Merck honors Korean scholars for display technology breakthroughs in AI era
Two Korean professors whose research could help redefine how displays work in an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven era have received Merck’s top honors for display technology. Merck Korea said Thursday that Kim Hak-rin of Kyungpook National University received the 2026 Merck Award for his work advancing display optics based on liquid-crystal materials. Kim’s research spans active…
Two Korean professors have been honored by Merck for their groundbreaking research in display technology, particularly in the context of the artificial intelligence era. Kim Hak-rin, a professor at Kyungpook National University, has been awarded the prestigious 2026 Merck Award for his advancements in display optics based on liquid-crystal materials.
His research focuses on active polarization-switching optics, geometric-phase optical devices, holographic imaging, and extended-reality display optics, with a particular emphasis on technologies for next-generation glasses and holographic displays.
Kim expressed his intention to contribute to maintaining Korea's global competitiveness in immersive and spatial display technologies. The other recipient of this year's Merck honors is Lee Soo-yeon, a researcher at Seoul National University. Lee has been awarded the 2026 Merck Young Scientist Award for his work on oxide thin-film transistor devices and circuits, which are integral to next-generation displays and semiconductor technologies.
His research encompasses oxide TFT reliability, display-driving circuits, device-aging compensation, and low-power neuromorphic systems, building upon earlier studies in display technology.
Written by urgent.news from The Korea Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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