The annual KWiSE West Coast Conference was held at the Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) Conference Room, La Jolla, California on May 17, 2014. Approximately, 60 participants attended the meeting. The meeting began with the current KWiSE President, Dr. An Haejung’s presentation. She shared the KWiSE activities and achievements during her presidency and appreciated the KWiSE executive members for their contribution, Drs. Ko Minhee, Woo Jeong-Im, and Lim Minyoung.
Prof. Seo Eun-Suk who is KWiSE President-Elect, gave a keynote talk, “The Mirror World of Antiparticles”. The summary is follow as: The year 2013 marked the 80th anniversary of the discovery of the positron, i.e., the antiparticle of the electron. The positron was first predicted by Dirac’s theory of the electron, which is arguably the simplest possible theory consistent with both quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity. It suggests a mirror world of the one we know — a world in which every particle has an antiparticle. The discovery of the positron, and subsequent discoveries of other antiparticles, indicates that we are indeed embedded in such a world. One of the towering mysteries is why we do not see antimatter all around us — or to be more precise, why there seem to be no large domains of antimatter in the universe. The supposed perfect symmetry between matter and antimatter should have resulted in equal quantities of each being produced at the Big Bang. Perhaps there are indeed large reserves of antimatter out there that we just have not seen yet. She introduced findings from direct searches for antiparticles in cosmic rays and related studies.
After the keynote talk, the attendees enjoyed the catered Korean food. The afternoon session was chaired by two postdoctoral researchers, Drs. Kim Hongsuk and Lee Sin-Ae. Four young scientist and engineers gave 10-15 min short talks about their project and research. A purpose of the session was to give opportunities for young woman scientists and engineers to practice presentation and share their work with general audience. The subjects were diverse: big data analytics leading to Smartphone app, plant genetic engineering, liver disease mechanism, and protein folding mechanistic study. The presenters and the chairs were satisfied with their active roles in the meeting. Afterwards, a break for further networking was followed and then the meeting closure was made by the KWiSE founder, Dr. Han Gye Won. The conference organizer, KWiSE San Diego Chapter President, Prof. Hoh Eunha, shared her appreciation to many volunteers including KSEA-SD YG members.