Woosik is a postdoc at Drexel University in Philadelphia specializing in searches for neutrino-emitting, highly energetic astrophysical objects. By analyzing not only the direction from which the neutrinos come but also the times at which they arrive, Woosik hopes to find some of these rare neutrino sources.
Neutrinos are able to traverse astronomical distances without being blocked by stellar dust or deflected by magnetic fields, making their signals useful to other experiments. “If IceCube finds one of these excesses, we can contact other experiments, such as optical observatories, gamma rays, or even cosmic ray observatories, to pinpoint an astrophysical source.”
Twelve years ago Woosik started working on IceCube as part of his undergraduate degree at Sungkyunkwan (SKKU) University in Korea, when SKKU’s neutrino astrophysics group was founded. “I started thinking about what to do after my graduation. And because I like the stars and the universe, I wanted to do science.” This curiosity led Woosik to continue his work on IceCube as a PhD student, graduating last year in 2025.
“I like stars, I like the universe, astrophysics is always my number one interest.”
Woosik Kang
When asked what Woosik would share with other graduate students and young researchers: “Don’t worry, you’re doing great. Keep carrying on, and try to reach out to others.” As it is easy to get absorbed with your work, particularly as a graduate student, he notes, “You set your own deadlines, so remember that you need balance.”
To keep his own balance, Woosik likes to spend his free time exercising and cooking. “Sometimes I just like trying to make a nice meal,” Woosik notes, adding that it can however be challenging to find all of the ingredients he needs for authentic Korean food in Philadelphia. “If I meet my friends, especially those who are not Korean, I want to introduce them to Korean food, which is getting kind of popular these days.”
Having only been in the United States for a few months, focusing on things that remind him of home helps Woosik maintain some normalcy far away from his family. “I have my first child back in Korea,” he notes cheerfully. But regulations for people like Woosik make it challenging for him to spend extended periods of time outside the United States: “So I prioritize time for video calls and try to regularly share photos of my daily life with my family. That’s very important for me during my days off.”
When asked what it is like for him to be a scientist working on IceCube, Woosik had a very simple message, “We just live our lives doing what we are interested in—our favorite things.”
For people outside science and academia or for those interested in finding out more, Woosik suggests contacting him: https://woosikk.github.io/. “Scientists are just people, we’re not aliens.”