Non-contact AI Education in Seoul National University (SNU)
Thomas Kang, Professor, PhD, PE, FACI, FPTI, EUAS
Professor, Dept. of Architecture & Architectural Engineering,
Director, Innovation Center for Engineering Education,
Director, Global Education Center for Engineers
Seoul National University, South Korea
Profile
Dr. Thomas Kang is a Professor of Structural Engineering at Seoul National University, having previously served as an Assistant Professor at the University of Oklahoma and Adjunct Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles, and his BS from Seoul National University. He is also a recipient of the Wason Medal for Most Meritorious Paper as Lead Author from the American Concrete Institute (ACI) in 2009, and the Kenneth B. Bondy Award for the Most Meritorious Technical Paper as Lead Author from the Post-Tensioning Institute (PTI) in 2013. He is a Fellow of both ACI and PTI, and a member of the EU Academy of Sciences.
Abstract
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a future technology, but is heavily involved in everyday life of human beings. The types of business entities related to AI and big data are difficult to categorize and are totally beyond our expectation. The current AI job market is seller (employee)’s market, and the entry-level salary of new hires tends to be much higher than other areas. Such trends are strongly triggering college students’ motivation on learning relevant AI techniques. In order to meet the existing needs and expectations in the campus and not to miss the potential opportunity, there have been a variety of efforts offered by Seoul National University (SNU) for the last 3 years. It is important to see different needs, demands and expectations, and understand how to pinpoint delivery of education for each. Modern AI and algorithm technologies, on the other hand, are being updated every year significantly, as well as the hardware capabilities. In the course of the educational development process, however, all of a sudden we were hit by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Without warning, like every educational institutions in the world, SNU had to find a way to accomplish needed AI education. This talk will share our experience and outcome on non-contact AI education in SNU.