Professor In-Ho Jung  Receives TMS ‘Sadoway Materials Innovation and Advocacy Award’

Prof. In-Ho Jung has been selected as the 2025 recipient of the Sadoway Materials Innovation and Advocacy Award by The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS).

Professor Jung received this award in recognition of his contributions to the development of innovative materials and sustainable processes through the development of materials thermodynamics databases and education. His research has focused on developing thermodynamic databases of metallic and ceramic materials and using them for material design and process optimization, steel manufacturing process design, and development of carbon neutral process technologies.

“I am deeply grateful for the recognition of my efforts in developing thermodynamic databases for materials over the past 20 years, and in educating and disseminating them to materials researchers around the world,” said Professor Jung. ”I plan to continue my research and education to help academia and industry use thermodynamic calculations to design innovative and sustainable materials and processes.”

Dr. Jeong-Min Cheon Receives Yang Song Researcher Award

Dr. Jeong-Min Cheon from Professor In-Ho Jung’s research group received the Yang Song Researcher Award (Grand Prize) at the 2025 Spring Meeting of the Korean Ceramic Society.
Dr. Cheon systematically analyzed phase diagrams and thermodynamic function trends to understand the chemical similarity among 17 rare-earth ions in high-entropy rare-earth oxide systems, which are emerging as promising materials for extreme environments. This work established a scientific foundation for the design of high-entropy oxides.

The research was selected as a Featured Article in the May 2025 issue of the Journal of the American Ceramic Society, and garnered attention for being the first in the world to systematically determine phase diagrams for all possible binary combinations (136 pairs) of the 17 rare-earth oxides (RE₂O₃). This achievement provides critical data for predicting phase, thermal, and chemical stability as well as composition–structure relationships in high-entropy oxide materials composed of multiple rare-earth elements. It is expected to guide the design and optimization of next-generation ceramic materials for extreme environmental applications.

Ms. Jiwon Lee was Selected as one of the Best Top 20 Students of the Year in 2025 KIMM Spring Meeting

Jiwon Lee, an undergraduate student in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Seoul National University, was selected as one of the “Best Top 20 Students of the Year” at the 2025 Spring Meeting of the Korean Institute of Metals and Materials (KIMM).

As part of her internship, she conducted research in Professor In-Ho Jung’s laboratory, working alongside Master’s student Dahee Kwak on the binary phase diagrams of iron oxide (Fe₂O₃) and rare-earth oxides (RE₂O₃). In particular, she investigated the thermodynamic equilibrium between these materials at high temperatures above 1400 °C, and was the first to experimentally report phase diagrams for Fe₂O₃ with three rare-earth oxides.

This study is significant in that it precisely determined key eutectic and peritectic reaction temperatures, providing essential data for the design of high-temperature industrial processes aimed at rare-earth element extraction.