Beyond the Horizon I am very pleased to be appointed as the director of the "Social Infrastructure Research Group for Safe and Sustainable Development" of the BK21 program. At the same time I am clearly aware of the heavy responsibility coming with the position. It is my great pleasure to share with you the new visions and strategies adopted for the successful completion of the program.

Our research group consists of professors and graduate students in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Seoul National University and up-and-coming researchers from all over the world. We aim at producing graduates with internationally recognized skills and having academic-industrial collaboration to build sustainable social infrastructures. The program commenced on March 1st, 2006, and we are now into the second half of the fifth year.

So far we have achieved outstanding results with financial support from the government and industries. Especially, we have made remarkable progress in fostering globally competitive skilled graduates through collaborative education and research between academy and industry.

To enhance our global competitiveness, we are to implement following strategies at this stage of the program.

First, the adoption of genuine competition. We will encourage students and professors with excellent achievements by allocating more research funding and awarding incentives based on their performances.

Second, the expansion of global human network. We will provide financial support to talented students from other countries who are recommended by industries collaborating with us and encourage them to continue with a master's degree or doctoral degree. In future, these students will contribute to economic development of their own countries and also act as a link between Korea and their home countries enhancing international cooperation.

Third, the provision of continuous support for studying abroad. We will provide financial support to students with excellent achievements for studying abroad. Such opportunities will strengthen their research performances and capabilities. We will do our best not to waste precious funding from our government and industries.

Strategies should be persistent and consistent to be effective. As the director of the research group, I will bear that in mind and lead our group to jump up to the highest rank among peers in coming year !