The Sudang Foundation of Samyang Group, chaired by Kim Yun, has announced the recipients of the 35th Sudang Prize, honoring Professor Hwang Il-doo from POSTECH in the field of basic sciences and Professor Cho Sung-bae from Yonsei University in applied sciences.
Established in 1973, the Sudang Prize commends researchers whose remarkable contributions enhance the progress of Korean society and academia, with each winner receiving a plaque and a cash award of 200 million KRW.
Scheduled for May 27 at Lotte Hotel Seoul, the upcoming award ceremony will showcase the significant advancements made by this year's laureates.
Professor Hwang, recognized in the basic sciences category, has made groundbreaking contributions to the field of plant biology, particularly in elucidating the developmental signaling pathways and evolutionary principles of vascular systems as solutions to climate change challenges.
He successfully identified the signaling principles of cytokinins, a key plant hormone, establishing it as a crucial factor controlling the development and aging of the plant vascular system – a first in the world.
In his extensive research, Hwang also demonstrated how proteins derived from phloem contribute fundamentally to leaf morphology, addressing questions that had perplexed the scientific community regarding the integration of leaf development and phloem function.
His numerous accolades include the Macrogen Science Award in 2013, the Cargill Hanlim Life Science Award in 2021, as well as the prestigious Korean Academy of Science and Technology Award in 2023.
On the other hand, Professor Cho has emerged as a leading figure in artificial intelligence, particularly in applying innovative approaches to solve real-world industrial problems.
His work combines convolutional neural networks and long short-term memory networks to enhance data analysis capabilities.
Notably, his research on predicting household energy demands using complex AI techniques has gained significant attention, demonstrating high accuracy across various conditions, thereby minimizing energy waste and economic loss.
This research earned him recognition in the top 1% citation list of the esteemed journal Energy in 2020.
Cho has also pioneered deep learning technologies for detecting human behavior through smartphone accelerometers, landmark detection using mobile devices, and hybrid deep learning models for classifying noise in automobiles.
His contributions have been widely acknowledged, earning him the Korean Computer Science Association Academic Award in 2015, and he received a commendation from the South Korean government in 2022.
He currently serves as the chair of the AI Technology Innovation Subcommittee of the National AI Commission.
Originally initiated by the Kyungbang Education Foundation as the Sudang Science Prize, the award evolved over the years, transitioning under the Sudang Foundation in 2006 to include broader categories of natural sciences and humanities.
The prize now encompasses basic sciences, humanities and social sciences, and applied sciences, selecting outstanding researchers based on rigorously submitted recommendations, exemplifying excellence across disciplines in the advancement of knowledge and innovation in South Korea.
