Education

September 2016 – August 2022

Ph.D., Chemistry  

The Pennsylvania State University (PA, United States)                         

Advisor: Professor Christine D. Keating

March 2013 – February 2015

M.S., Chemistry and Nano Science                              

Ewha Womans University (Seoul, South Korea)                             

Advisor: Professor Jun Soo Kim   

March 2009 – February 2013

B.A., Chemistry and Nano Science, Minor in Life Science                                        

Ewha Womans University (Seoul, South Korea)

Professional Experience

October 2022 – February 2026 

Postdoctoral Researcher                                                                           

Department of Chemistry

University of California, Berkeley (CA, United States)

Advisor: Prof. Jay T. Groves

March 2015 – February 2016

Researcher                                                                                                  

Department of Chemistry and Nano Science

Ewha Womans University (Seoul, South Korea)                                          
Advisor: Prof. Jun Soo Kim

Funding & Scholarships 

• Ad Hoc Grant by Burroughs Wellcome Funds for the 2024 Gordon Research Seminar ‘Biointerface Science’ as a conference chair (2024)

• Berkeley Postdoctoral Association Professional Development Awards (2024)

• NASA Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST) Graduate Fellowship (August 2019- August 2022)

• NASA Astrobiology Early Career Travel Award (Fall 2017)

• Research grant for undergraduate researchers by Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science & Creativity, South Korea (2010)

More Experiences

• NASA Solar System Science funding review panel (October 2025)

• NASA Exobiology Program funding review panel (May 2024)

•  Gordon Research Seminar elected chair for ‘Biointerface Science’ in 2022 and conference in June 2024 (June 2022- June 2024)

• NASA Jet Propulsion Lab visiting scholar (November 2018)

Teaching & Mentoring Philosophy 

“Science is a way of thinking much more

than it is a body of knowledge” – Carl Sagan 

My teaching and mentoring approaches encourage students to tackle new challenges in science through the practice of critical thinking and effective communication.