For Prospective Students

Why Join KAIST Embedded AI Lab? 

At the KAIST Embedded AI Lab, you can explore questions through research spanning both AI models and systems. We pursue computation-embedded intelligence: understanding how an agent’s computational state and execution structure shape its ability to perceive, remember, learn, reason, and act.

We are looking for researchers who want to help develop this direction and bring their own questions to it.

• Make an important problem your own. Explore how neural memory should retain and retrieve experience, how agents should learn within limited resources, or how execution should adapt to the demands of a physical task. We encourage researchers to identify the assumptions behind existing approaches and develop questions that can grow into a coherent research direction.

• Build depth and connect across the computing stack. Your starting point might be foundation models, learning algorithms, operating systems, runtimes, compilers, or embedded hardware. Our research connects these areas, creating opportunities to develop a strong specialty and understand how your ideas enable advances elsewhere in the system.

• Turn your ideas into systems you can experiment with. Develop a model, implement a memory mechanism, build a runtime, or integrate an intelligent agent on a device. Study how your design changes learning capability, responsiveness, energy use, and dependable behavior. Working systems make discoveries tangible and reveal new questions that emerge during deployment.

• Grow into an independent researcher through collaboration. We value open discussion, rigorous experiments, shared learning, and mutual support. Our goal is to help one another develop the judgment to choose meaningful problems, the technical depth to solve them, and the clarity to communicate the results.

Our long-term vision connects individual intelligent devices with networks of agents that learn and act together. Your research can contribute a building block to that vision while developing ideas and skills that carry into future problems.

If you want to understand how intelligence works under real-world constraints—and enjoy creating the models and systems that make it possible—we invite you to explore these questions with us.

If you are considering joining our lab, please take a look at the following.

You must have agonized for many weeks, months, even years over the important decision on being a graduate student and probably have asked many questions to yourself, e.g., Am I good enough to conduct research? Master's degree or Ph.D. degree? Which research lab should I join? Can I finish my master's or Ph.D. program? Should I look for an industry job instead of pursuing a graduate degree in academia? And so on.

These days, so many young people do not seem to know what to do for their career and future, and are gradually losing direction, sometimes even hope. The uncertainty of the future of the Z-generation, who were born between 1990 and 2010, is higher than ever before. The story of other generations seems not much different, unfortunately. Currently, we are experiencing what might be the most adverse economic environment and social turbulence in the history of culture, science, and technology. It also looks like social polarization is getting profound more and more, and opportunities for young people seem to be diminishing rapidly.

However, this world today is full of challenges and opportunities if you look around attentively. Especially, the field of electrical engineering, artificial intelligence, and computer science technologies that our lab is focusing on are burgeoning at an unprecedented speed and scale. So many exciting and remarkable advances are being made every day by many brave and passionate hearts, and there are a number of interesting challenges and problems that need to be solved, which will change the world and the ways we live. Someone likens these unprecedented transformations to the first, second, and third industrial revolutions that transformed human history forever. Two thousand years ago, there were full of challenges and opportunities only the wises were able to recognize. Two thousand years later, now, there are still full of challenges and opportunities waiting for you. It depends on how you look at the world and what to do about it. If you don’t do anything, nothing is possible. But if you try to do something, you have at least a chance.

That being said, please understand that research is not for everyone. Nothing is ever written in stone. It takes a long time, creative ideas, intellectual spirit, diligence, curiosity, stamina, tenaciousness, to name a few. However, it is the most rewarding and productive activity of bliss as you can push forward the front line of knowledge and science and be the best expert in your area on the planet. You can find something that can help millions of people or create something new that has not existed ever before. If you think you are dedicated to being part of this exciting journey on computer science and artificial intelligence research, do not hesitate to take action right now. We welcome and are open to anyone who enjoys thinking of innovative ideas and creating something cool. Don’t be discouraged or downhearted because of the brand name of your undergraduate school, GPA, family background, financial situation, age, gender, or whatever. Someone’s opinion of you does not have to become your reality.

We are looking for someone who is motivated, curious, responsible, passionate, creative, and collaborative in doing research. In our lab, we believe in the future and people (YOU!). The world will never be the same again if you come this way. We enjoy our research because it is all about fun. We are crazy about doing new things, but not stupid. Be the first to take the challenge, overcome the difficulties, solve the problems, and make the world a better place. In our lab, you can always try new things, so don’t give up.

We try to help a student become an independent researcher to successfully start a career in academia, industry, or wherever. Upon successful completion of research experience in our lab, you will be prepared to

• Find significant and real problems in broad areas of electrical engineering, computer science, artificial intelligence, and related fields.

• Solve exciting research problems via creative ideas, disruptive perspectives, critical thinking, and real systems.

• Connect the scientific and intellectual results found from the research to people, making meaningful and positive impacts on the world.

Please let us know if you have any questions (seulki.lee@kaist.ac.kr).

How to join our lab?

1. Let us know about yourself by reaching out to us (seulki.lee@kaist.ac.kr) with your CV and transcript.

2. Apply to KAIST School of Electrical Engineering or Department of AI Systems. 

• • Please refer to here or here for the detailed admission information.

3. Good luck. Looking forward to seeing you!

"At the end of my career, I will not care at all what my h-index is or how many papers I published. However, I will care tremendously whether I was a good mentor and had a positive impact on the lives of others. I want to live those values every day from now until then." -  Jen Heemstra