Gator Nation had a powerful presence at last month’s successful U.S.-Korea Conference on Science, Technology and Entrepreneurship in Orlando.
The conference, dubbed UKC 2026, was led by the Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association, or KMSEA, whose president is Professor YK Yoon, Ph.D., with the University of Florida’s Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering. About 1,000 scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, policymakers and students from the United States, Korea and other countries attended.
UF engineering alumnus Chris Malachowsky, co-founder of NVIDIA and namesake of UF’s Malachowsky Hall, delivered a plenary address titled “Expanding Access, Building the Future.” His presentation was followed by a fireside chat exploring NVIDIA’s founding and growth, the AI revolution and computing infrastructure, the future of AI, and how society and education can evolve in the age of AI.
KASEA and the Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies named UF biostatistics professor Ji-Hyun Lee the 2026 Scientist of the Year. Lee is with the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions and the UF College of Medicine; she is the associate director for Cancer Quantitative Sciences at the UF Health Cancer Institute and is the immediate past president of the American Statistical Association.
Lee also presented the final plenary presentation, “Food, Medicine, and Belief: Scientific Evidence in the Age of Uncertainty.”
“Dr. Lee’s leadership is nothing short of historic,” Yoon said. “In 2025, she served as the 120th president of the American Statistical Association, making her the first Korean-American president in the organization’s history.”
UF participants also included Scott Angle, Ph.D., senior vice president of UF’s Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Celebrating its 39th edition, UKC 2026’s theme was “From Imagination to Innovation – Into Reality.” Co-hosting with KASEA were the Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies and the National Research Foundation of Korea/Korea-U.S. Science Cooperation Center.
“The biggest highlight of UKC 2026 was seeing more than 1,000 participants from the United States and Korea come together across academia, industry, government, and research institutions. The conference went beyond sharing research—it created meaningful opportunities for new collaborations, particularly in AI, space, semiconductors, and other emerging technologies,” Yoon said about the overall success of the conference.
Participants actively exchanged ideas and information on cutting-edge science, technology and innovation in the era of AI, while strengthening scientific and technological collaboration and global networking between the United States and Korea.
Also among the speakers was William D. Phillips, Ph.D., the 1997 Nobel Laureate in Physics, who presented “New Standards of Measurement: A Quantum-Based Revolution in the Modern Metric System.”
For the first time, the conference featured a Future Tech session combining entertainment and advanced technology, expanding beyond the traditional boundaries of science and engineering to explore the intersection of technology, popular culture and the media industry. Several organizations also conducted interviews and recruitment activities.