Binghamton University’s ideal Asian partners include companies, other universities, high schools, governments and alumni.

So it was only natural that President Harvey Stenger’s recent trip abroad would be spent connecting with University partners in all these categories in China, Korea and Hong Kong.

“We were trying to make strategic, personal, deep and focused relationships with entities who make ideal partners,” said Stenger, who visited Asia for 10 days at the end of March.

The trip began in South Korea, where Stenger was accompanied by Bahgat Sammakia, vice president for research; Krishnaswami “Hari” Srihari, dean of the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science; Seungbae “S.B.” Park, associate professor of mechanical engineering; Daryl Santos, professor and director of the Integrated Electronics Engineering Center; and Amanda Bailor, international alumni and career connections coordinator for Watson.

The group visited Samsung Techwin, a $3 billion/year safety- and energy-solutions corporation founded in 1977. Park’s work with Samsung Techwin CEO Cheol Kyo Kim opened the door for a Binghamton-Samsung partnership – a partnership made even stronger when the two sides agreed to a student internship program at the company in which 10 Binghamton students will spend their summer at Samsung in a fully paid internship.  The agreement is for a five-year period and this year’s announcement had already attracted 75 applicants for the program.

“This important division of a world-famous company has picked us as the first university to create this kind of relationship,” Stenger said.

Read more here