Lee Seon-hyeok, a business school, selected for the 中峰 Study Abroad Scholarship at the School of Business (Georgia I
- bizskk
- Hit589
- 2022-11-23
Our university selects 中峰 Study Abroad Scholarship Students with desirable character and creativity and excellent academic performance among those who want to complete their PhD in business administration at overseas graduate schools to foster world-class talents in business administration. Let's meet Lee Sun-hyuk, who was selected as a 中峰 Study Abroad Scholarship Students in 2022 and is going to the Finance PhD program of 'Georgia Institute of Technology - Scheller College of Business" to hear about the selection process and future plans.
Q1. Hello, first of all, congratulations on being selected as a 中峰 Study Abroad Scholarship Student. Please introduce yourself.
Hello, I'm Lee Sun-hyuk, a graduate of the Graduate School of Finance at Business Administration in August this year. I entered the Department of Global Business Administration in 2011 and completed a double degree in Indiana in 2014, and after completing my military service as a Bachelor of Air Force officer, I worked as a contractor/intern at a foreign bank and went on to my master's degree at this school. After entering the school, I was first selected as an excellent master's student at a business school, and it is very impressive to be selected as the first student of 中峰 Study Abroad Scholarship, which was newly established.
Q2. You won the Dean of Student Success Award for excellent academic performance at this degree ceremony, and what activities did you win?
I'm not sure if I did my studies well enough to receive the Student Success Award, but I think they appreciated the part I've been studying with interest in various fields in the master's course. After entering the master's program, I tried to learn machine learning methodology, which is a hot topic in business academia these days, by taking machine learning and deep learning classes provided by the Department of Artificial Intelligence Convergence, as well as taking challenging semester courses in addition to the graduate school classes for the Department of Business Administration in Financial major.
With the advice of Professor Song Kyo-jik, who is an advisor, I applied the methodology to the master's thesis and analyzed Earnings Call Transcript Data of American companies and used variables that scored the innovative cultural level of companies in regression models. It was an opportunity to think about the actual financial research and machine learning methodology. In addition, I took/attended courses in economics and econometric economics, and I tried to acquire the basic skills and tools necessary for research, and I think you've seen my efforts in may ways.
Q3. You must have participated in academic societies or various external activities when you were an undergraduate, what is the most memorable activity among the programs you participated in inside and outside the school?
If I had to pick one of the most memorable activities, I worked at the Social Enterprise Network(SEN), a business administration society. During my freshman summer vacation, I read and discussed Columbia Business School's Entrepreneurship class materials at the SEN Internal Meeting Reading Group, and became interested in the model of pursuing corporate financial and social values together. I think it was a very important activity in my life that allowed me to expand my interest in corporate social responsibility(CSR) and social responsible investment(SRI).
Of course, in addition to this academic interest, I think it was a good opportunity to build friendships with students from leading universities in Korea such as Yonsei University and Korea University due to the nature of the association, and to develop social skills by working in leadership positions. Furthermore, I remember this activity as a valuable experience and asset for me, such as obtaining information on internships, external activities, and being used as a great interview material in interviews.
Q4. I heard that you also worked as an intern at UN Global Compact, BNP Paribas Seoul Branch Corporate Coverage Team, Mizuho Securities Asia. What did you do there? How has it helped you to select current scholarship students?
In the summer of my sophomore year, I worked as an unpaid intern at the UN Global Compact Korea Network, which strives for corporate social responsibility(CSR) engagement, and basically translated data published by the New York headquarters to 200 association members at the time, making newsletters for domestic members and sending them every two weeks. In addition, I prepared a meeting event for then Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to meet with the CEOs of member companies in Korea, and participated in the overall process of planning and running the 1st youth CSR Conference.
At the Seoul branch of BNP Paribas, I helped the relationship manager of the Corporate Coverage team, which serves as a contact point between the bank and the client, and partially performed the role of ARM(Associate Relationship Manager), which was vacant at the time. The most memorable thing is that I played the role of liason officer for various products needed by the financial team of large domestic companies such as Samsung Electronics and CJ CheilJedang, communicating with the financial staff of the client company, law firm, and product team in the bank, and carried out derivative contract renewal. In addition, I also routinely wrote and researched credit memos requested by other RM/ARM through ad-hoc, and performed various office assistance tasks such as binding client pitchbook and sending docuements.
At Mizuho Securities Asia, he worked as a Summer intern in the Debt Capital Market team, and participated in the process of issuing Korean paper, a bond issued by large domestic companies in overseas currency. The most memorable deal was Lotte Corporation's Green Bond, which I applied to DCM because I wanted to experience the process of issuing green bonds from beginning to end, and it was a good experience to see what investors were interested in in the actual issuing market.
