Affiliations
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering
Assistant Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering (courtesy)
Faculty, Institute of Energy and the Environment (IEE)
Graduate Faculty, Advanced Manufacturing and Design (AMD)
Contact
Phone : 814-863-9085
Email: hjoh at psu dot edu
Address: 213 Chemical & Biomedical Engineering Building, University Park, PA 16802
Faculty directory at MatSE at Penn State: https://www.matse.psu.edu/directory/hee-jeung-oh
Faculty directory at IEE at Penn State: https://iee.psu.edu/people/hee-jeung-oh
Research Areas
Energy and Environment, Materials and Nanotechnology, Separations and Transport, Biomedical separation
Interest Areas
Polymers, membranes, transport, energy-efficient separations, biomedical membranes, energy-storage
Education
BS, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, KAIST, 2008
MS, Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, 2011
PhD, Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, 2015
Postdoc., Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 2015-2019
Biosketch
Hee Jeung Oh is an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at Penn State University. Oh lab designs multifunctional polymer membranes for separations. Specifically, the Oh lab studies the relationship between polymer chemistry, processing, structure, and transport properties for separation science, and explores the influence of a polymer’s chemical and physical structures on transport properties such as sorption, diffusion, permeation, and conduction of small molecules in polymers and polymer-based materials. These fundamental studies are critical for designing membranes for liquid, gas and vapor separations, energy storage, selective removal of unwanted molecules from various chemical streams, selective recovery of critical and precious elements, biomedical devices, controlled drug-delivery, and barrier materials for food and packaging.
Dr. Oh earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). Dr. Oh completed her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering working in Drs. Benny Freeman’s and Donald Paul’s research groups at the University of Texas at Austin, exploring a variety of polymeric materials for membrane-based separation, with a particular emphasis on membranes for water purification, and focusing on transport of small molecules such as water and ions in polymer membranes. Dr. Oh first developed solvent-free, melt-processed, robust ion-exchange membranes based on sulfonated polymers, and evaluated water and salt permeation, sorption, and diffusion in the membranes. Her postdoctoral training, working in Dr. Nitash Balsara’s research group at UC Berkeley, focuses on designing porous nanostructured polymers for energy storage, as well as a new emerging biomedical application, “drug capture,” to minimize toxic side effects of cancer chemotherapy drugs. She first designed and developed a 3D printed absorber for capturing chemotherapy drugs downstream of tumors before they spread through the body and cause the toxic side effects. Dr. Oh has been recognized in honors and awards including 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award, Young Membrane Scientist Award from the North American Membrane Society (NAMS), Hanwha Non-Tenured Faculty Award, and the University of Texas Professional Development Award. She was invited to National Academy of Engineering (NAE)’s Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering (FOE) Symposium and was selected as one of the two recipients of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE)’s Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering (FOE) grants in 2023.