(6bq) Enzymatic Reaction Induced Protocell Motility

I am a Research Associate in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, working under the supervision of Dr. Daniel A. Hammer and Dr. Daeyeon Lee. My research career centers around experimental polymer physics and related applications. Specifically, my current research focuses on the fabrication of microfluidic double emulsion-templated polymeric cellular structures and their biomedical and biological applications. My previous research at Yale University was focused on understanding basic physical principles underlying equilibrium structures and dynamics of diblock copolymer and polymer nanocomposites using synchrotron source small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) and x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS). XPCS uses coherent x-ray beams to study structural dynamics of soft matter on time and length scales in microseconds and nanometers, respectively.

I anticipate my future research direction to conjoin fundamental soft matter physics and biomedical applications. I aim to design and fabricate self-motile microreactors powered by enzymatic or catalytic reactions. To achieve this goal, novel polymer vesicles made from protein-polymer hybrid materials will be developed. When amphiphiles with different chemical constituents are confined within a bilayer membrane, lateral heterogeneities are observed under proper thermodynamic or chemical conditions. In this direction, protein-rich microdomains which can host catalytic or enzymatic reactions will be functionalized. Furthermore, I plan to build artificial cellular network which is biologically functional, including the ability to transport small molecules and communicate inter- and intra-cellularly. Such artificial cellular systems may potentially be applicable for future in vivo studies.

Teaching Interests:

I consider teaching the heaviest responsibility of professorship because the academic preparation of the next generation is the ultimate goal of higher education. Thus, I ardently seek a chance to share my academic accomplishments with young and talented colleagues. In the following, I describe my teaching philosophy, previous teaching experiences within and beyond the academic institutions, and future teaching plans.

Even though the University of Colorado at Boulder and Texas A & M University did not require serving as a Teaching Assistant (TA), I personally sought opportunities on my own to acquire applicable lecturing experience. In the spring of 2003 and 2007, I served as TA and a lab instructor for "Heat Transfer" (University of Colorado at Boulder, MCEN 3022) and “Dynamic System and Control” (Texas A & M University, MEEN 364), respectively. Going well beyond traditional TA duties, these positions involved delivering lectures regarding the introduction of each experiment as well as jointly preparing and grading assignments and exams. Additionally, I was also a TA for graduate-level "Solids Mechanics" and "Partial Differential Equations" courses under the supervision of Professors Thomas L. Geers, retired, and Subhendu Datta, retired, respectively. My responsibilities included preparing and grading assignments, holding an hour-long recitation every week and office hours. These TA experiences offered me numerous invaluable insights into teaching from diverse perspectives, especially through interacting with both senior faculty members and students.

I have been actively involved in science and engineering education and outreach both within and beyond the university. I led the annual science and engineering summer program at the University of Pennsylvania in 2014 and 2015. This program offers an opportunity for local high school and undergraduate students to join the graduate-level research. I supervised their experiments and discussed issues regarding the experiments. I also organized the NanoDay demonstration team in 2015; local high school students visited the 'Singh Center for Nanotechnology' and experienced cutting edge researches in science and engineering. I was a member of the preparation committee and my responsibilities included organizing all volunteers and making sure the event ran smoothly. While I sought my PhD degree, I also led a science class for the Texas A & M University Catholic Community, an outreach class geared towards elementary school students and their parents.

Based on my previous teaching and research experiences, I prefer to teach undergraduate and graduate level Thermodynamics, Transport Science, Materials Science including Polymer Physics and Interfacial Science. Additionally, I would be excited to teach data acquisition and control courses since the courses correspond to my particular research background.

I would further be willing to coordinate new courses regarding up-to-date 'Biological Soft Matter' and 'Photon Correlation Spectroscopy.' Biological Soft Matter course will be designed for senior and graduate students. In this course, I will use a physics based approach to study the structure and assembly of a variety materials including polymers, colloidal systems, amphiphiles, and liquid crystal. Rheological behaviors including temperature-dependent phase transition and self assemblies, kinetics, and interfacial interaction will be major topics.

Photon Correlation Spectroscopy course will cover the static and dynamic techniques including small angle x-ray scattering, multi-speckle dynamic light scattering, and x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy. These techniques can capture the static structure and the dynamic behavior of soft matter. The observed microscopic structural behaviors are governed by complex phenomenological laws that couple multiple energy domains. Thus, understanding these structural behaviors would consequently reveal macroscopic material properties and foster developments of new applications.