The Park Center for Complex Systems at MIT was established in 2002 by Prof. Nam Suh, former ME department head and the president of KAIST, to conduct educational and research programs in the field of complexity and complex systems.
The mission of the Park Center for Complex Systems is to research and understand complexity, educate students and scholars on complexity, design complex systems for the benefit of humankind, and disseminate knowledge on complexity to the world at large. Currently, we are working hard to leverage the power of resurgent AI technology to better understand and smartly control the complexity of systems.
The Park Center is named to honor an MIT alumnus, Dr. BJ Park and his wife Mrs. Chunghi Park, who have provided a generous gift to fund the research on the Complexity associated with large and complex systems.
Dr. and Mrs. Byiung Jun (BJ) Park are successful entrepreneurs and international business leaders. Interested in textiles and the mechanical properties of fabric, Dr. Park attended the Rhode Island School of Design for textile engineering, then MIT for his SM degree in Mechanical Engineering, and finally Leeds University for a Ph.D. in textile engineering. In 1988, Dr. and Mrs. Park founded what would become a highly successful company called Merchandise Testing Laboratories (MTL) in Brockton, Massachusetts, in the USA. The company grew to become a global leader in consumer product testing, inspection, and social accountability for products shipped to the US from overseas. Under their vision and leadership, MTL garnered prestigious customers such as Ann Taylor, the Gap, Target, and other noteworthy retailers, manufacturers, and importers with product testing operation locations worldwide. In May of 2001, MTL was successfully acquired by the $1.3 billion international quality and safety assurance giant Bureau Veritas.
Dr. Byiung Jun Park and his wife, Mrs. Chunghi Park have generously donated to many educational and medical institutions around the world including MIT Mechanical Engineering: Park Lecture Rooms (3-270, 370, ME Student Common, Park Center for Complex Systems).
