KAIST NEREC awarded $100,000 US in nuclear security grant from the Stanton Foundation

October 1, 2015

KAIST NEREC (Nuclear Nonproliferation Education and Research Center) has been awarded $100,000 US from the Stanton Foundation to strengthen nuclear policy studies and expertise within South Korea. The grant is an “introductory” grant to develop a strong relationship with the Stanton Foundation and KAIST prior to committing to additional funding.

The Stanton Foundation, a US-based foundation, is created by Frank Stanton, who is widely regarded as one of the television industry’s founding fathers. The Foundation is a major supporter of nuclear security policy research and currently provides funding to Harvard University (Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs), Stanford University (Center for International Strategy and Cooperation), and MIT (Security Studies).

The introductory grant from the Stanton Foundation will be used to offer an International NEREC Graduate Summer Fellows Program at KAIST. The NEREC Summer Fellows Program, a 6 weeks program, is open to students from top-notch universities home and abroad and provides various educational, research and networking opportunities including field trips to key institutions in Korea, China and Japan in nuclear energy and policy. NEREC, established at KAIST in the spring of 2014, is Korea’s sole university organization to undertake education and research to foster international nuclear nonproliferation conducive to peaceful use of nuclear technology.

Prof. Man-Sung Yim (Director of NEREC, Professor and Head of Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering) said “This grant is a recognition of KAIST’s role in global nuclear nonproliferation and peace and will be very important in continuing our efforts to develop future international leaders in nuclear nonproliferation”.