After receiving his doctorate in metallurgy from the University of Utah in 1988, Dr. Rhee returned home with his wife and two children to Daejeon, South Korea, where he worked in Korea Institute of Geoscience and Minerals for 26 years and directed the Resource Recycling Research & Development Center for 10 years during this period. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering of Korea, and in 2003 he received the Order of Civil Merit, Magnolia Medal from President Roh Moo-hyun. In 2015, he became the CEO of Young Poong Co., Ltd., which manages the fourth largest zinc smelter refinery in the world.

In addition to his career in engineering, Dr. Rhee also helped found the Gyeryongsan Natural History Museum in 2004 – the first of its kind in South Korea – and he has been a chairman of its board of directors from 2005. The museum is situated in a beautiful national park near Daejeon, and it holds the largest collection of rocks and minerals, fossils, and insects around the world. Throughout Dr. Rhee’s professional life leading a research institute, a zinc company, and a museum, He has kept in touch with his peers and advisor from the University of Utah and fondly remembers his time in Salt Lake City.