KAIST NQe

History

The Department of Nuclear Engineering at KAIST was established in March 1980 with the master and doctoral degree program opening in March 1982 and 1984, respectively.: Our first undergraduate class was admitted in March 1991 following the move to the current Daejeon campus. The name of our department was changed to Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering in January 2002 to reflect the diversity of our education and research activities.

Today, our Department has 16 full-time tenured or tenure track faculty members with a total of about 246 students (27 undergraduate students, 68 master students, and 151 doctoral students in 2023). Our department features research activities in the areas of nuclear energy systems, nuclear fuel cycle and environment, radio-medical technology, and radiation nanoscience and technology.

Since the inception till 2024, we have produced a total of 1,865 graduates (312 BS, 1003 MS, and 550 PhD). In particular, our doctoral graduate production has been leading the country in the field. Our annual research funding level as of 2023 was US $12 million. The total number of publication by our faculty members between 2022 and 2023 was 100 which is favorably compared to 136 of MIT, 92 of University of Michigan, and 67 of UC Berkeley.

The total number of citation of our publications in the same period was 81 compared to 395 of MIT, 67 of University of Michigan, and 78 of UC Berkeley. About 8 percent of our students are international students representing Asia, Africa, Europe, and the U.S. and all of our classes are conducted in English. Our goal is to become a global leader in nuclear and quantum engineering research and to produce future leaders for peaceful and responsible use of nuclear energy and for improvement of human health.

1980

1980.

03: Department of Nuclear Engineering established at KAIST, Seoul

1982.

03: Master's Course was established

1984.

02: The first graduation of Master's degree

03: Opened Doctoral degree Program

1990

1990.

04: Department of Nuclear Engineering relocated to Dajeon Campus

1991.

03

Undergraduate Course was established

CARR (Center for Advanced Reactor Research) was established

2000

2002.

01: Department of Nuclear Engineering renamed as Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering

2003.

03: Operation of RCA-KAIST Master Program for Growth of Nuclea Manpower in Pacific Asia Region

2004.

01: Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering extended the building

2006.

07: Radiation and Nuclear Medical Engineering Research Center was established

2009.

03: Operation of International Nuclear Safety Master Degree Program

2010

2011.

07: Lee Byong Whi Nuclear Energy Policy Center was established

2012.

05: International Nuclear and Radiation and Safety Master Degree Program (Revision of Program Title)

06: Launching AMC-KAIST Joint Graduate Program on Radiological Engineering for Medicine

2014.

04: NEREC (Nonproliferation Education and REsearch Center) was established