Congratulations to Professor Lee for receiving the National Science Foundation’s CAREER Award, one of the most prestigious honors for early-career faculty. This five-year grant will support our research group to develop novel computational methods to simulate chemical reactions at hard–soft matter interfaces — such as the interaction between polymer materials (“soft”) and metal surfaces (“hard”). By leveraging innovative methods based on ab initio simulations, machine learning, and molecular thermodynamics, we will investigate the fundamental mechanisms behind depolymerization reactions with metal catalysts. This research holds promise for revolutionizing the upcycling of polyolefins, the most common class of plastic, into valuable chemical products — a key step toward a more sustainable, circular economy.
The award also supports our vision to help increase computational literacy across the U.S. by developing a new curriculum on computational materials science, machine learning, and workshops on sustainable materials. These efforts will be done in collaboration with a local nonprofit cognitive-behavioral training program in the Craig School. We hope to inspire the next generation of scientists to tackle sustainability challenges using the power of simulation and data!
Read more about the award from the UCI News: https://engineering.uci.edu/news/2025/6/lee-wins-nsf-career-award-research-sustainable-recycling-plastics
