Bidding - the International Association of the Catalysis Societies

1) History
Catalysis research in Korea is a relatively young discipline. The first research in
catalysis began when Professor Hakze Chon, with a Ph.D. degree from Professor
Schwab’s laboratory in München, and 15 years of research at Mobil Research
Laboratories in America, returned to Korea to occupy the first chair in catalysis at the
newly created Korea Advanced Institute of Science. In March of 1979, 15 researchers in
universities and government-funded research institutes got together to organize a “club”
to exchange ideas on their research results. In 1980, a few of them attended the 7 th ICC
held in Tokyo, Japan. A number of prominent scholars attending the Congress were
invited to visit Korea and meet with the members of the “club” for the first ever
international symposium on catalysis held in Korea. The invited scholars included
Professors Schwab, Boudart, Hightower, Kwan, Barthomeuf, Gates and Vannice.
Although there were only about 60 participants altogether in this first symposium, this
was the beginning of very rapidly growing activities in catalysis. Most of the early
pioneers had received their training overseas and returned to Korea. Major universities
in Korea were training future catalysis researchers and a number of government-funded
research institutes were beginning to support catalysis research. In addition to the
rapidly increasing pool of young researchers inside Korea, there were several dozen
Korean students, mostly in the U.S., pursuing Ph.D. degrees in catalysis. By 1985, the
“club” grew enough to be recognized as a major Division within the Korean Institute of
Chemical Engineers (KIChE), one of the large (5,200 membership) and active
professional societies in Korea. Although the Division belonged to the KIChE, it
accommodated all members of the Korean Chemical Society and the Korean Society of
Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, who were working on catalysis. Such
membership established a unique character of the Division, represented by vibrant
discussions and cooperation among scholars in sectors spanning from science to
engineering and from academia to industry. Professor Hakze Chon became the first
Division director. Catalysis was engaged in mostly by those trained in the U.S., and
since catalysis is based largely in the chemical engineering departments in the American
universities, it has come to be associated with the chemical engineering profession in
Korea also.
Since it was organized as a division in 1984, the Catalysis Division has grown into the
most active group within KIChE and, by 1990, they accounted for about 20 % of the
approximately 700 papers presented at the two national meetings. As an indication of
the prominence of this Division, one division director (Professor Hakze Chon) went on
to become a cabinet member as Minister of Science & Technology, and four Division
directors served as the president of the Institute since the Division was organized 20
years ago. Some of the activities of the Catalysis Division are:
• Publication of the bi-annual journal “Catalysis” since 1985
• Organized 3-day annual summer research conferences modeled after Gordon
Conference since 1988, the 2003 conference drawing over 80 active participants
• Organized industrial catalytic technology workshops at the two major
petrochemical complexes since 1992
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