A POSTECH research team centered on the Division of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Sports Industry Support Center has been selected for the Sports Industry Convergence Graduate Program administered by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, overcoming strong competition among 14 universities nationwide. The project is led by Professor Bong-Goo Kang, Dean of the Division of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Participating Electrical Engineering faculty: Professors Youngjin Kim, Wook Sung Kim, Youngjoo Lee, Yoon Young Chung, and Wonbin Hong.

The program trains key master’s-level professionals for the future sports industry through multidisciplinary education and research combining sports with engineering, medicine, law, and other fields.

Based on artificial intelligence, a core technology of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, POSTECH will provide specialized education and advanced research in three areas: sports big data analysis, sports multimedia, and next-generation sports convergence technologies, including virtual/augmented reality and advanced engineering.

Project leader Dean Kang said the initiative provides an excellent opportunity to apply POSTECH’s global research capabilities to sports engineering, a largely unexplored R&D field in Korea, while contributing significantly to the development of Korea’s advanced-technology-based sports industry, which is attracting attention as a future engine of growth.

The graduate program, operated entirely with government-funded scholarships, is scheduled to begin in the second semester of 2019. Students will be selected through a special graduate admissions process during the summer vacation.