Professor Park Moon-Jeong of the POSTECH Department of Chemistry and Professor Yoon Jin-Hwan of Pusan National University's Department of Chemical Materials were selected as winners at the 2023 Toray Mid-career Academic Award ceremony, which was established for Korean polymer science development.

The ceremony was held at the Fall Academic Conference of the Polymer Society at the Jeju Convention Center on the 12th, and Executive Director Jeong Don-ho of the Future Strategy Division presented the award.

Professor Park was honored with the award in recognition of her outstanding research achievements in :

△ Synthesis of ionic polymers and identification of structure-property correlation
△ Development of low-voltage soft actuators through polymer electrolyte research
△ Realization of high-speed charge and discharge characteristics in next-generation lithium batteries

Professor Yoon was also honored with the award for his excellent research results on :

△ Hydrogel and ion gel, which is the representative of the soft materials
△ Structure analysis of polymer materials and identification of correlation between structure and properties through X-ray scattering and diffraction experiments by using a synchrotron radiation accelerator

Winners said they were honored to be recognized for their research achievements and expressed their intention to accomplish meaningful outcomes that will develop future technologies in polymer science.

Toray Polymer Award, which has been in effect since 2012, is now renamed the Toray Mid-career Academic Award starting this year and is expected to award outstanding researchers in polymer science and technologies every year.