Summer in SKKU

Summer is still in full swing! The heat and humidity of the past several days were very uncomfortable. The forecast is not promising for those waiting for cool air. The campus is markedly quieter, with many undergraduate students out of town, summer programs largely wrapped up, and faculty and staff members having days off from work. In CNIR, the new, air-conditioned building is  providing a good shelter for those who would rather sit and type and read in the summer, with no better place to be in. The 3 T MR scan room on the 1st floor is particularly inviting, with constant temperature and humidity control, and not much usage by external users. Well, what about a summer retreat to MRI? 

Summer research

Summer is in full swing. Today was the hottest of the days so far this year. Four weeks have passed since the start of the summer vacation on campus, and the Center's first Summer Intern Program ended today with a great success. Success in terms of the engagement of the participating students, logistics, publicity, communication, and future recruiting.
It so happened that my lab was the only one (out of 7) with two separate research projects for the two students. Four weeks is not a long time for a research with any level of completeness. I like the summer program name "Summer Immersion" of Cornell - it is an intensive activity with much focus required, from decision making to execution. The two research topics, one on in-vivo brain R2* and the other on phantom susceptibility, were well digested by the students and the time spent was well worth it. 

Summer School - Workshop on MRI at CNIR

Since my first Korean public lecture at Aju University in March, I have felt that interest in neuroscience and MRI in Korea is significant and growing. This summer, for example, there are multiple public/academic events on neuroscience, at Aju Univ., and Korea Institute for Science and Technology (KIST). The CNIR 3-day Neuroimaging Workshop on MRI, held on Wednesday-Friday (7/6-7/8) this week, was one of them, and it was well received. First of all, the weather was perfect for this time of the year, between days of rain earlier in the week and a surge of hot air late Friday. I gave the first lecture and officially hosted the show for the first day, and I think there were about a hundred in the audience at one point. Prof. Park JS did a good job in inviting the session speakers from his broad network of MRI researchers in Korea, and Ms. Choi BH was instrumental in preparing and running the hands-on practical demo/training around the 3 T scanner. I am positive that this event was also meaningful for the summer intern students, and our Center got the needed boost in publicity as envisioned earlier this year by Prof. Kim SG.