Changwon Kang 16th Asian Conference on Transcription 2019

Changwon Kang

Dr. Kang, a co-founder of Asian Conference on Transcription (ACT), has helped to organize the second (1993) and 12th (2012) meetings of ACT in Jeju Island, Korea. He has served the Editor-in-Chief for J. Biochem. Mol. Biol. (2002–2005), Dean of Academic Affairs in Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) (2004-2006), President of Korean Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (2010), among others. Currently, he is a Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences in KAIST and a fellow of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology (KAST), after having contributed to understanding of bacterial gene transcription and characterization of genetic elements for complex diseases. Dr. Kang, born in 1951, received B.S. with magna cum laude from Seoul National University (1974), Ph.D. from Columbia University (1983), and postdoctoral fellowship from Stony Brook University School of Medicine (1983–1986), before he joined the faculty of KAIST (1986-2017). His post-doctoral study was on RNA polymerase interaction with template DNA for transcription, and pre-doctoral study was on ribosome interaction with messenger RNA for translation. He has received Grand Award of Creative Teaching from KAIST (2010), Hanbit Grand Award from MBC-TV (2011), DI Science Award from Korean Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (2012), Grand Award of International Cooperation from KAIST (2014), Park Inwon Science Award from Korean Chemical Society (2015), Minister Commendation from Ministry of Science (2016), and Service Merit Medal from Korean Government (2017), among other awards.