Dr. Sungjin Kim, Chemical and Biological Engineering

Name:

Dr. Sungjin Kim 

Title:

Assistant Professor

Department:

Chemical and Biological Engineering

Describe your research in about 200 words.

My research focuses on developing eco-friendly and energy-efficient materials solidification-based processing strategies using dynamic bonding and bioinspired mineralization for high-value applications. By combining fundamental studies and engineering principles, I investigate (i) dynamic crosslinking in polymer networks, (ii) polymer-metal interactive solidifications in organic-inorganic hybrid macromolecules, and (iii) converting these materials into desired 3D structures through additive manufacturing (AM). These comprehensive approaches aim to contribute to sustainability and healthcare advancement. Thus, my projects involve designing fluid-to-solid chemical processing paths and utilizing suitable AM methods to create tangible structures with improved structural-mechanical-chemical properties and advanced functionalities, providing benefits for both biological and environmental applications such as polymer upcycling, hard-tissue regeneration, water-binding, metal extraction, and CO2 utilization.

What’s the most interesting thing you have learned from a student?

By just interacting with students, they remind me of when I was a student who was more ambitious and curious. This fuels me up with energy and refreshment on and off the class and research. They bring up some creative, unique angles to tackle problems that I hardly could come up with.