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Chemical separations are essential to modern society. Without separations, our access to clean water, air, energy, medicine, food, and safe environment is critically restricted. Membrane-based separations draw significant attention due to their energy efficiency, small footprint, and ability to separate different molecular mixtures based on size, shape and interaction differences. Indeed, polymer membranes play central roles in gas, liquid and vapor separations, resource recovery, energy storage, barrier and packaging applications, and health-related devices. These technologies are vital for sustainability and decarbonization as we move to meet climate targets.

To advance these technologies, designing innovative polymer membranes with desirable transport properties and precisely controlled microstructures is required. In particular, charged polymer membranes, where anionic or cationic groups are covalently bonded to polymer backbone, draw significant attention due to their versatile and tunable transport properties in the above applications. Altering charged group composition combined with polymer architecture and topology leads to varied transport properties of small molecules (e.g., ions, water, gases) in polymer membranes. Here, research projects are presented for designing charged polymer membranes for improved molecule separations. The transport mechanism in the polymer membranes is studied from the fundamental perspectives of polymer-penetrant interactions and templating diffusion pathways for selective transport of small molecules.

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 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 Macromolecules and ACS Macro Letters’ Collection 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.  

*Refreshments will be provided plus a chance to talk with the speaker after their seminar till 5pm.