Samsung gives scholarships, expands support for science olympiad national team members
Samsung awarded medalists from international math, physics and biology olympiads while expanding its support for Korea's future science and engineering talent.
Samsung Electronics Device eXperience head Roh Tae-moon, third from left, poses with this year's International Mathematical Olympiad winners after a scholarship ceremony at Samsung Electronics' Suwon campus in Gyeonggi on Aug. 11.
NEWS1
Samsung on Monday said it handed out scholarships to Korea's medal-winning teenagers from this year's International Mathematical, Physics and Biology Olympiads, part of a broader bet on cultivating the country's next generation of scientists and engineers.
Samsung Electronics' Device eXperience (DX) Division invited six medalists from the International Mathematical Olympiad and their parents to its Suwon campus in Gyeonggi last Tuesday, where DX head Roh Tae-moon presented the students with scholarships.
Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions (DS) Division awarded scholarships to five physics medalists at its Hwaseong campus in Gyeonggi on Thursday. Additionally, Samsung Biologics and Samsung Bioepis awarded scholarships to four biology medalists the following day at Samsung Bioepis's Songdo headquarters in Incheon. Jun Young-hyun, head of the company's DS Division and memory business, and Kim Kyung-ah, president and CEO at Samsung Epis Holdings and Samsung Bioepis, presented the awards in person.
Korea's national teams excelled in physics and biology this year. All five physics team members and four biology team members won gold medals, and Korea placed first overall in both competitions. The math team took three golds, two silvers and one honorable mention, finishing sixth overall.
The International Mathematical Olympiad, International Physics Olympiad and International Biology Olympiad are annual academic competitions that bring together top high school students from dozens of countries to solve advanced problems in their respective subjects, with performance recognized through gold, silver and bronze medals. Each country selects and trains a small national team through a series of qualifying exams before sending them to compete internationally. Korea has traditionally ranked among the strongest countries at these competitions, and the Olympiads' results are often used as a broad barometer of a country's STEM education pipeline.
Samsung's support extends beyond scholarships for medal winners to the selection, training and international competition costs for the national teams themselves. Samsung Electronics signed a sponsorship agreement with the Korean Mathematical Society and the Korean Physical Society last year, and Samsung Biologics and Samsung Bioepis signed a similar agreement with the Korean Society of Biology Education this year. The sponsorship funds go toward selecting and training Korea's Olympiad teams and covering their competition expenses.
Beyond the international science olympiads, Samsung also supports broader efforts to cultivate science and engineering talent. It has sponsored Korea's national team at the WorldSkills Competition since 2007, and in 2018 launched the Samsung Software Academy for Youth (SSAFY) to train software talent. SSAFY has produced roughly 11,000 graduates to date and was recently converted into “SSAFY 2.0,” shifting its curriculum toward an AI-centered focus.
BY PARK YOUNG-WOO [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
