UCLA Samueli School of Engineering professor and world-renowned robotics engineer, Dennis Hong, has been appointed an honorary ambassador to Seoul by the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG).
Hong, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, is also the founding director of the UCLA Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa), a facility for graduate and undergraduate robotics research with an emphasis on humanoid robots and novel mobile robot locomotion strategy.
Born in California but raised in South Korea, Hong’s bicultural and bilingual background enables him to serve as a bridge between the two worlds. Hong said he accepted the honor with great joy, seeing it as a great opportunity to give back to the community, benefitting both UCLA and the city of Seoul. Given that Los Angeles is home to the largest Korean community outside of South Korea, Hong believes the decision to…