
The Korean Exchange Program has been extremely positive factor in my graduate studies in the Chemistry Departmenat ac UC-Berkeley. During my third year of study, I was given the opportunity to travel Korea to attend a conference and spend a few days with the research group of Professor Jinwoo Cheon. Professor Cheon and his students were very gracious hosts inviting me to dinners, sightseeing, and many productive discussions about our scientific endeavors. These discussions actually initiated a new project to use gold nanoparticle construct in living cells to probe celluar signaling processes.
Furthermore, I have worked with other Korean students when they been visiting scholars in our group at Berkely. One of Professor Cheon´s student, Jung-tak Jang, has twice visited our group to perform experiments with a special class of optically and magnetically active core-shell gold iron oxide nanoparticles. It was a genuine pleasure to work with Jung-tak Janf and discuss our science and learn more about Korean culture. I can say with certainty, that Korean Exchange Program has had a tremendous impact on my scientigic career and my opened my horizons in a way that nothing else in greduate school has.