CCADD had a year-end workshop on December 21st, 2022. This year, Prof. Howard Lee and the members of CCADD were joined by PMATCH (the tech start-up led by Prof. Howard) and Dr. Hyun-Ah Lee (our respected alumnus). The workshop was also delightful because some of Prof. Howard’s part-time students and Yujin (our student intern) were there too.

The first session gave a look back on 2022. Accomplishments—academic and otherwise—were shared and celebrated. Prof. Howard cheered the members for their effort and delivered a message of hope for the coming year. The following sessions laid out some concrete plans and goals for 2023, such as attending conferences domestic and abroad and streamlining journal club and book reading programs.

In the afternoon, PMATCH took us down memory lane about all the footsteps leading up to the development of its app, Battery, and its upcoming global debut at CES^® 2023, one of the world’s biggest tech event. Yoomin Jeon, the Chief Technology Officer of PMATCH, stitched all the key moments into a single narrative, which had been so far shared with CCADD in parts.

Perhaps, one of the most anticipated sessions was Dr. Hyun-Ah Lee’s talk about her career after graduation. She traced back her memory from the time when she was studying under Prof. Howard to where she is today. She admitted her life as a PhD student trying to be on par with the rigor and the expectation of Prof. Howard was never easy but definitely worth pursuing. More importantly, she urged us to hang in there as it will all pay off one day, and her sincerity resonated with all of us.

The day’s workshop closed with a special lecture by Prof. Howard. He proposed a vision for CCADD in 2023, exhorting us to recognize the need for honing the necessary skillsets and realigning our research area. Most importantly, Prof. Howard’s closing remark that CCADD should make a bigger leap forward in 2023 taking risks and facing challenges inspired us like nothing else.