Hee Jeung Oh is an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at Pennsylvania State University. She earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). She completed her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, working under the supervision of Prof. Benny Freeman and Prof. Donald Paul. Before joining Penn State, her postdoctoral training was in Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, under the guidance of Prof. Nitash Balsara.
Prof. Oh’s research focuses on the molecular through macroscopic design and characterization of polymers in order to advance the world’s important but challenging separations for environment, energy and health. In particular, her group designs highly selective functional polymers, develops processing methods for new structures, and explores the effect of polymer’s chemical and physical structures on transport in polymers. These fundamental studies are critical for designing membranes for liquid, gas and vapor separations, resource recovery and recycling, chemical and biochemical manufacturing, environmental remediation, energy storage and health-related devices. Prof. Oh is the elected co-chair of the Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Membranes: Materials and Processes (2024 – 2026) and the GRC on Chemical Separations (2026 – 2028). She serves on the Board of Directors for the North American Membrane Society (NAMS) (2024 –) and is the co-editor of the ACS Macromolecules and Macro Letters’ Virtual Issue on “Polymer Physics of Separation Membranes.”
Prof. Oh has been recognized in honors and awards including the FRI/John G. Kunesh Award from AIChE’s Separations Division, 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award, North American Membrane Society (NAMS) Young Membrane Scientist Award, Hanwha Non-Tenured Faculty Award, and the University of Texas Professional Development Award. She was selected as one of the two recipients of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE)’s Frontiers of Engineering (FOE) grants in 2023 and received the National Academy of Science (NAS)’s Frontiers Fellowship in 2024.