Meet the Winner | Dr. Junsuk Rho—Winner of Micromachines 2020 Young Investigator Award
1. Could you briefly introduce yourself to the readers?
My name is Junsuk Rho, I am currently a Mu-Eun-Jae endowed chair Associate Professor with a joint appointment in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Department of Chemical Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), South Korea.
2. What does your current research involve, and why did you choose this research field?
My research is focused on developing novel nanophotonic materials and devices based on fundamental physics and experimental studies of deep sub-wavelength light-matter interactions. Specifically, I am working on metamaterials, plasmonics, photonic crystals, topological photonics. Recently, the wavelength regime has expanded to longer wavelengths, such as acoustic and elastic frequencies. I saw the news that an invisibility cloak may be creating through the application of metamaterials. This is the reason why I want to study this for my Ph.D. Such metamaterials will be able to realize invisibility cloaks, super-resolution imaging, acoustic black holes, hologram displays and so on.
3. Which research topics do you think will be of particular interest to the research community in the coming years?
Quantum optics, flexible opto-electronics, photonic chips for diagnostics, and single-digit-nanometer fabrication to overcome the current semiconductor industry problems.
4. Have you ever encountered any difficulties when conducting research? If so, how did you overcome them?
Everyday... this is related to question number five. Have patience, persevere with the research until you make a breakthrough, try not to become depressed and frustrated with your research if things do not go as planned first time around.
5. What qualities do you think young scientists need?
Patience, a positive mind for failure (e.g., individuals who do not let the failure of experiments depress or frustrate them, but instead try the same thing the next day!), and people who keep up to date with the current scientific trends.
6. Micromachines is an Open Access journal. How do you think Open Access impacts the authors?
Open access journals allow more readers to read the papers, which is extremely helpful in sharing the result with different communities. However, with the limited funding (especially for junior researchers), it can sometimes become a burden. So, support for junior researchers is necessary. In terms of this, MDPI does a very good job in providing financial support and waiving fees for junior researchers.