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Northern Illinois University

NIU Office of Public Affairs


News Release

Contact: Tom Parisi, NIU Office of Public Affairs
(815) 753-3635

August 2, 2005

NIU College of Engineering welcomes students
from S. Korea 's Kyungnam University

DeKalb, Ill. — Ten undergraduate students from Kyungnam University in South Korea are visiting the Northern Illinois University campus for a crash course in cutting-edge topics in mechanical engineering—and in American culture.

The students arrived July 24 and will be studying here for three weeks. During that time, they will visit major corporations in the region, tour both Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory and attend 20 three-hour technical sessions taught by NIU faculty in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Topics will include robotics and walking machines, computer-aided design and manufacturing, computer animation for engineering, fuel cell technology and nanotechnology.

Kyungnam University students also will get a taste of Chicago, with visits to downtown museums, the Sears Tower, Millennium Park and the Magnificent Mile.

Provost Ivan Legg and Presidential Teaching Professor Gene Roth of the Department of Counseling, Adult and Higher Education traveled to Kyungnam University two years ago. The visit led to a collaborative agreement, whereby the two universities would explore mutual areas of interest, collaborative research and student and faculty exchanges.

Since the agreement was signed, NIU has hosted several South Korean visiting professors. Hyunwook Koh, vice president of Kyungnam University, visited campus a year ago to initiate discussions for the current exchange program. The NIU College of Engineering and Engineering Technology and the NIU International Training Office are overseeing the exchange with funding support provided by the South Korean government.

“Engineering is a common thread for innovation among countries,” said Promod Vohra, dean of the NIU College of Engineering and Engineering Technology. “It is critical that students pursuing engineering degrees be exposed to internationalization, so I am very pleased that our college is going ahead with international collaborations. This program will open doors for mutual exchange of students and faculty.”

Professor Shin-Min “Simon” Song, chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, is directly supervising the exchange. “The fact that NIU was chosen for this program speaks highly of the university,” Song said.

“Our hope is to expose the students to advanced American technology,” he added. “They are learning about new concepts and contemporary issues outside of their regular curriculum. They also are learning about our culture and our marketing and business environments.”

Lina Ong, director of the International Training Office, said these types of international exchanges have benefits for NIU students and faculty as well. “The knowledge our professors gain from interacting with foreign students will enhance their teaching skills and broaden their perspectives about other cultures,” she said.

Kyungnam University will send students to study in the United States in each of the next three years, and it's possible the program will return to NIU. Additionally, Ong said, five South Korean students have been selected to study at NIU in the coming academic year. They will be arriving on campus later this month.

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