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Dear Fellow KWiSE members,

I am honored to serve as the 4th President of KWISE, and I am happy to report the enthusiastic start of the new administration. I would like to thank the previous administration led by Dr. Haejung An (Food and Drug Administration) for their tireless efforts and dedication to KWiSE. I am particularly grateful to the new officers and committee members, who share our vision to carry out volunteer activities with passion and spirit of community service. I am fortunate to have two Vice Presidents, Dr. Jane Oh (NASA JPL) and Dr. Hae Young Ahn (Food and Drug Administration). I will be assisted by Executive Director, Dr. Eun-Ju Cheong (United States Department of Agriculture); Project Director, Dr. Seongeun Julia Cho (Food and Drug Administration); Publication Director, Dr. Hey Kyung Lee (Johns Hopkins University); IT Director, Dr. Jong-Ae Kim (University of Maryland); Treasurer, Jay Wu (University of Maryland), and Web Master, Ji Hye Han (University of Maryland).

In order to increase student membership, Haewon Han, President of Korean International Student Association (KISA) at the University of Maryland will serve on the Students Council. Prof. Kyunghwa Park (Virginia Tech) and Prof. Jiyoung Lee (Ohio State University) will serve on the Award Committee. Dr. Youngin Oh (Seescan Inc.) will serve on the Fundraising Committee. The Publication Committee, Web Committee and Membership Committee will consist of a representative from each Chapter. Our presence on the web has become more important than ever before. We plan to improve our web pages to reach out to the community across the continents. We will expand Chapter support so each chapter will be able to manage its own web. The Publication Committee is energized to publish Newsletters more frequently. Since the inauguration of the 4th administration, KWiSE officers have been busy with various activities. An active membership drive is under way. Chapter Presidents are encouraged to submit proposals to the Project Director to coordinate chapter activities in advance.

One of the main events in the first quarter of this term was the US-Korea Conference on Science, Technology and Entrepreneurship (UKC 2014), San Francisco, CA, August 6-9, 2014. KWiSE hosted a Forum entitled “Current Women’s Issues in the US and Korea” in strong collaboration with the Korea Federation of Women’s Science & Technology Associations (KOFWST). I would like to thank the Honorable Hee-Young Paik, former Minister of Gender Equality and Family of Korea and President of KOFWST for chairing the forum with me. I would also like to thank the outstanding speakers including the Honorable In-Sook Park, Member of the National Assembly, Prof. Heisook Lee, Director, Korea Advanced Institute of Women in Science, Engineering and Technology (KAI-WIEST), and Dr. Christine Yoon CEO, Blessing Place in the U.S. Among others, my special thanks go to the Honorable Myung-Ja Kim, former Minister of Health & Welfare of Korea and former President of KOFWST, as well as Prof. Do-Sun Na, Vice President, Korean Academy of Science and Engineering and member, Presidential Advisory Council on Science & Technology.

KWiSE-KOFWST also organized an Outstanding Women Scientist Seminar entitled “Dietary Approaches to Better Health,” where Prof. Hei Sook Sul (University of California-Berkeley) and Prof. Eunyoung Cho (Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University) gave invited talks. In addition, many KWiSE members were invited speakers in various Technical Symposia. It should also be noted that KWiSE members contributed to UKC 2014 by serving as organizers. These included Dr. Jane Oh, Program Co-Chair; Dr. Hee-Yong Kim, Chair of Food, Agriculture and Nutrition Symposium; Dr. Sohyun Ahn and Prof. Hey-Kyoung Lee, Chair and Co-Chair of Bio, Medical and Pharmaceutical Symposium; and myself, Co-Chair of the Physics Symposium.

I would like to thank Dr. Sung Ok Han, President of Woman Scientists and Engineers (KWSE), who led a networking lunch meeting during UKC 2014. I am looking forward to developing our collaboration. We will also continue to strengthen our cooperation with KOFWST, Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies (KOFST), Korea-US Science Cooperation Center (KUSCO), and Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association (KSEA).

I would like to encourage you to serve as officers and committee members for KWiSE and KSEA. Please feel free to send me your nomination by contacting me or any of the Directors listed above. Let me invite you all to visit our web site http://kwise.org/. Please update your profile by using “Edit My Profile” so that our data base is up to date. When you renew your KSEA membership at http://www.ksea.org/ make sure to choose KWiSE as an APS (Affiliated Professional Society).

Lastly, I hope many of you will attend UKC 2015, which will be held in Atlanta, GA, 29 July – 1 August, 2015. This is an annual conference where ~ 1,000 Korean Scientists and Engineers get together. There are a lot of interesting programs that you may enjoy. Please let KWiSE be close to you always. We will listen to you if you tell us what you need. We will seek to build a stronger organization, based on the foundation built by prior administrations, so many more members can benefit from KWiSE.

Looking forward to working with you,
Eun-Suk Seo
President of KWiSE