Our university, evaluated as having the nation’s top research competitiveness — including first place nationwide in SCI paper growth rate (2009, Ministry of Education), first among national universities in research funding secured (2012, University Information Disclosure), and fifth nationwide in the Leiden Ranking assessing the qualitative level of science and technology papers (2011–2012, Leiden University) — has also attracted attention for excellent performance in graduate student research.

It concerns Kim Eun-ju (doctoral candidate) of the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Im Ji-hye (master’s student) of the Department of Horticulture, who have received awards at domestic and international academic conferences for their outstanding research achievements.

Kim Eun-ju recently won the Outstanding Paper Award at the 6th Asian Society of Wildlife Medicine held in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand. In her paper, 'Successful Surgical Treatment of Multiple Fractures in a Wild Water Deer,' she drew attention by proposing a method to successfully perform fracture surgery in wildlife while minimizing tissue damage in cases of complex fractures.

This study, obtained after three months of treatment and research on a water deer, is highly significant because, although similar applications existed in the companion animal field, it is the first successful case reported domestically in the field of wildlife.

Meanwhile, Im Ji-hye received the Excellent Poster Award at the 97th Autumn Scientific Meeting of the Korean Society for Horticultural Science. She participated in Professor Dong-Geun Choi's (Department of Horticulture) research project, 'Development of a Method to Induce Excess Shoot Formation in Apple Trees for Stable Vigor Maintenance' — a method for harvesting a stable quantity of apples each year — and compiled results from three years of field and indoor experiments into a poster that was recognized as a scholarly achievement.

Im attracted attention by presenting a poster on changes in growth and flowering germination characteristics of the 'Hongro' and 'Fuji' cultivars according to leaf area index during the apple tree growing season.

Notably, this award is seen as recognition of the research’s value because only two posters were selected out of about 100 research posters in the pomology field.