Standing row: USC President C. L. Max Nikias, USC Trustee Y.H. Cho, President of Inha University Choonbae Park, President of Korean Aerospace University Junku Yuh; seated row: Dean Yannis Yortsos of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering; Jean-Francois Laval, executive vice president, Asia for Airbus; Inha University Dean for Research Woosug Cho; Korean Aeronautics University Dean Yongkyu Song. |
In a ceremony in Seoul, Korea, representatives from Airbus, the University of Southern California, Inha University and the Korea Aerospace University, signed on May 23, 2013, an agreement establishing a partnership between the four entities in the form of the Airbus Institute for Engineering Research (AIER). The Institute will be based at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and its focus is to conduct collaborative research among the four partners in the general area of aerospace engineering. This new partnership represents an extension of a previous collaboration between the four entities and aims to advance the state of the art in a number of topics of importance to the aerospace industry. The ceremony was attended by the Presidents of the three participating universities, C.L. Max Nikias, of the University of Southern California, Dr. Choonbae Park, President of Inha University, and Dr. Junku Yuh, President of Korea Aerospace University. Mr. Jean-Francois Laval, Executive Vice President, Airbus Asia, signed the agreement on behalf of Airbus. Dr. Yang Ho Cho, Chairman of the Board of the Inha Foundation, and co-chair of the USC Global Conference, taking place in Seoul from May 23-25, 2013 also attended the event, which was moderated by Dr. Yannis C. Yortsos, Dean of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. The partnership was hailed by Dean Yortsos as “an unparalleled partnership between three universities and a global company, spanning three continents, providing a unique example of global collaboration in engineering research”. Yortsos also praised the vision and support of USC President Nikias and Dr. Y.H. Cho, and the generosity and vision of Airbus in the person of Executive Vice President Jean-Francois Laval.