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Myungeun Seo

Professor
Department of Chemistry
KAIST

Adjunct Professor
KI for the Nanocentury
Interdisciplinary Program in Polymer Science and Engineering
KAIST Educational Program for Samsung Semiconductor
KAIST-Samsung SDI Battery Educational Program
KAIST

291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141 South Korea

OFFICE #202 Basic Science Building (E6-6)
LAB #216 Basic Science Building (E6-6)
TEL 82-42-350-2814
FAX 82-42-350-2810
EMAIL seomyungeun@kaist.ac.kr

ORCID 0000-0002-5218-3502
Research ID F-1031-2011
Google Scholar https://scholar.google.co.kr/citations?user=rZBhJdEAAAAJ&hl

Myungeun Seo received his B.S. (2002), M.S. (2004), and Ph.D. (2008) in Chemistry from the Department of Chemistry at KAIST, Korea. During his Ph.D. research, he explored self-assembly of benzamide-containing molecules under the supervision of Prof. Sang Youl Kim. He also participated in international collaborations by visiting Prof. Masa-aki Kakimoto’s group at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan and Prof. Craig J. Hawker’s group at University of California, Santa Barbara, USA. After receiving Ph.D., he spent one year as a postdoctoral fellow in the same group and then moved to Prof. Marc A. Hillmyer’s group at the University of Minnesota in 2009 where he worked on nanoporous polymers derived from block polymer precursors. He started his own career in 2013 as an assistant professor in the graduate school of nanoscience and technology at KAIST, and is now a full professor in the department of chemistry.

His research interest focuses on how order and asymmetry can emerge from disorder in polymeric and supramolecular systems. Particular subjects include polymerization-induced phase transitions, postpolymerization modification, sequence ensemble, and supramolecular chirality. He has published more than 80 papers in peer-reviewed journals, including Science, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, ACS Macro Letters, and Macromolecules. He also wrote a book chapter in “Submicron Porous Materials” published by Springer. He has co-organized an ACS PMSE symposium in ACS 2018 Spring and has served as a chairperson in ACS (2018 Spring) and Pacifichem (2015) meetings. In 2016, he was named one of “Asia’s Rising Scientists” by Asian Scientist Magazine. He also won lectureship awards from the Society of Polymer Science, Japan (“Invited Lecturer from Young Scientists”, 2017) and the Chemical Society of Japan (“Lectureship Award of Asian International Symposium”, 2019). His interviews have been featured in Wiley Asia Blog (2015), Asian Scientist Magazine (2016), and Nature (2018).

Myungeun-Seo’s-CV.pdf

Academic Activities

  • Editorial Advisory Board, Macromolecules (2019 – 2021)
  • Editorial Advisory Board, Chemical Physics Review (2021 – )
  • Editor (Polymer Synthesis), Macromolecular Research (2021 – )

Honors and Awards

  • Member, Young Korean Academy of Science and Technology (2023)
  • Prime Minister’s Commendation for Merit in Promoting Science and Technology, Korea (2022)
  • 9th KINC Fusion Research Award, KI for the Nanocentury, KAIST (2019)
  • 2015 Wiley-PSK JPS Young Scientist Award (2015)
  • 2014 and 2016 Distinguished Teaching Award (Graduate School), College of Natural Sciences, KAIST
  • EWon Assistant Professorship, KAIST (2015-2018)

Selected Publications

  • T. Oh, S. Cho, C. Yoo, W. Yeo, J. Oh, M. Seo, Polymerization-induced microphase separation of a polymerization mixture into nanostructured block polymer materials. Prog. Polym. Sci. 145, 101738 (2023).
  • M. Shin, H. Kim, G. Park, J. Park, H. Ahn, D. K. Yoon, E. Lee, M. Seo, Bilayer-folded lamellar mesophase induced by random polymer sequence. Nat. Commun. 13, 2433 (2022).
  • J. Kang, S. Kang, J.-M. Seo, S. M. Park, D. K. Yoon, M. H. Lim, W. Y. Kim, M. Seo, Circularly polarized light can override and amplify asymmetry in supramolecular helices. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 144, 2657-2666 (2022).
  • J. Nam, S. Kwon, Y.-G. Yu, H.-B. Seo, J.-S. Lee, W. B. Lee, Y. Kim, M. Seo, Folding of sequence-controlled graft copolymers to subdomain-defined single-chain nanoparticles. Macromolecules 54, 8829-8838 (2021).
  • C. Jeon, D. W. Kim, S. Chang, J. G. Kim, M. Seo, Synthesis of polypropylene via catalytic deoxygenation of poly(methyl acrylate). ACS Macro Lett. 8, 1172-1178 (2019).
  • C. Jeon, J. J. Han, M. Seo, Control of ion transport in sulfonated mesoporous polymer membrane. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 10, 40854-40862 (2018).
  • M. Seo, S. Kim, J. Oh, S.-J. Kim, M. A. Hillmyer, Hierarchically porous polymers from hyper-cross-linked block polymer precursors. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 137, 600-603 (2015).
  • M. Seo, M. A. Hillmyer, Reticulated nanoporous polymers by controlled polymerization-induced microphase separation. Science 336, 1422–1425 (2012).
  • M. Seo, B. J. Beck, J. M. J. Paulusse, C. J. Hawker, S. Y. Kim, Polymeric nanoparticles via noncovalent crosslinking of linear chains. Macromolecules 41, 6413–6418 (2008).
  • M. Seo, G. Seo, S. Y. Kim, Molecular self-assembly of macroporous parallelogrammatic pipes. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 45, 6306–6310 (2006).