Bae Choong-sik (배충식), a professor in KAIST's mechanical engineering department, has been appointed as the next president of KAIST.

KAIST's board held an extraordinary meeting on June 29 at the KAIST Kim Jaechul AI Graduate School Seoul Yangjae Industry-Academia Campus in Yangjae-dong, Seoul. It appointed mechanical engineering professor Bae as the 18th president of KAIST.

Bae is an authority in eco-friendly energy and carbon-neutral power engineering. He graduated from Seoul National University's Department of Aeronautical Engineering and earned a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Imperial College London in Britain. After joining KAIST in 1998, he served as head of the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and as dean of the College of Engineering. He was selected as a Korea Electric Power Corp endowed chair professor in recognition of his academic achievements in areas including energy and carbon neutrality.

Bae led the "Science and Technology New Deal Project Group for COVID-19 Response" during a national disaster crisis situation and contributed to building a science and technology-based crisis response system. He also served as president of the Carbon Neutral Fuel Technology Research Association, presenting future power technology policies for responding to the climate crisis and advancing the energy transition. He also participated in establishing national science and technology policy while serving as a full member of the National Academy of Engineering of Korea and as chair of the climate subcommittee of the Foreign Ministry's Science and Technology Diplomacy Advisory Committee.

He was named a top fellow in the powertrain field by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), the first Korean to receive the SAE Fellow designation, and won the SAE best paper award twice. He received a presidential commendation in 2021 and a National Assembly merit award in 2024 for contributions to the development of the automotive industry and the strengthening of national competitiveness. At KAIST, he received the KAIST Research Award, a distinguished service award and a special award for outstanding faculty in the social service category.

Bae is expected to be finally confirmed as the 18th president of KAIST after receiving consent from the education minister and approval from the deputy prime minister who also serves as minister of science and ICT.