WITHLAB

Dec 2025: Jihyeon received the Best Oral Presentation Award at the PYROASIA 2025 Conference, held in Pattaya, Thailand.

Dec 2025: Sunoo received the Excellence Award in the 2025 Marine and Fisheries Youth Researcher “Cheer Up! Challenge!” Program, awarded by KIMST.

Dec 2025: Jaewook was named to the AAEES 40 Under 40 Recognition Program, honoring rising stars in environmental engineering and science.

Dec 2025:  Prof. Clara Santato from Polytechnique Montréal visited WITHLAB to deliver two seminar lectures and engage in collaborative research meetings.

Dec 2025: Youngju and Hoseong received Excellent Paper Presentation Awards for their presentations at the 2025 KORRA Fall Meeting.

Dec 2025:  Shinhyeong conducted a month-long research stay at the Zumstein Lab, University of Vienna, focusing on the biodegradation of water-soluble polymers. His visit was supported by the ISME Scholar Mobility Fund.

Nov 2025:  Sunho and Jaeho participated in the Microbial Solutions for a Changing World Conference held at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.

Nov 2025:  Thanh Trung and Youngju participated in the 2025 Fall Meeting of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association (KORRA), held in Seoul.

Nov 2025: Thanh Trung and Hoseong received received the Best Paper Awards at the 2025 Korean Society of Environmental Engineers (KSEE) Fall Meeting.

Nov 2025:  Youngju received the 2025 K-water Future Talent Camp Outstanding Research Award. The program fosters future leaders in water and environmental innovation through research and mentoring activities.

Nov 2025:  WITHLAB participated in the 2025 Korean Society of Environmental Engineers (KSEE) Fall Meeting held in Jeju.

Nov 2025:  Jaewook, Shinhyeong, and Yongjun visited MIT, Northeastern University, and WHOI to strengthen ongoing collaborations and explore new research opportunities between WITHLAB and partner groups.

Oct 2025:  WITHLAB introduced its work on biodegradable plastics to the public at the OPEN KAIST 2025 event.

Oct 2025:  Dr. Lam Tan Hao from KRICT gave a seminar titled “Sustainable Hydrophobic Surface Modification of Nanocellulose Using Emulsified Esterification.”

Oct 2025:  Sunoo delivered a talk at the Merck International Graduate Fellowship Award Ceremony, where he shared his experience from the Merck Innovation Cup 2025.

Oct 2025:  Youngju participated in the ISME Asia–CAME Conference held in Hangzhou, China. His visit was supported by ISME’s Early Career Researcher (ECR) Travel Grant.

Oct 2025:  Yongjun was selected as one of the 43 finalists in the annual essay competition “Young Voices in the Chemical Sciences for Sustainability,” organized by the International Organization for Chemical Sciences in Development (IOCD).

Oct 2025:  Sunoo visited Prof. Yutaka Takeuchi’s lab at Kanazawa University for the second time this year to continue on a collaborative research with WITHAB.

Sep 2025:  High school students from Sejong Academy of Science and Arts visited WITHLAB to learn about our research and join a campus tour.

Sep 2025:  Yongjun, Sunoo, Thanh Trung, and Youngju participated in the 31st Joint KKNN (KAIST–KU–NTU–NUS) Symposium on Environmental Engineering, held at Kyoto University.

Sep 2025: Youngju received the 3rd Prize Award for his oral presentation at the 31st Joint KKNN (KAIST–KU–NTU–NUS) Symposium on Environmental Engineering.

Aug 2025:  Sunho received the Encouragement Award in the KAIST BK21 Overseas Visit Essay Contest. The awarded essay was based on her participation in the WasteEng 2024 Conference, held in Sendai, Japan.

Aug 2025:  Youngju visited Prof. Yung's lab at HKUST to advance the collaborative study on the relationship between plastic pollution and algal blooms.

Aug 2025:  Shinhyeong, Hosung, and our alumnus Do Hyun attended the UKC 2025 Conference in Atlanta, USA. Shinhyeong's and Do Hyun’s travels were supported by the Hyundai Motor CMK Foundation, and Hosung’s by the GGGS Travel Fund.

Aug 2025: Jihyeon received the Excellent Poster Presentation Award at the 2025 KIChE (Korean Institute of Chemical Engineers) Spring Meeting.

Aug 2025: Shinhyeong visited the Konstantinidis Lab at Georgia Tech to share his recent research progress on the landfill leachate microbiome.

Aug 2025: Sunho's work on ethane metabolism in obligate methanotrophs has been featured by multiple domestic and international media outlets.

