award’ presented by the S-Oil Science and Culture Foundation. Dr. Ma’s thesis is about the two-dimensional material ‘hexagonal boron nitride (hBN),’ which will serve as the foundation for next-generation semiconductors. His mentor, Professor Shin Hyun-seok, supervised the research.

Hexagonal boron nitride is the only known two-dimensional insulating device material that can prevent semiconductor function degradation such as charge trapping or charge scattering. To utilize this material as a two-dimensional insulator for next-generation semiconductors, it must be synthesized in a ‘single crystal’ form, and Dr. Ma’s research opened the possibility for this.

During his doctoral program, Dr. Ma conducted synthesis methods and application research on various two-dimensional materials. He developed a method to synthesize hexagonal boron nitride as a single crystal on a large scale by controlling the number of stacked layers and studied the physicochemical properties of this technology, earning his Ph.D. His paper summarizing this work was published in Nature in June, attracting global attention.

Professor Shin Hyun-seok said, “Dr. Ma Kyung-yeol conducted research on a difficult and challenging topic with perseverance and passion, never giving up and producing excellent results. As his advisor, I am immensely proud and hope that Dr. Ma will grow into a next-generation scientist contributing to the advancement of science and technology in our country.”

Dr. Ma entered the graduate school of Energy Engineering at UNIST in 2014 and received his Ph.D. in February 2021. Since March this year, he has been selected for the ‘Sejong Science Fellowship’ organized by the National Research Foundation of Korea and is working as a postdoctoral researcher at UNIST.

He said, “I overcame exhaustion by relying on Professor Shin Hyun-seok’s advice that I should calmly do what I must and quietly follow the path I need to take. I am grateful to the many senior and junior colleagues who have long worked with me in the lab and to UNIST for providing the best research environment.”

Established in 2011, the S-Oil Excellent Dissertation Award is given to next-generation scientists in basic science who are recognized for their potential as researchers through outstanding doctoral dissertations.

The grand prize winner receives 10 million KRW and the excellence award winner 5 million KRW as research support funds, and the advising professors receive 5 million KRW and 3 million KRW respectively as rewards.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.