□ DGIST (President Kunwoo Lee) announced that undergraduates have achieved outstanding results in quantum-resistant cryptography implementation technology and AI-based technology startups through its student-led research program called the Undergraduate Group Research Program (UGRP).
□ Students Dojin Kim, Donghyeon Kim, and Sujong Lee developed HQC quantum-resistant cryptography implementation technology capable of running on low-spec devices through UGRP research conducted in Professor Youngsik Kim's lab (RA master's student Jaeho Jeon) at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. HQC is a next-generation cryptography technology adopted as a US national standard in March 2025, but implementations optimized for low-performance environments were limited so far. The research team achieved a processing speed more than twice as fast as existing technologies on an ARM Cortex-M4 platform and verified its security by removing vulnerabilities that may occur during implementation.
□ This achievement received the grand prize (KRW 3 million) at the Quantum-Resistant Cryptography Conversion Technology Competition and also won the grand prize in the undergraduate paper poster category at the 2025 Korea Institute of Communications and Information Sciences Fall Conference. It is recognized as a fundamental research that will contribute to the popularization of quantum security infrastructure technologies in Korea.
□ ‘Upperbound,’ an undergraduate startup that developed its product through the UGRP program, won the grand prize (Minister of Science and ICT Award) at the 「2025 Four Science and Technology Universities Joint Startup Competition.」 Based on their research on ‘Gen AI-based Small Business Marketing Solutions,’ they created an AI service that automatically generates and distributes 16-second short-form videos simply by entering the store’s name.
□ This AI solution uses generative AI to automatically manage the entire process of creating marketing materials, including selecting images, making videos, writing copies, and narration, which greatly lowers costs and saves time for small businesses. Combining technology with practicality, this service is gaining attention and demonstrating its strong potential for real-market use.
□ "UGRP is a key curriculum in DGIST’s undergraduate programs, enabling students to experience the entire research cycle, from planning to execution as well as presentation of results. Undergraduate research based on UGRP that leads to awards in technology competitions, paper presentations, startups, and the Minister's Awards demonstrates that this curriculum can result in actual industrialization and creation of social value beyond just research experience," said DGIST Dean of the College of Transdisciplinary Studies Jinho Jang. "We will continue to fully support students so their research can grow into technological innovation and startups."
□ UGRP is a key curriculum at DGIST where third- and fourth-year students in the College of Transdisciplinary Studies form teams to identify and pursue their own research topics. Students have achieved impressive results through UGRP research, including 15 papers (SCI(E)), 3 startups, 3 patent applications, and 43 competition awards. This achievement again demonstrates that UGRP is an educational program that significantly enhances students' research skills.
