Dr. Justin (Junseok) Ma
Dr. Justin (Junseok) Ma is a Staff Engineer (CL3) in RF/Antenna Engineering at the Advanced Antenna Lab, Mobile eXperience (MX) Division, Samsung Electronics. His current work focuses on next-generation antenna technologies for mobile and emerging form-factor devices, with particular interests in AI-assisted antenna design, electromagnetic optimization, millimeter-wave (mmWave), ultra-wideband (UWB), satellite connectivity, and advanced wireless architectures.
His technical interests lie at the intersection of electromagnetics, artificial intelligence, antennas, reconfigurable materials, and advanced wireless systems. His current work explores AI/ML-enabled approaches for accelerating antenna design-space exploration, electromagnetic performance prediction, and optimization, integrating computational electromagnetics with prototyping, measurement, and system-level antenna engineering.
Dr. Ma's broader research trajectory spans reconfigurable RF and antenna technologies, liquid-crystal-based microwave and millimeter-wave devices, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS), programmable electromagnetic materials, printed optoelectronics, and adaptive photonic systems. This interdisciplinary background provides a foundation for combining physics-based electromagnetic modeling with data-driven and AI-enabled engineering approaches.
Prior to joining Samsung Electronics, Dr. Ma was a Jang Young-Sil Postdoctoral Fellow at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) from September 2025 to August 2026. Working with the Soft Material Assembly Group under Prof. Dong Ki Yoon, he developed printable and reconfigurable liquid-crystal platforms for RF/mmWave and optoelectronic devices, including fast-switching liquid-crystal reconfigurable intelligent surfaces for next-generation wireless systems.
At KAIST, he contributed to multiple national R&D programs, including the 6G Core Technology Development Program funded by IITP and a major research program supported by the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) on lightweight, beam-steerable millimeter-wave antenna systems. His work investigated how material-level tunability, electromagnetic design, and device architecture can be combined to realize programmable responses across microwave, millimeter-wave, and sub-THz frequencies.
Dr. Ma received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology), Korea, in 2020, 2022, and 2025, respectively. During his doctoral research under Prof. Wooksung Kim, he developed multifunctional and reconfigurable liquid-crystal device platforms using scalable fabrication approaches including drop-on-demand printing, surface engineering, and laser-based patterning. His doctoral work encompassed RF/mmWave phase shifters and filters, printed optoelectronic devices, programmable functional materials, and adaptive smart-window technologies.
In recognition of his doctoral research, he received the Kim Beom-Man Best Ph.D. Dissertation Award from POSTECH's Department of Electrical Engineering. He was also selected for the POSTECHIAN Fellowship and received several national and institutional awards recognizing his research in electromagnetics, liquid crystals, and advanced functional devices.
In 2024, Dr. Ma was a Recognised Student in the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford, where he conducted research with the Soft Matter Photonics Group under Prof. Stephen M. Morris and Prof. Steve Elston. His research focused on drop-on-demand printed liquid-crystal systems, patterned polymer-dispersed liquid-crystal smart windows, and voltage-reconfigurable optical devices. During this period, he received the BK21 FOUR Outstanding Graduate Student Award for Overseas Research.
His research has also involved collaborations with industrial and international partners. He contributed to the Samsung Science and Technology Foundation CORE: Sub-THz 6G program on liquid-crystal-enabled reconfigurable high-frequency devices and collaborated with JNC Corporation, Japan, on advanced liquid-crystal materials for microwave and millimeter-wave applications, including material systems developed for 5G and satellite communications.
Dr. Ma has authored more than 20 peer-reviewed publications spanning electromagnetics, antennas, liquid crystals, photonics, and functional materials. His work includes first-author publications in Advanced Materials, Advanced Optical Materials, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Advanced Materials Technologies, Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, and Dyes and Pigments. His work on liquid crystals for microwave and millimeter-wave smart devices was featured on the Frontispiece cover of Advanced Materials.
His research accomplishments have been recognized through honors including the Jang Young-Sil Postdoctoral Fellowship, Kim Beom-Man Best Ph.D. Dissertation Award, BK21 FOUR Outstanding Graduate Student Award for Overseas Research, POSTECHIAN Fellowship, and the Grand Prize at the Electromagnetic Wave Measurement Thesis Contest hosted by KIEES, among other distinctions.
Dr. Ma has served as a reviewer for international journals across applied physics, liquid crystals, photonics, materials science, and electrical engineering. His current professional interests center on combining AI-enabled engineering with fundamental electromagnetics to develop high-performance, adaptive, and computationally optimized antenna and RF architectures for next-generation mobile and wireless systems.