6 Students from National Pukyong University Win Grand Prize and Excellence Awards at the 19th Busan Future Scientist Awards

PhD Program Science Division Best Award Winner Yoo Young-bin and Others

On the 23rd, Pukyong National University (President Jang Young-su) announced that six graduate students, including Yoo Young-bin (Department of Fisheries Biomedical Science), received the Grand Prize and Excellence Awards at the 19th Busan Future Scientist Awards.

Busan Future Scientist Award recipients. (From left: Yoo Young-bin, Ahn Yu-mi, Kim Jung-eun, Kim Hyun-jin, Ramathia Fitriwinti Nasruln, Pradiasti Astrini)

Yoo Young-bin (advisor Kang Joo-chan) was selected as the Grand Prize winner in the doctoral science category at this Busan Future Scientist Awards for his passionate research achievements, including establishing toxicological indicators of microplastics and analyzing microplastic accumulation through fluorescence staining methods, publishing nine SCI-level papers.

Through studies such as the paper "Bioaccumulation, Hematological Characteristics, and Antioxidant Responses of Crucian Carp Exposed to Microplastics," he is conducting in-depth research to evaluate the toxic effects of microplastics, which negatively impact various aquatic organisms.

Additionally, Pradiasti Astrini (advisor Kim Moon-ho) and Ramathia Fitriwanti Nasrun (advisor Kim Joo-hyun), graduate students majoring in Polymer Engineering, each received Excellence Awards in the doctoral engineering category.

Astrini was recognized for her research achievements, including the paper "Synthesis of Pd-AuAg Trimetal Nanohybrids with Controlled Heterostructures and Their Application in the Continuous Flow Catalytic Reduction of Cr(VI)," where she developed and applied a continuous flow catalytic reduction system using various forms of Pd-AuAg nanoparticles synthesized via seed-mediated growth reactions.

Nasrun received recognition for research such as the paper "Naphthalene Diimide-Based Cathode Interlayer: A Strategy for Inverted Organic Solar Cells without Zinc Oxide," studying efficiency improvements and practical applications of organic solar cells using various ionic functional groups, producing research outcomes expected to be low-cost and practical.

Following this, Ahn Yu-mi (advisor Park Sung-heum) from the Department of Physics received an Excellence Award in the master's science category for research including the paper "Efficient Dialkyl-Difluoro-Substituted Quinoxaline-Based Medium Bandgap Polymeric Donor for High-Energy-Converting Organic Solar Cells," demonstrating a promising new polymeric electron donor material for enhancing organic solar cell performance and studying polymer interactions and their effects on organic solar cell efficiency.

Graduate students Kim Hyun-jin and Kim Jung-eun (advisor Kim Moon-ho) from the Polymer Engineering major each received Excellence Awards in the master's engineering category. Kim Hyun-jin was highly evaluated for research on enhanced catalytic properties using the synthesis and structural characteristics of polystyrene microparticles in the paper "Synthesis of Bimetallic-Nanocrystal-Decorated Rice Bowl-Shaped Polymer Particles for Catalytic Cr(VI) Remediation." Kim Jung-eun was recognized for achievements in the synthesis of silver nanostructures using polymers and the visual sensing of copper ions through ligand and copper ion complex formation in the paper "Colorimetric Sensing of Cu(II) Ions in Water on the Basis of Selective Chemical Etching of EDA-Capped Ag Nanoplates."