Korea’s top science university will have the former chief of the University of California Merced in the U.S. as its new president, school officials said Thursday.

The board of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology held a meeting and elected Kang Sung-mo, also known as Steve Kang, as the new president, according to the officials.

The 68-year-old Kang, an electrical engineering scientist who has earned a global reputation in the field of electronic circuits and systems, was appointed to the chancellor of the U.C. Merced in 2007, becoming the first South Korean to lead a four-year university in the U.S.

He will take office on Feb. 23 as the school’s 15th president for a four-year term. Kang will succeed Suh Nam-pyo, who expressed his intention to resign before the completion of his contract, which would have ended in 2014.

Suh has made headlines with his reformist programs including initiating a competitive system among students and teachers, but such a performance-based system drew fire as pressure-packed classrooms prompted several students to commit suicide.

After the board meeting, the student council called on the new president to strive to resolve conflict on the campus and change the current competition-based academic system, the officials said. (Yonhap News)