Highlights
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Materials science and engineering sophomore Jeonhyung Song earned the Notre Dame Nanoscience and Technology Undergraduate Research Fellowship.
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A switch pupil, he pivoted from the humanities to engineering to discover the chemistry behind supplies.
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This summer time, he’ll assist speed up the manufacturing of ultrathin gold coatings for know-how purposes.
The identical curiosity that after led Jeonghyun Song to form clay together with his fingers now drives him to engineer supplies at an atomic degree, combining chemistry and creativity.
He started his faculty journey within the arts, drawn to pottery. But as he labored with ceramics, his consideration shifted beneath the floor — to the chemistry of the supplies and the probabilities inside them. That shift in perspective pushed him from the artwork studio into the lab — and now to a nationwide fellowship.
A materials science and engineering major, Song will be part of the University of Notre Dame this summer time as a recipient of its Nanoscience and Technology Undergraduate Research Fellowship, hosted from May 18 by means of July 24.
“I chose to attend UCF because of the opportunities it offers — especially in research — along with its strong engineering program.”
The alternative marks a turning level in his journey from an arts main to an engineering main, which he started when he transferred to UCF in Fall 2025.
“I chose to attend UCF because of the opportunities it offers — especially in research — along with its strong engineering program,” Song says. “The MSE (Materials Science and Engineering) Program is relatively new and rapidly growing, which gives students more chances to get involved and grow.”
He didn’t waste time getting began.
As a brand new Knight and burgeoning supplies researcher, Song set his sights on working with Assistant Professor Kausik Mukhopadhyay, whose research bridges supplies, chemistry, biology and engineering to develop options for surfaces, coatings, electrochemistry and extra.
Now in Mukhopadhyay’s KM Lab, Song research clay-based anodes for lithium-ion batteries.
“As a student who comes from a ceramics background, Dr. Mukhopadhyay’s research was the most interesting to me,” Song says. “Based on his work in chemistry and materials science, I knew his lab would be a place where I could grow and actively engage in research.”
The lab rapidly grew to become greater than a workspace — it grew to become a launchpad, which Song says he’s grateful for.
“I would like to thank Dr. Mukhopadhyay and the people in our group for their support,” he says. “If it wasn’t for them, I would have had a hard time blending into the UCF community.”
His perspective as a researcher is evolving, too.
“I find it more interesting to study how common … materials can be engineered to achieve similar or even more useful properties.”
Once drawn to inspecting uncommon and costly supplies for his or her distinctive traits, Song is now targeted on components in supplies prices and environmental influence.
“While studying rare materials is interesting due to their distinct properties, I find it more interesting to study how common and inexpensive materials can be engineered to achieve similar or even more useful properties,” he says.
That mindset will information his work at Notre Dame.
His undertaking, “Prototyping High-speed Synthesis of Gold Microplates,” tackles a key problem in nanotechnology: effectively producing ultrathin gold coatings. These coatings are helpful in know-how like biosensors and electronics, however present synthesis strategies are sluggish, and controlling their measurement, form and placement is difficult.
Song will assist discover quicker synthesis strategies utilizing a response chamber to check the method by means of three activation approaches: gentle, temperature and merging chemical streams.
As he prepares to spend the summer time in Indiana, Song acknowledges some nervousness — the sort that comes with moving into one thing greater — as he appears forward to what might be a pivotal second in his journey as a researcher.
“I would like to meet new people, learn from them and also expand my vision for research,” Song says. “I think this summer will be the most important for me in terms of deciding my future.”