Department Vice Chair of the Department of Mobility Engineering
Vice Director of the Department of Innovative Convergence (Future car division)
Associate Professor at the Department of Artificial Intelligence
I recently joined as an assistant professor in the Department of AI Mobility Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at Ajou University. My research interest covers artificial intelligence, 2D/3D computer vision, machine learning, sensor fusion and localization in various autonomous mobility platforms. Before joining Ajou University, I performed a machine learning-oriented postdoc researcher at the center of advanced computing and analysis at Harvard University (HMS/MGH), Boston MA. My research interest lies in 2D/3D object detection and tracking, federated learning, continual learning, domain adaptation, and multi-modal fusion. I also performed as a Director of Software Engineering of ThorDrive US, located in Cincinnati OH, a venture-backed startup creating ground-up, fully autonomous vehicles for point-to-point mobility in airport ramps having project partnerships with Delta affiliates (Unifi), UPS and DHL. Prior to ThorDrive, I received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Sungkyunkwan University and then completed a computer science Ph.D degree at Seoul National University (SNU), Korea. There, I developed algorithms for SNU’s $100K-winning entry in the 2013 Korean Autonomous Challenge, and went on to lead a lot of projects developing not only self-driving modules with LG and Mando, but also the SNU self-driving platform, which was the first urban driving platform in Korea.
The previous teams Soomok Lee was with.
Working Experience
Assistant Professor @ Mobility Engineering(Undergrad.) Artificial Intelligence(Grad.) 2023 – present
Ajou University, Suwon, Korea
Assistant Professor @ Mechanical Engineering 2022 – 2023
Ajou University, Suwon, Korea
PostDoc. Researcher, 2022
Harvard University (MGH/HMS), Boston MA, United States
Director of Software Engineering, 2017 – 2022
ThorDrive, Inc., Cincinnati OH, United States
PhD candidate researcher, 2013 – 2017
SNU Intelligent Vehicle IT Center, Seoul, Korea
Visiting student under CARS visiting professor, 2014
Stanford University, Palo Alto CA, United States
Research Intern, 2012
Hyundai Power-Train Research Center, Hwaseong, Korea
Visiting Student Intern, 2010 – 2011
University of Central Florida, Orlando FL, United States
Data Analysis Intern 2010
BrightPower, Inc., Manhattan NY, United States
Education
Ph. D. degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2013 – 2019
Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
Bachelor of Engineering in Electronic and Electrical Engineering, 2006 – 2013
SungKyunKwan University, Suwon, Korea
English Language Institute, 2010
Queen’s College (CUNY), Queens, NY, United States
Working experience with projects
Harvard University (MGH/HMS), Boston MA, US
2022.06 - 2022.08:
Postdoctoral researcher,
Project: GE Healthcare & Rhino Health
Software Development
- 3D Multi-modal detection on brain aneurysm detection
- Federated learning algorithm development on multi-national clinical data team
ThorDrive, Inc. Cincinnati, OH, US
2019.10 - 2022.05:
Director of Software Engineering,
Project: Self-driving Ground Service Equipment (GSE) development at Airport ramp
- Airport partners: Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky (CVG) and Dayton (DAY) airports
- Service partners: UPS, DHL, and Delta Global Services
Software Development
- Development of fusion-based object detection methods in airport ramps.
- Development of multi-modal context-based object behavior attribute network using thermal, LIDAR, and RGB cameras.
- Development of intersection, airplane stop and go decision-maker, and risk evaluator
Sensor Skills
- RGB(Idscamera, Point Grey), LIDAR (Velodyne, Hesai), Thermal Camera(FLIR), Radar(continental ARS 408-21) and IMU sensors(Xsens)
ThorDrive Korea. Seoul, Korea
2017.9- 2019.10:
Team lead / Senior Perception Engineer,
Self-driving delivery service projects: Developed various self-driving delivery service platforms
- Project Partners: Ace Hardware, an US hardware retailer in CA and Emart, the largest retailer in Korea
Software Development
- Leading algorithm development including object, traffic sign and light, lane marker and parking slot detection and camera distance estimation.
- Development of multi-modal localization system using both LIDAR and cameras
- Managing two projects retrofitting Ford's product car into a self-driving platform
Seoul National University, Vehicle Intelligence Lab
Seoul, Korea
2013.01- 2019.07
Ph. D. Candidate
Project lead, Mar. 2015 – Feb. 2017
“Parking related landmark/space detection and visual localization system using AVM camera,” Funded by LG Electronics, Inc.
- Development of parking space and land-mark recognition system using AVM
- Development of map-based visual localization system for valet parking using AVM
Research Operating Manager, Aug. 2014 – Mar. 2017
Intelligent Vehicle IT center, Funded by National Research Foundation & Ministry of Science, ICT & Future planning, Korea
- Development of lane-based localization system in highly congested road environments.
- Development of road environment recognition algorithms for autonomous taxi platform
Project lead, June. 2013 – Oct. 2015
“Development of Driver Assistant System Using Camera, Radar and Road Characteristics,” Funded by MANDO Co. Ltd. & Ministry of Knowledge Economy, Korea
- Lateral Localization by camera sensor without utilization of a pre-built map
- Lane information fusion using multiple lane detection results from heterogeneous sensors
OS Platforms
Programming
Engineering Tools/Libraries
Project Tools
Linux, MacOS, Windows, ROS
C/C++, Python, Matlab
PyTorch, Tensorflow, OpenCV, PCL, Simulink, MRPT, CANoe
Azure, Git, Atlassian Suite (Jira, Confluence)
Korean Native
English Professional