<Professor Baek Sung-ok (left) and Park Sun-joo (right) who were awarded the Red Stripe Order of Service Merit and the Presidential Citation on the 19th Environment Day>

 Professor Baek Sung-ok (58) of the Department of Environmental Engineering and Professor Park Sun-joo (47) of the Department of Life Sciences received the Red Stripe Order of Service Merit and the Presidential Citation, respectively, on the 19th Environment Day (June 5).

 First, Professor Baek Sung-ok received the Red Stripe Order of Service Merit for his contributions to the development of the air environment management sector. Professor Baek also displayed leading research performance in the 'measurement technology development and management plans of specific air pollutants' in the air environment management sector. In addition, he also contributed greatly in the development of this sector by carrying out research, providing technical consulting, and policy screening for relevant environmental institutes such as the Ministry of Environment and the National Institute of Environmental Research.

 Specific air pollutants have high diversity and include particles with high potential toxicity even in small amounts. There are many particles without accurate measurement methods and they are known to be pollutants that are difficult to manage not only in Korea, but also other advanced countries. Professor Baek conducted many studies related to the measurement of 'volatile organic compounds' and 'polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons' that are recently of high issue and published over 120 papers in domestic and foreign academic journals.

 In particular, the 'Absorption Sampling and Thermal Desorption with GC Analysis' method that is the most commonly used VOC measurement technique was first introduced in Korea in 1995 by Professor Baek. This provided the technical basis for the Ministry of Environment's 'Fair Testing Method to Measure VOCs among Atmospheric Environment and Indoor Environments' and contributed in the activation of relevant studies.

 In addition to academic and research activities, Professor Baek was involved as an outside expert in various committees of the Ministry of Environment, National Institute of Environmental Research, National Institute of Environmental Human Resources Development, and the Environmental Management Corporation and was recognized for his contributions in the policy development and personnel development in the Korean atmospheric environment sector and won the Minister of Environment Award in 2011.

 Professor Baek served as the chairperson of the Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment for two years from 2012 and is currently serving as the Climate/Atmospheric Subdivision Chairperson for the Fifth Central Environmental Policy Committee of the Ministry of Environment. He was also appointed as a regular member of the Korean Academy of Environment Science in March.

 Meanwhile, Professor Park Sun-joo was awarded the Presidential Citation for his contributions to biodiversity and environmental preservation.

 Professor Park published 130 theses and made academic presentation on his research of the ecology and genetic resources of Dokdo and studies on the dielectrics of plants in Dokdo, as well as basic studies on national natural environments supervised by the National Institute of Environmental Research, studies on the setting and biota study of the Unmunsan Eco Scenic Preservation Region, major biota phylogenetic tree studies in the Korean Peninsula by the National Institute of Biological Resources, foreign bio-resource study, and research project for finding wildlife, showing outstanding research performance in the ecology and genetic research sector.

 In particular, Professor Park has been conducting unparalleled research in the ecology and dielectrics of Dokdo such as the 'Study for Establishing Sovereignty over Dokdo from the Perspective of Ecology' from ten years ago. In April 2009, he revealed that the Dokdo Aster sphathulifolius Maxim was spread to Japan and one year later, he registered the base sequence of Aster sphathulifolius Maxim in the World Gene Bank to contribute in receiving international recognition as a wildlife of Dokdo. Furthermore, he played a leading role in Dokdo ecosystem research by completing the cholorplast genome map of Dokdo Aster sphathulifolius Maxim in 2011, and is currently engaged in active research on Dokdo at the Ministry of Environment (Daegu Provincial Office of Environment) and the National Research Foundation.

 Professor Park's research lab cultivated winners of the Minister of Environment Award for three consecutive years since 2010 and the research team was recognized for its excellence. In 2010, Professor Park cut the tape by winning the Minister of Environment Award, followed by Song Im-geun (earned PhD in Feburary 2012) in 2011, and Park Sung-joon (earned PhD in August 2012) in 2012.