Professor Rak-Kyeong Seong
“In the 21st century, a physicist without mathematics training can hardly become a master, and a mathematician who does not understand theoretical physics has abandoned an important research direction.”
I am doing research at the interface of mathematics and theoretical physics, with a particular emphasis on the mathematical structures that arise in Quantum Field Theory and String Theory. I have also pioneered the introduction of machine learning tools in the study of physical phenomena and mathematical structures in Quantum Field Theory and String Theory.
I also work on applied problems that appear in industry, where I use concepts in geometry, topology and machine learning to solve optimization and automation problems.
Currently, I am an Associate Professor at the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in Ulsan, South Korea. I am also affiliated to the Department of Physics and the Graduate School of Quantum Science and Technology at UNIST.
Before joining UNIST, I was a Senior Researcher at the AI Advanced Research Lab at Samsung SDS in Seoul and a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor at the Yau Mathematical Sciences Center at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.
About me
About me
Currently, I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in Ulsan, South Korea. UNIST is one of the four research-focused national universities in South Korea. It is located in Ulsan, which is in the industrial heartland of South Korea.
Before joining UNIST as an assistant professor, I was a Senior Researcher at the AI Advanced Research Lab at Samsung SDS in the Samsung R&D Center in Seoul, South Korea. At Samsung SDS, I worked on various applications of AI and Machine Learning to products and services provided by affiliates of the Samsung Group.
My first faculty position as a tenure-track assistant professor was at the Yau Mathematical Sciences Center at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. At Tsinghua University, I taught graduate courses in String Theory and undergraduate courses.
My first postdoctoral position was at the Korea Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS) in Seoul, South Korea, where I was a postdoctoral research fellow from 2013 until 2016. My host at KIAS was Professor Piljin Yi. My second postdoctoral position was in the Theoretical Physics Group at the Ångström Laboratory at Uppsala University in Sweden, where I stayed until 2017. My host at Uppsala University was Professor Guido Festuccia.
Under the supervision of Professor Amihay Hanany, I obtained my Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics as part of the Theoretical Physics Group in the Blackett Laboratory at Imperial College London in 2013. During my Ph.D., I have also worked with Professor Dimitri Vvedensky in the Condensed Matter Physics Group at Imperial College London.
I obtained a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in Theoretical Physics at Imperial College London in the United Kingdom in 2008. With the support of the Cambridge Overseas Trust, I finished Part III of the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos (Master of Advanced Study in Mathematics) at the University of Cambridge as a member of Trinity College in 2009.
I was born in Seodaemun-Gu, Seoul, South Korea. I attended as a Kurt Hahn Scholarship recipient the international boarding school Schule Schloss Salem in Germany, where I obtained a bilingual (German and English) International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma in 2005.
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