강성모, the previous president of the University of California, Merced (University of Ca-Merced), has been chosen as the new president of KAIST. The Board of KAIST Directors said that 14 out of 15 registered board members held the 222^nd Special Council in Lotte Hotel, 소공동, Seoul on the 31^st of January, and they appointed 강성모 as the successor to the current president of KAIST, 서남표.

강성모 will be inaugurated as the 15^th President of KAIST on the 23^rd of February, and his term is four years. He graduated in electronics from Fairleigh Dickinson University and received is doctorial degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He was a researcher in AT&T Bell Laboratories and Bell Telephone Laboratories, a professor in the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign, and a Dean in the University of California, Santa Cruz. He has been active in the field of electronic circuits.

He was nominated in 2006, but 서남표 was eventually chosen. He became the first Korean president of a US University after he was elected as the president of University of Ca-Merced.

There were three other candidates in addition to 강성모 including 박성주, Professor of KAIST College of Business, 백성기, the previous president of POSTECH, and 유진, the professor of Materials Science and Engineering in KAIST.