Sung-Mo "Steve" Kang is an American electrical engineering scientist, professor, writer, inventor, entrepreneur[1] and 15th president of KAIST.
Kang holds 15 U.S. patents and has won numerous awards for his ground breaking achievements in the field of electrical engineering.
Also as an entrepreneur, he co-founded a fabless mobile memory chip design company named ZTI, originally in Sunnyvale, now in San Jose.
Kang’s grandfather, who fought for Korean independence and experienced Japanese occupation, helped him to immigrate to the U.S. and study electrical engineering to become a college professor.
Since taking the position in 2001, he doubled the size of the faculty, recruiting the highest caliber professors and researchers to the growing school.
He also served on advisory committees for the National Youth Leadership Forum and the Silicon Valley Engineering, Manufacturing and Technology Alliance.
He attracted a $2 million National Science Foundation program for Developing Effective Engineering Pathways (DEEP) for community college students in the Silicon Valley region.
[citation needed] Kang has written or co-authored nine books and more than 500 technical papers in the field of electrical engineering.