Aug 2025: Xinyu (Tsinghua University), Yeonhee (POSTECH), and Kanbubu (KSA) completed visiting research at WITHLAB this summer.

Jul 2025:  Sunoo’s Green Chemistry team won the runner-up prize (€5,000) at the Merck Innovation Cup 2025 for proposing a way to integrate green chemistry principles into Merck’s synthesis software, Synthia®.

Jul 2025: Sunoo was selected to participate in the Merck Innovation Cup 2025, held in Germany. He was the sole participant from a Korean institution and one of only 42 individuals worldwide invited, which had an acceptance rate of less than 1%, based on the 2024 edition. All travel expenses were fully sponsored by Merck KGaA.

Jul 2025: Youngju won the Outstanding Award at the Green & Climate Tech Capstone Intensive Program organized by the National Institute of Green Technology.

Jul 2025: Jaeho has been awarded the Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-Koo Foundation’s Future Industries Scholarship.

Jul 2025:  Youngju, Hoseong, and Jaeho participated in the Green & Climate Tech Capstone Intensive Program organized by the National Institute of Green Technology.

Jul 2025: Sunho and Yongjun have been selected for the second cohort of the Presidential Science Scholarship for Graduate Students.

Jul 2025: Sunoo spent two weeks in Prof. Yutaka Takeuchi’s lab at Kanazawa University, where they evaluated the ecotoxicity of functionalized nanocellulose materials using the university’s aquaculture infrastructure.

Jun 2025: Shinhyeong received the Best Poster Award at the 11th Microbial Ecology and Water Engineering Conference (IWA MEWE-11). His poster was selected as one of the five best among 116 poster presentations.

Jun 2025: Shinhyeong participated in the 11th Microbial Ecology and Water Engineering Conference (IWA MEWE-11), held at the Georgia Tech campus in Atlanta, GA, USA.

Jun 2025: Yongjun and Thanh Trung participated in the 2025 KSIEC Spring Meeting and International Conference, held in Jeju.

May 2025: Sunho, Shinhyeong, Youngju, Hoseong, and Jaeho participated in ASME 2025 (The 15th Asian Symposium on Microbial Ecology), held at Chungbuk National University, Cheongju.

May 2025: Yongjun, Jihyeon, and Jaeho participated in the 2025 Spring Meeting of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association (KORRA), held at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul.

Mar 2025: Dr. Wilasinee Kotcharoen and Dr. Tapanee Chuenkaek from the Takeuchi Lab at Kanazawa University visited WITHLAB for seminar talks and collaboration meetings.

Feb 2025: Youngju, Yongjun, and Shinhyeong were awarded the Global Leadership Award for their outstanding achievement in visiting Uzbekistan as part of the 'Save the Earth - Global Challenge' program.

Jan 2025: Youngju has been selected to represent Korea at the 13th Global Young Scientists Summit, sponsored by the Singapore National Research Foundation.  This prestigious event gathers young scientists worldwide for lectures and discussions with Nobel laureates and distinguished researchers, fostering academic exchange.

Jan 2025: Youngju's research on aquatic pathway has been featured in a technical blog post by IWA YWP Canada. We extend our gratitude to Calvin Chung, co-chair of IWA YWP Canada, for providing this opportunity.

Dec 2024: Thanh Trung received the Academic Excellence Award from NIIED. This prestigious award is presented annually to outstanding international students invited through the GKS Scholarship Program.

Dec 2024: Shinhyeong has been awarded the prestigious 2024 Talent Award of Korea by the Minister of Education.

Dec 2024: Youngju received the Excellence Award in the 2024 Marine and Fisheries Youth Researcher 'Cheer Up! Challenge!' Program, awarded by KIMST.

Dec 2024: Shinhyeong has been awarded the Q-Day Student Special Award (Creative Talent Category 'Q') at the 2024 Q-Day Event.

Nov 2024: Our research on a fully biodegradable electronic film made from melanin has been showcased on the KAIST College of Engineering's Newsletter.

Nov 2024: Sunho received received the Best Paper Award at the 2024 Korean Society of Environmental Engineers (KSEE) Fall Meeting.

Nov 2024: Youngju received received the Travel Award at the 2024 Korean Society of Environmental Engineers (KSEE) Fall Meeting.

Nov 2024: WITHLAB participated in the 2024 Korean Society of Environmental Engineers (KSEE) Fall Meeting held in Yeosu.

Oct 2024: Sunoo received received the Best Student Poster Presentation Award at the 30th Joint KKNN (KAIST-KU-NTU-NUS) Symposium on Environmental Engineering.

