For Using Data Mining to Develop Effective Management Strategy Professor Sohn So Young of the Department of Information and Industrial Engineering was selected as one of the three ‘Woman Scientists of the Year.’ Professor Sohn was awarded the honor together with Professor Kim Bitnaeri of Seoul National University and National Institute of Scientific Investigation researcher Jeong Hui-Seon. The “Women Scientist of the Year” award, created to encourage greater gender balance among scientists, is granted jointly by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation, and is in its seventh year. Professor Sohn was given this honor for her work in developing a model of evaluating the creditability of technology using data mining. Data mining is a technology used to select useful data from a large quantity of data. Using this technology, Professor Sohn developed a model of evaluating the technology of smaller companies. Titled “Technology Rating System (TRS)”, this model was used by the government to issue certificates based on the assessment of the technology of the companies. The companies used these certificates to acquire loans. This process drastically decreased loan-related problems, saving the government 90 billion won during the two years it was used. Professor Sohn’s business model is considered a highly reliable one, contending as a semi finalist for the prestigious Edelman Prize. “Despite our good results,” remarks Professor Sohn, “we have been experiencing difficulties for the past few years because we failed to gain proper recognition of our work, having lost all our patent rights to the institution that commissioned the project. It is surely a consolation that this award has brought our work to light again. I hope that this award will be able to function as a foundation for future research. I would like to share this honor with my fellow researchers.” Professor Sohn donated the prize money of 10 million won to be used as a School of Engineering scholarship. Research, Education, Community Service Professor Sohn is known not only for her research, but her efforts in education and community service as well. She has volunteered to educate young students about industrial engineering since 2003, and also devotes herself to WISE Mentoring, a program to help women students in the field of engineering. For her efforts, Professor Sohn was awarded the WISE 2007 Award. Also, in 2006, she was granted a ‘Best Teacher’ award by the university.