The Technology and History of Environment and Nuclear (THEN) Lab is a young, aspiring research cluster, based on the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Deajeon, South Korea. We aim to create innovative, inspirational, and meaningful links between the humanities (especially, history) and STEM (science, technology, environmental, and medicine) studies.
The THEN Lab is recruiting self-motivated, open-minded, and committed applicants to join the master's or doctoral programs in the School of Digital Humanities and Computational Social Sciences, or the co-advising graduate program in the Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering, both at KAIST. If you are interested in studying with us, we are glad to help you build your exciting academic career, armed with digital analytical skills, hands-on convergence research experience, and wide researchers network assets.
If you want to know more about the THEN Lab, feel free to email Donghyun at dhwoo1234@kaist.ac.kr
An overview of the PI's monograph-length research plans
The THEN Lab's journey - milestone events
August 2025
MinJae Kim, my former student at KAIST and a talented, aspiring scholar, presented me with a translated edition of Paul Kalanithi's book, along with a touching inscription. He will begin his Ph.D. program at Stanford this fall. Thank you very much, and all the very best of luck!
June 2025
Lab's affiliated RA Chiyoung Song has been admitted to the Master's Program in the Department of Library and Information Science at Yonsei. Congratulations!
May 2025
Lab's affiliated graduate researchers presented cookies to me in commemoration of Teacher's Day. Thank you all very much!
April 2025
Lab's affiliated scholar Dr. Kyungtaek Kwon (GIST)'s original paper titled "Инспекционная поездка К. Е. Ворошилова на Дальний Восток (1931)" is accepted for publication in the prestigious Российская история (A&HCI). Our heartfelt congratulations!
March 2025
Prof. Seohyon Jung (Litlab, KAIST) presented her Korean translation of Sarah Pinsker's Sooner or Later Everything Falls into the Sea (2019) to me. Congratulations and thank you very much!
February 2025
Lab's affiliated researcher Jonghyun Jee has been adimitted to the PhD in Media, Technology, and Society (MTS) program in the School of Communication at Northwestern. Our heartfelt congratulations!
Lab's affiliated researcher Gunha Kim secured a Research and Professional Development Grant by the University of Toronto for attending the Digital Humanities Summer Institute at the Université de Montréal campus ($2,900 CAD, roughly $2,000 USD). Congratulations!
Dr. Donghyeok Choi created an amazing visualization of the 2024 ANU-GPC Glocal University Project (link).
Lab's affiliated researcher Young Hun Park secured an OKSHF Research Grant at the USC Korean Heritage Library ($3,500). Congratulations!
December 2024
Dr. Donghyeok Choi and Minju Na completed the drafting of the first-year report in an R&D project with Darim Biotech (₩60,000,000, roughly $41,000).
Lab's affiliated intern Jinwoo Ha began creating RUSSEYE, a Russian-language specialized OCR model.
From June 2024 to February 2025
The Lab gathered more than 110,000 pages of Korea-related materials from eight countries overseas, an endeavor that was made possible by the grant from the "Glocal University Project Group in Andong National University-Gyeongbuk Provincial College" Project, supported by the Ministry of Education and National Research Foundation of Korea (₩200,000,000, roughly $137,000).
May 2024
Lab's affiliated researcher Jonghyun Jee presented in "Digital Korea: Stories, systems and spaces of connection" hosted by University of Sheffield. Well done!
Lab's affiliated graduate researchers presented stuckyi to me in commemoration of Teacher's Day. Thank you all very much!
March 2024
Lab's affiliated researcher Dr. Donghyeok Choi secured a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of History at the University of Hong Kong. Big congrats!
From June to November 2023
The Lab collected more than 20,000 pages of historical materials related to South Korea's nuclear waste history from the National Archives of Korea. The Lab's affiliated RAs Seulgi Lee and Hyun Ah Keum completed scanning works as of Summer 2024.
June 2023
Lab's affiliated RA Donghyeok Choi organized every entry of the Korean-translated Annals of Joseon Dynasty (the Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty) in a single CSV file.
The Lab was commissioned to create a AI-powered historical knowledge information platform (link) and advance research on digital humanities with the generous endowment from Booyoung Group (₩350,000,000, roughly $240,000).