KAIST Professor Choi Wonho Receives 'K-T Rie Award'

KAIST announced on December 5 that Professor Choi Wonho from the Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering has received the 'K-T Rie Award' at 'AEPSE 2025 (Asian-European Conference on Plasma Surface Engineering)', an academic conference in the field of applied plasma science and engineering.

Professor Choi Wonho of KAIST (right) is receiving the 'K-T Rie Award.' Provided by KAIST

AEPSE is an international conference held biennially, where plasma surface engineering researchers from Asia and Europe participate to share the latest research achievements with scientists from around the world.

The 'K-T Rie Award' was established in 2015 to honor the achievements of Professor Rie Kyungjong, a renowned Korean scholar in plasma surface engineering who worked in Germany. This award is presented every two years to international researchers who have contributed to the advancement of applied plasma science and engineering.

Professor Choi has received international recognition for his work in elucidating the physical and chemical changes occurring at plasma-liquid interfaces and for developing plasma imaging diagnostics technology that enables real-time observation of plasma reactive species generation and energy transfer processes, thereby revealing the core mechanisms of interfacial reactions.

He has also expanded his research into the space sector, co-founding the startup 'Cosmo Bee' with his students to develop Hall thrusters based on plasma technology for electric propulsion. Notably, this plasma technology for electric propulsion was recently applied in the fourth launch of the Nuri rocket, where a CubeSat equipped with a plasma Hall thruster was developed and successfully utilized as actual space technology.

Professor Choi stated, "It is an honor to receive the K-T Rie Award," adding, "This award is not only a recognition of the international competitiveness of Korea's plasma research, but also a result made possible by KAIST's interdisciplinary research environment."

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