Commentary

Welcoming Comments for the Korean Delegation

Da Hsuan Feng
Vice President for Research and Economic Development
The University of Texas at Dallas
May 18, 2006

Deputy Director Young-Sik Know, Director Seong-Ryong Hahn, Professor Yoon-Ha Jeong, Executive Director Jung-Chan Bae, Professor Hyung-Jae Lee and the large number of distinguished members of the Korean nanotechnology delegation, on behalf of President David E. Daniel and the entire University of Texas at Dallas, I want to extend a very very warm welcome to all of you. Many of you have been here many times already.  I want to welcome you not as our guests, but as out friends.

In the past year, since he assumed his new duty on June 1 2005, President David E Daniel of UT Dallas mobilized the university community to develop a short and long range strategic plan for the university. The plan was recently published and one of the top priorities for the university is to reach out to the international communities. Thus your visit is timely and extremely welcome by us.

I do not think that there is any doubt for people on earth with global awareness that the Republic of Korea is a "Knowledge Country!".  In the past half century, you have transformed from agricultural economy to silicon economy and now at the verge of leading the post-silicon economy.  Indeed, Korea has NO OIL FIELDS, NO GAS FIELDS, NO GOLD MINES and so on.  In fact, as far as I know, under your ground, you have nothing that will give you natural wealth. 

However, what you have has proven to be far more profound and important than any oil fields, any gas fields, any gold mines.  You have 40 million of well educated hard working individuals.  This is your "gold mine" and as we can see, you have leveraged this natural resources so well to become one of the economic powerhouses of the 21 st century, thus giving rise to one of the highest standards of living not only in Asia, but the world.  For a university like the University of Texas at Dallas, with aspirations to become one of the world renowned universities, to have a sustainable connection to your country is not a luxury, but a must.

I am also very excited to see that just as us, you are trumpeting the concept of "collaborations."  Indeed, the consortium for nanotechnology between research powerhouses such as KITECH, Pohang University of Science and Technology and Chonbuk National University is based on the principle of "the pie gets bigger by collaboration."  I believe that this is a natural way for the seven universities of Texas (UT Dallas, UT Austin, UT Arlington, Rice University, University of Houston, UT Pan Am and UT Brownsville) consortium in nanotechnology which we call SPRING, or Strategic Partnership for Research in NanotechnoloGy, to partner with you. 

In the past three years, many of our faculty members in UT Dallas, such as Professor D J Yang, Professor Moon Kim, Professor Gil Lee and Professor J B Lee, had poured and continue to pour their heart and soul in creating such a relationship between UT Dallas and you.  Without their hard work, this visit, and indeed the collaborations from now on, are impossible.

There is an old Chinese saying, Ren Qu Cha Liang, or "after the guests departed, the tea gets cold." 

Let us promise to each other that we will NEVER let the tea gets cold.

Thank you very much.

Delegation included representatives from Ministry of Commerce, Industry & Energy, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology Evaluation and Planning, Pohang University of Science and Technology and Chonbuk National University