Last year, Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) attracted the world’s leading research institution, the U.S. Los Alamos National Laboratory, and established the 'Los Alamos National Laboratory-Jeonbuk National University Engineering Institute-Korea'. JBNU has now produced the first graduate of the academic-research program it is conducting with Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Following last year’s attraction of the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the establishment of the institute on campus, JBNU launched an academic-research program to cultivate outstanding talent in the field of structural integrity.

The first person to complete the academic-research program with the world-class laboratory is Mi-jin Choi, a doctoral student in the Department of Aerospace Engineering (researcher, Los Alamos National Laboratory-Jeonbuk National University Engineering Institute-Korea).

Choi was dispatched to the Los Alamos National Laboratory headquarters in New Mexico for six months, where she underwent training in structural integrity management technologies, participated in collaborative research in related fields, and received English-language training. The Los Alamos National Laboratory provided approximately KRW 20 million in educational support.

The structural integrity management training program was conducted at UC San Diego (University of California, San Diego), a U.S. university ranked 32nd worldwide and among the top 10 in engineering. Participants received systematic instruction covering concepts, history, and applied systems in the field of structural integrity management.

Choi also conducted one-on-one collaborative research with leading researchers at Los Alamos headquarters. The research she carried out will be prepared as a paper and submitted to an international journal.

Building on the production of the first graduate from this academic-research program, the institute plans to dispatch two researchers to the Los Alamos National Laboratory headquarters in August. It also intends to provide opportunities each year for five to six researchers to acquire world-class education and research experience.

Choi said, "By participating in this academic-research program, I conducted research on structural damage diagnosis of wind turbine blades being developed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), under the U.S. Department of Energy. I plan to present the results at international conferences and submit them to journals. The program was a valuable opportunity to understand global research trends together with researchers worldwide, and I received a joint research completion certificate from Los Alamos National Laboratory, a graduate course completion certificate, and two language-related certificates from the University of New Mexico, which I expect will greatly help my career."

Meanwhile, last year JBNU was selected for the Ministry of Education’s "Overseas Outstanding Research Institution Attraction Project" and committed a total of KRW 11.4 billion over six years to attract the U.S. Los Alamos National Laboratory. The university is currently establishing the 'Los Alamos National Laboratory-Jeonbuk National University Engineering Institute-Korea' on campus.