Farewell message from Sungsik Kong

Our colleague, Sungsik Kong, will be joining Sejong University in South Korea as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in September 2026. We will all miss him and wish him every success in this exciting new chapter.

Here is a message from Sungsik:

I joined iTHEMS in August 2025, and over the past year I have had the privilege of working in an exceptional research environment. Starting in September 2026, I will be joining Sejong University in South Korea as a tenure-track Assistant Professor. While I am excited about this move, I am also sad to be leaving my position as a Research Scientist at iTHEMS.

My time at RIKEN has been both challenging and incredibly rewarding. I am deeply grateful to RIKEN and iTHEMS for giving me the opportunity to pursue the scientific questions I am passionate about. I will miss iTHEMS' collaborative atmosphere. I have had the chance to learn from researchers across many different fields, many that I would never have had the opportunity to explore otherwise. Those seminars, colloquiums, and conversations have broadened my perspective, sparked new ideas, and made my time here truly valuable and memorable.

If you ever visit Seoul, please don't hesitate to get in touch. Thank you all so much. It has been a real pleasure.