On the one hand they say they recognize the need for a massive shake-up of their university and so bring in a foreign hired gun with a (supposedly) impressive credential to magically, painlessly, fix their wagon. Once the wagon-fixer points out the much needed changes they tie his hands behind his back and say adios.

Dismissing Laughlin simply because he isn’t a trained administrator sidesteps the issue, he was a foreigner who threatened an entrenched and at times unqualified old boys’ faculty. It’s really no surprise there are no world class unis in this country.

“A theoretical physicist cannot run a decent mom-and-pop store, unless it is located on Mars.”

LOL! No matter what one thinks of 바둑님’s opinions one way or another, one can always rely on him for colourful comments!

However, Korea and KAIST are not this fast paced world, “to say the least”. The professors and adminstrators are into keeping the status quo and change is not in their vocabulary. Things happen at a snails pace and mostly thru osmosis. Having been in Korea for 5 years, planning and strategy are not frequently practiced. Shoot first then ask questions later is the norm and then their response is to submit an apology. (i. Hwang,recent Samsung bribery,PM Lees golfing incident,etc.)
Koreans just don’t like to rock the boat. Change or die is a frequent motto in the business world, Koreans rather die or just resign. So it comes as no surrise that Laughlins is leaving. The school’s student paper editor has been lambasting the guy since day one as the new prez!!

Another loss for greatness by Korea and KAIST!

Can you imagine Spok in charge? I know that he occasionally stepped in when Kirk was not on the ship, but only as a temporary assignment. He usually makes the most reasonable decision in his mind but most of the crew go bonkers.

Captain Kirk, full of emotion. Spok with no emotion.

Yet, people loved Kirk, the image of a leader who cares about people under him. A team player who knows how to dish out just a right amount of pressure to Scot. Scientists have spent too much time in their own world and have difficulty understanding normal human things, such as emotions, aspirations, hopes and dreams, fears, loves, hates, values and traditions.

A theoretical physicist, not a good administrator make.

You were doing well until that last post. I must admit though, it was pretty funny.

They know the total amount of work (i.e. energy) expanded in the process is Fxs. However, there is additional work in friction heat where the force was not in normal to the frictional surface after the action got going. So, adding a fuzzy factor, alpha, the total work=n(Fs) alpha(ns).

Yes, these physicists think about these things when they do “it”. Believe me, they do.

Korea needed a “gao madam”( a Japanese term for “face”, to bring in customers) who can show to the world that KAIST is a worthy organization. So, they brought in somebody who in actuality least qualifies for the administrator job. And, for some time, this loonie from America was doing too much internal damage to the organization. It is time to say “Good riddance” and send him to the “quantum string Heisenberg uncertainty world” where he belongs.

By the way, I am curious about what “anti-KAIST” means? Does it mean that he was against the group mindset at KAIST? Or did he just not like the way the buildings arranged on the campus?

It appears to me that Professor Laughlin ran into the same wall of “you-get-our-permission-first, status-quo” professors at KAIST that the president of Gyeongsang National University ran into when I was there. The only difference is that the Gyeongsang University president gave into the professors, but Professor Laughlin apparently did not, which is why, I suspect, he was labeled “anti-Korea” and “anti-KAIST.”

I read that one of the complains that the KAIST professors had against Professor Laughlin was that he did not attend freshmen orientation ceremonies, which, from my experience, are pretty much a waste of time. Why would professors supposedly concerned with research really care if a Nobel Laureate attended a freshman orientation ceremony? It sounds pretty petty to me.

As for my boilermaker drinking comment, I got that by reading between the lines of the trustees’ statement, which said, “there were social and cultural differences and a lack of communication that led to discord in the area of school operations and his leadership.”

In Korea, someone in a position of leadership is usually expected to attend a lot of “Let’s-make-good-bunwuigi” social functions, and many of these functions involve the consumption of alchohol. I have known a few Koreans in positions of leadership who have complained that they dislike attending such functions, but they have little choice in the matter because of social pressure. I have a feeling that Professor Laughlin simply said, “Have fun without me, boys, because I have more important things to do.”