[POSTECH’s GIFT renews as Graduate Institute of Ferrous & Energy materials Technology and plans to add more faculty and more students]

POSTECH Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology, the world’s only graduate school specializing in steel, has expanded and reorganized into the Graduate Institute of Ferrous & Energy materials Technology by adding the discipline of energy materials. Accordingly, the Graduate Institute of Ferrous & Energy materials Technology will conduct convergence education and research in high-tech metal and energy materials.

In addition, as the fields of study expand, the school plans to recruit five tenure-track faculty members in the energy materials field (in positive and negative electrodes materials development, next-generation batteries development, and process improvement), while increasing enrollment by 15 (10 master’s and 5 Ph. D.) students. Freshmen majoring in energy materials will be admitted in the first semester of 2021 and the application process will take place in December. It is anticipated that they will become professionals in the secondary battery materials and will enter companies related to the field.

The curriculum will also change substantially. In steel-oriented curriculum, it will provide opportunities for convergence study, including secondary battery operation, design of anode materials, and other courses on energy materials.

POSTECH’s Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology, established in 1996, has so far carried out the highest level of education and research in the field of steel and structural materials in Korea as well as in the world under a close industry-academia cooperation system with POSCO. However, in light of the increased significance of research on material components due to the rapid rise of environmental problems and the development of the energy industry, the school decided to incorporate energy materials for sustainable growth.

Sung-Joon Kim, the dean of POSTECH Graduate Institute of Ferrous & Energy materials Technology remarked, “Innovation that changes future materials will start from convergence between high-tech materials and the school has adopted the first mover strategy as its future blueprint to create new high-tech material areas through convergence.” He added, “We will lead the industrial ecosystem through convergence research and education between steel, advanced metal materials, and energy materials.”