ABOUT
Dr. Sungmee Park is a Principal Research Scientist in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her academic and corporate research activities have led to fundamental technological contributions to the field and new products in the marketplace, respectively. Her experience in the research and development continuum began with Professor Jayaraman at Georgia Tech with the development of an innovative fabric for the dancers in the Atlanta Ballet that blended form and function in a unique and effective manner. As a co-inventor of the world’s first Wearable Motherboard or Smart Shirt in 1996, Dr. Park laid the foundation for today’s wearables revolution, i.e., integrating electronics and textiles. The Smart Shirt enables the unobtrusive monitoring of athletes, patients, soldiers, public safety officials, senior citizens, and infants prone to SIDS, among others (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-px4MAKREs).
In 2006, Dr. Park was invited by Kolon Glotech (a member company of the Kolon Group) in South Korea to establish a laboratory for Smart Textiles. At Kolon Glotech, she developed the technology of “Printronix” – printing electronics on textiles – and created the world’s first heating textiles (HeaTex). This enabling technology was integrated into sports clothing for outdoor activities (civilian), Korean military ensemble, and automobiles, among others. She was also Vice President and Head of Future Strategy TF at Kolon Corporation. She was engaged in identifying new growth engines and strategic opportunities for the Kolon Group of companies. Her activities included identifying cutting edge technologies, nurturing research partnerships with leading universities around the world, and exploring new business and joint venture opportunities. Furthermore, she led the Kolon team on the development of the Inspiring Journey Exhibit, which also reflects her own interests and accomplishments at the intersection of arts, science and technology for the betterment of humankind.
Dr. Park’s publications include articles in refereed journals and book chapters. She has over 30 patents based on her research. In her ongoing collaboration with Professor Jayaraman, Dr. Park is exploring the role of “wearables” such as the Smart Shirt, in serving as a data acquisition platform for Big Data analysis with the human as an “information node.” She is a co-inventor on a next generation respiratory protection device and has developed a low cost reusable form-fitting fabric mask for community use.