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| Shin Sung-chul, president at KAIST |
This is the first time in the university's 46-year history that a KAIST graduate has been named for the four-year presidency.
"We identified Shin's outstanding vision and leadership as the key reason for the appointment," the nation's most-renowned science institute said after a board meeting.
Shin, 65, studied applied physics and solid state physics at KAIST, earning a master's degree in materials science and engineering at Northwestern University.
Under the presidential pledge of "Leap forward into global top 10 universities," he presented five key innovative visions in education, research and internationalization strategy.
He will take office after receiving approval from the nation's education and science ministers.
He has served as the KAIST physics professor since 1989, and is acknowledged as one of the most influential scientists in nano magnetism.
Former KAIST presidents include Nobel physicist Robert Laughlin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor Suh Nam-pyo, and Shin's predecessor Kang Sung-mo who served as a former chancellor at the University of California in Merced.
KAIST was founded in 1971 as the nation's first research-oriented university in Daejeon, 160 kilometers south of Seoul. The university, along with Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), is viewed as the top technology-driven education body here.
