Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) (President Yang Oh-bong) PhD candidate Se-eun Park of the Department of Environmental Energy Convergence (advisor: Professor Oh Ju-won) has been selected for the inaugural cohort of the Graduate Presidential Science Scholars, a program newly established this year to nurture graduate students in science and engineering as future scientists.

This scholarship was established this year in response to President Yoon Suk-yeol's call at the 2022 "Dialogue with Future Scientists" to create a differentiated scholarship support program for graduate students in science and engineering. A total of 120 students were selected: 50 master's candidates and 70 doctoral candidates.

Selected master's students will receive KRW 1.5 million per month, up to KRW 36 million for up to two years. Doctoral students will receive KRW 2 million per month, up to KRW 96 million for up to four years.

PhD candidate Se-eun Park has extensive international research experience. She conducted research on monitoring terrestrial carbon dioxide leakage at the University of Calgary (6 months). She carried out onshore geothermal power site characterization research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, USA) (3 months) and at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (USA) (3 months). She also participated in collaborative research on offshore CO2 geological storage site characterization and monitoring at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway) (3 months) and at the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (Norway) (4 months).

Through achievements such as selection as a POSCO International industry‑university scholarship student, receiving the President's Award from the Korean Society of Resource Engineering, winning two Student Outstanding Paper Presentation Awards from the Korean Society of Geophysics and Physical Exploration, and being selected to attend the 16th IEAGHG International CCS Summer School, Se-eun Park has been developing into an outstanding early-career researcher in the fields of earth science and resource engineering.

Currently, JBNU's Department of Mineral Resources and Energy Engineering and the Department of Environmental Energy Convergence, with support from the K-CCUS Promotion Team, are carrying out a ministries-collaborative project to cultivate innovative talent for greenhouse gas reduction. They are building global research capacity through active internal human resource development programs and a variety of government-supported R&D projects.

Se-eun Park said, "I am deeply grateful to my advisor, Professor Oh Ju-won, for his generous support and encouragement, and to the faculty of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy Engineering and the Department of Environmental Energy Convergence for helping me build sufficient research capacity. I will carry the honor of the Graduate Presidential Scholarship with me and continue to grow so that I can contribute to society and the nation."