South Korean partnership aids PSU research
Portland State has partnered with a Korean telecommunications research institute in an agreement that is expected to attract more foreign exchange students to the programs offered at Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science.
In an agreement signed Oct. 28, the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), based in South Korea, will be working with PSU faculty who specialize in technology management.
“We will be the organization to develop the implementation strategies for new policies in telecommunications and information technologies,” said Dundar Kocaoglu, chair of the Portland State engineering and technology management department.
Supporters say if the partnership is a success, it could increase research funding and create more internship possibilities for doctoral students.
The institute will be sending research managers to work on projects with PSU’s engineering and technology management team as well as sending faculty members to Korea in order to promote Portland State’s visibility by getting ETRI students to attend PSU. This partnership will include funding from the research institute for South Korea-based internships at the institute for PSU students receiving their doctorates in engineering and technology management.
South Korean students may also come to PSU to complete their doctorates, according to Kocaoglu.
Kocaoglu said the research institute “came to our department because our program is very prestigious, mainly because of their recognition of the international program we organize,” referring to the Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology’s international conference. Portland State has organized the conference for the last fifteen years.
“They chose our department because of the work we’re doing [in technology management],” Kocaogly said.
The research institute advises the South Korean government and was asked by its Ministry of Information and Communication “to develop implementation mechanisms,” Kocoaglu said. He added that “they need the research base for the management of the entire process,” which Portland State can provide.
The ETRI has an annual research budget ranging from $400 million to $2 billion and over 2,000 researchers.
Portland State President Daniel Bernstine said that as a “major Korean research operation, [it will provide] more opportunities for expanded research in engineering and technology management.”
In addition, Bernstine said there “may be opportunities for cross discipline. For example, in the School of Business which is intricately involved in technology management.”
The last collaboration agreement ETRI signed was with Cambridge University in England. Stanford and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are among the list of other universities with which the research institute has formed partnerships.
Beginning in December, members from the PSU department of engineering and technology management will be in Korea to work with ETRI on “developing research strategies for the next year,” Kocaoglu said.
