Park Jeong Young

Park Jeong Young, sometimes written as Park, Jeong Y., is a professor in the Department of Chemistry at KAIST and associate director at the Center for Nanomaterials and Chemical Reactions at the Institute for Basic Science. He is a member of the American Chemical Society and American Vacuum Society among others, an international committee member of Asian Science Camp, and has served on the editorial boards of Scientific Reports, Advanced Materials Interfaces, Journal of the Korean Physical Society, and New Physics.

Education
Park majored in physics at Seoul National University, where he received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in 1993, 1995, and 1999, respectively.

Career
Park became a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Physics of University of Maryland, College Park. In 2002, he worked as a physicist postdoctoral fellow in the Materials Sciences Division of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and then as a staff scientist from 2006. Returning to Korea, he taught and conducted research at KAIST as an associate professor in the Graduate School of EEWS in 2009 before becoming a full professor in the Department of Chemistry in 2017. While researching at KAIST, he joined the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) Center for Nanomaterials and Chemical Reaction as a group leader in 2013 and then became associate director in 2016. A collaboration between KAIST's Department of Chemistry and IBS, Park conducts research at Surface science and Catalysis with Atomic Level Engineering Laboratory, also known as SCALE Lab.

Research
There are four primary research topics at SCALE Lab; surface chemistry, nanocatalysis, hot electron, and scanning probe microscopy.

Surface chemistry
Research goals are to discover fundamental principles behind the formation of nanostructures to allow synthesis. Materials include single crystals, oxide–metal interfaces, nanoparticles, and solid–liquid interfaces.

Nanocatalysis
As the size, shape, and composition of nanoparticles affects catalytic activity, the lab synthesizesg multi-functional nanoparticles of different sizes, including yolk–shell, core–shell, and hybrid nanocatalysts with various surface-sensitive techniques.

Hot electron
Electronic excitation created during molecular or atomic processes at the surface has been utilized to demonstrate analogous photocurrent process and potential application in solar energy conversion technologies. The lab has worked on ways to improve the conversion efficiency.

Scanning probe microscopy
Reaction intermediates and surface mobility under catalytic reaction conditions is detectable using surface science techniques. Atomic force microscopy has permitted the investigation of nanomechanical, structural properties, and charge transport.

Memberships

 * 2022–present: Korean Academy of Science and Technology
 * 2010–present: Korean Physical Society
 * 2011–present: Korean Vacuum Society
 * 2005–present: American Chemistry Society
 * 2001–present: Material Research Society
 * 1996–present: American Vacuum Society
 * 1995–present: American Physical Society

Awards

 * 2016: KAIST Top 10 Research Achievements
 * 2012: Top Government R&D Achievement Award, National Science & Technology Commission (ko)
 * 2012: Top 50 Basic Research Achievement Award, National Research Foundation of Korea
 * 2012: KAIST Top 10 Research Achievements
 * 2011: Monthly Scientist Award, Daejeon City
 * 2006: Best Poster Award, Fourth Annual University Symposium on Surface Science and Its Application
 * 1998: Samsung Humantech Thesis Award, Samsung Electronics Corporation (Gold Medal)
 * 1995: Young Investigator Research Fund Award, Korea Research Foundation
 * 1993: Fellowship of Development Fund, Seoul National University
 * 1991: Alumni Association Fellowship of Physics Department, Seoul National University