Jeffrey Pyun

Biography

Professor Jeffrey Pyun is currently a Professor in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at the University of Arizona.  In Fall 2004, he joined the faculty in Chemistry at the University of Arizona as an Assistant Professor, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2010 has been a Full Professor since 2015.  Prof. Pyun’s research interests focus on the synthesis, self-assembly, characterization and device evaluation of novel polymers, nanoparticles, and nanocomposites materials.   He is currently working on materials are anticipated to broadly impact the areas of information storage, optical materials, sulfur utilization, photocatalysis-solar fuels and energy storage technologies. In 2002, he obtained his Ph.D. in Chemistry with Prof. Krzysztof Matyjaszewski at Carnegie Mellon University working in the area of controlled radical polymerization applied to the synthesis of organic/inorganic hybrid materials. He then moved on to postdoctoral research in a joint position with Prof. Jean M.J. Fréchet and Prof. Craig J. Hawker at the IBM Almaden Research Center from 2002-2004 focusing on the synthesis of complex macromolecular  architectures for catalysis.  Since 2009, he has also served as a World Class University Professor, in the School of Chemical & Biological Engineering at Seoul National University.  Prof. Pyun’s research contributions have been recognized by a number of prestigious awards for young investigators, namely, the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, the IBM Faculty Award, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship and for important contributions to the magnetic tape industry thru the Information Storage Industry Consortium (INSIC) Technical Achievement Award.  He has also been recognized by the University of Arizona with the Innovation and Impact Award from Tech Launch Arizona and was named the Academic Innovator of the Year in 2017 from the State of Arizona. He was also recently appointed as a Kavli Fellow, an ACS PMSE Fellow (2019) and admitted into the National Academy of Inventors (2019).   In 2021, he was also appointed as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.  Prof. Pyun serves on the Editorial Boards for the Journal of Polymer Science, Progress in Polymer Science and Polymer.

Degrees

• Ph.D. Chemistry
• Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
• B.A. Chemistry
• Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, United States

Awards

• Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry
• Royal Society of Chemistry, Fall 2021
• Adjunct Professor
• Department of ChemistryPusan National UniversityPusan, S. Korea, Spring 2020
• Visiting Professor
• Department of Chemical EngineeringKorea UniversitySeoul, S.Korea, Summer 2019
• ACS Division of Polymeric Materials: Science & Engineering Fellow
• American Chemical Society, Spring 2019
• National Academy of Inventors, Senior Member
• National Academy of Inventors, Spring 2019
• Best Paper Award
• Microscopy Society of America, Spring 2017
• Catalyst Award for Applied Chemical Sciences
• University of Arizona, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Spring 2017
• Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of Arizona, Spring 2016
• Tech Launch Arizona Innovation and Impact Award in Chemistry
• University of Arizona, Spring 2016
• World Class University Professor
• National Research Foundation of KoreaSeoul National University, Winter 2009
• Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship
• Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Fall 2009
• INSIC Technical Achievement Award
• Information Storage Industrial Consortim, Spring 2009
• IBM Faculty Award
• IBM, Fall 2007
• NSF CAREER Award
• National Science Foundation, Fall 2007
• Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award
• Office of Naval Research, Summer 2007