Dr. Ashok Kumar PANDEY, who used to be a Postdoc fellow at Prof. Insoo KIM’s lab until last February became an associate professor at the IICT (Indian Institute of Chemical Technology) Hyderabad in India.

Dr. PANDEY majored chemistry at Veer Bahadur Singh Purvanchal Univeristy in India and finished his graduate program in the same major at University of Allahabad. He received his doctor’s degree at IIT Ropar in India and earned research experience at school of engineering and life science research center in India before coming to SKKU’s School of Pharmacy as a postdoc fellow.

We asked him why he came to SKKU after finishing all of his study in India.

“SKKU is a global university with many international students. I’ve seen SKKU’s researches on world renowned journal and became interested in joining the research at SKKU.”

Dr. PANDEY said he enjoyed his life at Prof. Insoo KIM’s lab. “Prof. KIM always suggested new challenging research topics and worked hard for solution. He also created a research environment where researchers can cooperate. I was able to gain experiences of presenting at many domestic and international conferences.”

While he was at the lab, he had a chance to join lectures on organic synthesis and pharmacy. He reflected that his choice to go into Prof. KIM’s lab was successful.

Dr. PANDEY said, “SKKU is full of research spirits”. He would recommend the university to his colleagues for it has great learning opportunities and good facilities for research.

“SKKU allows international students to celebrate festival and other cultural programs within the campus. Students can experience diverse communities in parallel to their studies.”

The decisive factor of his appointment at IICT Hyderabad was his research on activation control and synthetization of drug molecular structure. He synthesized the molecular structure of azepine, caspazepine, carbazole and published this result on an influential journal. Dr. PANDEY will teach organic and medicinal chemistry at IICT Hyderabad. He will be researching on the efficient synthesis of drugs and activation control at IICT.

Dr. PANDEY shared his plan, “I would like to provide the opportunity for students to learn about the theory of organic chemistry and participate in various research conferences.”