KAIST professor wins top award in plasma engineering

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) professor Choe Won-ho, right, receives the 2025 K-T Rie Award from Asian-European Conference on Plasma Surface Engineering Chairman Masafumi Ito during a ceremony in Thailand in this handout photo released, Friday. Courtesy of KAIST

KAIST professor Choe Won-ho / Courtesy of KAIST

Choe Won-ho, a professor in the KAIST Nuclear and Quantum Engineering Department, was selected as the winner of the 2025 K-T Rie Award, one of the most prestigious recognitions in the field of applied plasma science.

Choe won the honor presented by the Asian-European Conference on Plasma Surface Engineering (AEPSE), an international conference where the regions’ top experts share their latest updates in plasma surface engineering, KAIST said Friday.

The K-T Rie Award was established in 2015 to honor the achievements of professor Rie Kyong-tschong, a renowned Korean scholar in plasma surface engineering who worked in Germany. The biennial award is presented to an international researcher who has made outstanding contributions to the advancement of applied plasma science and engineering.

Choe is recognized internationally for his research on the physical and chemical changes that occur on the plasma-liquid interface. He developed plasma imaging diagnostics, a technique that enables real-time observation of plasma reactive species generation and energy transfer processes, which earned him high academic praise.

Based on this research, Choe founded Plasmapp, a Kosdaq-listed company that has commercialized plasma sterilizers and bio-plasma products.

He also expanded plasma applications into space exploration by establishing Cosmo Bee, a startup developing plasma-based Hall thrusters. The company developed a cube satellite equipped with its plasma Hall thruster and the satellite was loaded on the Nuri rocket which succeeded in its fourth launch on Nov. 27.

He was the chief organizer for AEPSE 2023 as the chair of the Asian Joint Committee on Applied Plasma Science and Technology. He is set to assume the presidency of the Association of Asia-Pacific Physical Societies Division of Plasma Physics from 2026 to 2027.

“Winning the K-T Rie Award is a great honor, and it demonstrates the global competitiveness of plasma research in Korea,” Choe said. “The achievement was made possible by KAIST’s research environment, and I will continue working to advance plasma science and broaden its applications.”