First of all, doing the activities mentioned above, I think I was severely trained in communication in English in professional setting, and I think I was very helpful in interviewing and contacting professors in the application process for PhD beyond selecting scholarship students. Most of all, other people's advice was important when I was thinking about the direction of my career, but it was a good opportunity to directly feel the concerns about the actual work-life balance I felt while working and what values I would put first in my life.
Q5. Why did you choose Georgia Institute of Technology? What do you want to study after entering the doctoral program?
In fact, I received offers from about three schools, and among them, Georgia Tech had the best industrial engineering(ISYE) and computer program in the U.S. and the Business Finance program was closely interacting with these two departments, so I don't think I had much trouble choosing them. And I thought it was one of the great advantages of being able to cross-tune with Emory University or Georgia State University in Atlanta. In fact, I'm also attending Corporate Finance Theory Seminar at Emory this semester.
Above all, the advisor of GAtech is here to give a lecture at SKKU AI Finance shop hosted by professor Song Kyo-jik in 2019. At that time, I first encountered the contact point between financial research and machine learning/computer science, and after that, I studied with interest, so I chose the school considering this connection. Of course, he was also a professor who actively researched such as CSR/ESG.
First of all, we're trying to incorporate the Machine Learning/NLP methodology into our research, and we are planning to expand our interests to sustainable finance(ESG/Climate Finance), traditional corporate finance(M&A/IPO), as well as finance industry's digital transformation, etc. Currently, the department also operates NLP/Crypto-related reading groups, so we want to fully utilize the available resources and networks.
Q6. Please tell me about your goal after you get your Ph.D.
It's hard to say because it's too far away in the future, but in my short view, I'm making it my goal to become an assistant professor at one of the leading research-oriented schools in the United States. I want to be a researcher with good performance by consistently publishing papers in top-journals, but I also want to be a happy researcher/educator. I was shocked when I read a recnet article in Sisain called "The Swamp of Private Debt Starts Here," and I want to be a researcher who does research that can have a good influence on society regardless of position or institution. It's a cheeky idea, but I also want to play a small role in growing business students who will become leaders in the future industry into social workers with the right values.
Everyone will have different opinions about what influence academia can have on society, in the financial academia, they believe that they can contribute to improving the market more efficiently and the system rationally through rigorous research results through active exchange and discussion with regulators and financial industry officials, and seem to take pride as researchers in such things. I don't know if my ability will allow it, but if I grow into an independent researcher through a PhD program, I want to use the knowledge and tools acquired in the process to contribute to the good of society and the public.
Q7. Please give advice to students preparing for Sungkyunkwan University's graduate school to go to master's and doctor's.
I'm sure those who are thinking about going to graduate school will think about many options such as overseas master's, self-schooling, and other schools. I did too. Each path clearly has its pros and cons, but I felt that the merit of self-schooling cannot be ignored compared to other options, and I think it was a really good choice even now.
The scholarship system is really good compared to other majors and schools, and professors take good care of me like my family, so I would highly recommend those who want to enter overseas Ph.D. programs such as Sungkyunkwan University Business School, General Graduate School of Fintech Convergence. If you contact me personally at any time for methodological matters such as specific admission and sharing career-related tips, I will actively inform you as much as I can help you.
Even if you don't go abroad for a doctorate, you can get guidance from professors with world-class research skills who publish papers in top journals with excellent programs at Sungkyunkwan University's Business School. In fact, looking at the cases of recent graduates, I think their status is increasing as they have been appointed as professors at leading universities in Korea and the United States, beating Ph.D.s from overseas universities. I heard that opportunities such as multiple degree programs and exchange research programs with U of SC are increasing. If you have any questions about methodology such as specific admission and sharing career-related tips, please contact me anytime and I will help you as much as I know.
Q8. Last thing you want to say?
First of all, I would like to express my great gratitude to Chairman Lee Hyu-koo for donating funds to select 中峰 Study Abroad Scholarship Student. In fact, prices have risen a lot in the U.S. due to inflation, and the exchange rate has risen a lot, so I was worried about studying abroad, but I think I can concentrate on studying and research without worrying about the economy. Once again, I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Chairman Lee Hyun-koo.
I hope that many juniors will continue to achieve great results and that the 中峰 Study Abroad Scholarship Student System will continue to grow and become established so that more researchers from Sungkyunkwan University can be produced in the business academia. I will do my best to grow into a good researcher and educator so that I can contribute to the development of Sungkyunkwan University's Business School. Thank you!