[Congratulations!] Prof. LEE leads KRW 21.6 billion Project 

Kongju National University (KNU) has been selected to lead a KRW 21.6 billion Glocal Lab project, with Professor Dongkyoung Lee of the Department of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering serving as principal investigator. The university announced that its consortium was the only selection from the Chungcheong–Daejeon–Sejong region under the consortium-type Glocal Lab program administered by the Ministry of Education and the National Research Foundation of Korea. 

The project will run for nine years, from September 2026 to August 2035, bringing together KNU, Hanbat National University, and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). With KNU’s Global Institute of Manufacturing Technology serving as its research hub, the consortium will pursue interdisciplinary research and develop advanced research talent in eco-friendly mobility. 

The initiative will establish an integrated research framework that combines the complementary strengths of the three universities. KNU will contribute its expertise in production and design, Hanbat National University will provide materials and components technologies, and KAIST will contribute capabilities in intelligent control and full-vehicle validation. Together, these strengths will support the development of core technologies aimed at maximizing the driving range of eco-friendly vehicles. 

The consortium also plans to strengthen its international R&D network through expanded collaboration with the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the University of Michigan, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the United States, as well as the University of Bologna in Italy. Researcher exchanges and joint educational programs will help enhance the international competitiveness of participating researchers. 

“This is a cross-regional collaborative research initiative involving 25 full-time faculty members from three universities,” said Professor Lee. “By connecting materials and components through to intelligent control within a single research ecosystem, we will develop the Chungcheong region into a global R&D hub for eco-friendly mobility.” 

Professor Song-ja Kim, head of KNU’s Industry–University Cooperation Foundation, described the selection as recognition of the university’s research capabilities and the strengths of its regionally connected interdisciplinary collaboration model. “By combining the manufacturing infrastructure of Cheonan and Asan with Daejeon’s R&D capabilities, we will contribute to regional industrial development and the cultivation of research talent,” Kim said.

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