Oct 2024: WITHLAB participated in the 30th Joint KKNN (KAIST-KU-NTU-NUS) Symposium on Environmental Engineering, held on Jeju Island.

Oct 2024: Do Hyun, one of WITHLAB's earliest alumni and currently a PhD candidate at Penn State, presented research conducted at WITHLAB at the 2024 AIChE Annual Meeting in San Diego.

Oct 2024: Youngju visited Prof. Yung's lab at HKUST as part of a collaborative project to study the relationship between plastic pollution and marine microecology. This visit was made possible by Youngju's receipt of a travel award funded by the Korea Institute of Marine Science & Technology Promotion (KIMST).

Sep 2024: Our research on a fully biodegradable electronic film made from melanin, in partnership with Prof. Clara Santato's team at Polytechnique Montréal, has garnered attention from multiple media outlets.

Sep 2024: Our research on developing biodegradable paper coating materials has been featured in the 'KAIST Breakthroughs' research webzine.

Aug  2024: Shinhyeong received first prize in the KAIST BK21 Overseas Visit Essay Contest.

Jul 2024: Shinhyeong, Yongjun, and Youngju visited Uzbekistan as part of the 'Save the Earth - Global Challenge' program supported by the KAIST Global Leadership Center. The team's mission was to explore sustainable solutions for reusing agricultural waste to address environmental issues in the Aral Sea region. [Video link]

Jun 2024: Shinhyeong has received an Environment Award at the 29th Daejeon Environment Day celebration event.

May 2024: Shinhyeong's research on biodegradable paper coating materials has received recognition in various domestic and international media outlets.

May 2024: Researchers from Novo Nordisk, a world-leading Danish pharmaceutical company, visited WITHLAB to discuss industry-academia collaborations in sustainable biopolymers.

Mar 2024: Shinhyeong visited the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the largest oceanographic institution in the world, in Falmouth, Massachusetts, for a one-month period to pursue collaborative research with Dr. Collin Ward on marine plastic degradation.

Nov 2023: Jaewook Myung received the Academic Award at the 2023 KORRA Fall Meeting.

Nov 2023: Youngju Kim received the Excellence Award at the 2023 Biological Taxonomy Research Thesis Contest hosted by the National Institute of Biological Resources.

Nov 2023: Ana Gabriela Mendoza Burgos and Yongjun Cho received the Best Poster Presentation Awards at the 29th Joint KKNN (KAIST-KU-NTU-NUS) Symposium on Environmental Engineering.

Nov 2023: Jaewook Myung, Shinhyeong Choe, Ana Gabriela Mendoza Burgos, and Yongjun Cho participated in the 29th Joint KKNN (KAIST-KU-NTU-NUS) Symposium on Environmental Engineering, which took place at the NUS (National University of Singapore) campus.

Nov 2023: Do Hyun Lee and Serin Park received the Best Presentation Award for their presentations at the 2023 Korean Society of Environmental Engineers (KSEE) Fall Meeting.

Nov 2023: WITHLAB participated in the 2023 Korean Society of Environmental Engineers (KSEE) Fall Meeting held in Busan.

Aug 2023: Hyerim Eam visited five universities across Korea (GIST), China (Tsinghua University, Tongji University), and Japan (Tohoku University, Kanazawa University) as a KAIST delegate for the RESD (Regional Environment and Sustainable Development) Meeting.

Aug 2023:  Shinhyeong Choe participated in the ACS Fall 2023 Meeting held in San Francisco, USA.

Jul 2023: Hyerim Eam participated in the FEMS2023 (10th FEMS Congress of European Microbiologists) held in Hamburg, Germany.

Jul 2023:  WITHLAB's latest product Do Hyun Lee was featured in the media for giving a talk as an alumnus during the Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-Koo Foundation's scholarship award ceremony.

Jun 2023:  Shinhyeong Choe’s ACSAPM research was featured on the 2023 KAIST Annual R&D Report.

Jun 2023:  WITHLAB participated in the 2023 KMB (Korean Society for Microbiology and Biotechnology) Annual Meeting & International Symposium held in Gyeongju.

Apr 2023:  Shinhyeong Choe’s research proposal has been selected in the 2023 Venture Research Program for Master’s and PhD Students along with 8 other students from the College of Engineering at KAIST. 

Mar 2023:  Do Hyun Lee participated in the ACS Spring 2023 Conference held in Indianapolis, IN, USA. 

Feb 2023: Shinhyeong Choe received the Global Leadership Award during the 52nd KAIST Anniversary Ceremony.

Jan 2023: WITHLAB graduate students participated in 2023 13th International Conference on Future Environment and Energy (ICFEE) conference held in Tokyo, Japan.