PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Seong-Whan Lee

Seong-Whan Lee is a computer scientist whose research spans document understanding and brain-computer interfaces. He earned a B.S. in computer science and statistics from Seoul National University in 1984, then M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from KAIST in 1986 and 1989. He taught at Chungbuk National University before joining Korea University as an associate professor in 1995. IAPR named him a Fellow in 1998 for contributions to document understanding and service to IAPR, and he coauthored a 2002 paper on structured hyperdocuments from document images. IEEE named him a Fellow in 2010, and he led the Korean Artificial Intelligence Association from 2017 to 2019; as of October 2026, he is a professor in Korea University's Department of Artificial Intelligence.

Works
775
Citations
23,293
h-index
79
Rankings
#59 by last-author papers
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1984–1989

    Computer science degrees

    He earns a B.S. in computer science and statistics from Seoul National University in 1984, then an M.S. in computer science in 1986 and a Ph.D. in computer science in 1989 at KAIST.

  2. March 1995

    Joining Korea University

    He serves as an assistant professor in Chungbuk National University's Department of Computer Science before joining Korea University's Department of Computer Science and Engineering as an associate professor in March 1995.

  3. 1998–2002

    IAPR fellowship and document images

    In 1998, IAPR names him a Fellow for contributions to document understanding and service to IAPR. In 2002, he coauthors "Automatic generation of structured hyperdocuments from document images," which proposes methods to convert complex multi-column document images into HTML and generate a structured table of contents from the document's logical structure.

  4. 2010

    An IEEE Fellowship

    In 2010, the IEEE Signal Processing Society lists him among members recognized as IEEE Fellows.

  5. 2017–2019

    Leading Korea's AI association

    From 2017 to 2019, he serves as the inaugural president of the Korean Artificial Intelligence Association.

  6. July 2025

    Reconstructing movement from EEG

    Korea University's July 2025 patent application covers deep-learning interface technology for reconstructing hand movements and handwriting trajectories from EEG signals.

  7. July 2025

    Lead researcher on a patent application

    In July 2025, he is the lead researcher on Korea University's patent application 202519264772.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor at Korea University

    As of October 2026, he is a professor in Korea University's Department of Artificial Intelligence. His research includes brain-computer interfaces and AI.

Career

  1. Since 1995Korea UniversityAssociate Professor, Lead Researcher
  2. 2017–2019Korean Artificial Intelligence AssociationInaugural President
  3. 2013–2018University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  4. 1990–1995Chungbuk National UniversityAssistant Professor

Education

  1. 1989KAISTPh.D. in Computer Science
  2. 1986KAISTM.S. in Computer Science
  3. 1984Seoul National UniversityB.S. in Computer Science and Statistics

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. The Role of Context for Object Detection and Semantic Segmentation in the Wild2014 · IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition · 1,437 citationsWith Alan L. Yuille, Raquel Urtasun, Roozbeh Mottaghi and Sanja Fidler
  2. Hierarchical feature representation and multimodal fusion with deep learning for AD/MCI diagnosis2014 · NeuroImage · 964 citationsWith Dinggang Shen
  3. EEG dataset and OpenBMI toolbox for three BCI paradigms: an investigation into BCI illiteracy2019 · GigaScience · 592 citations
  4. Latent feature representation with stacked auto-encoder for AD/MCI diagnosis2013 · Brain Structure and Function · 526 citationsWith Dinggang Shen
  5. Applications of Support Vector Machines for Pattern Recognition: A Survey2002 · Lecture notes in computer science · 351 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 21 October 2026.

  1. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Korea University. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  3. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  4. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Automatic generation of structured hyperdocuments from document images pure.korea.ac.kr. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Chronological List of IAPR Fellows iapr.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. 38 SPS Members Elevated to IEEE Fellow signalprocessingsociety.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. Professor Seong-Whan Lee, Department of Artificial Intelligence, Korea University: Brain-Computer Interface and AI Research | Korea University Industry-Academic Cooperation Technology Commercialization Platform tlo.korea.ac.kr. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. Development of deep learning interface technology for reconstructing hand movements and handwriting trajectories from EEG signals tlo.korea.ac.kr. Checked 20 October 2026.