Mentors

Eunyoung Choi, Ph.D., is a tenured Associate Professor of Surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she holds the Naji N. Abumrad Chair in Surgical Sciences, and an Associate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Choi’s research focuses on precancerous disease mechanisms, stem cell biology, and cellular plasticity in gastric cancer. Her recent work integrates molecular biology, organoid models, and translational approaches to define mechanisms of gastric carcinogenesis and develop strategies to intercept precancerous lesions. Dr. Choi earned her Ph.D. from the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, followed by postdoctoral training at Vanderbilt. She has built a nationally and internationally recognized research program funded by NIH/NCI R01 and R37 MERIT awards, DOD support, and major foundation grants. She has published extensively in high impact journals, serves in national and international scientific leadership roles, and is a frequent invited speaker. She has received numerous honors for her scientific contributions, including the 2025 AGA Young Investigator Award in Basic Science, which recognizes her leadership in advancing gastrointestinal research. 

Woo Hyoung Lee, Ph.D., P.E., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando, FL. He received his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Cincinnati in 2009 and subsequently served as a postdoctoral researcher at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Cincinnati, OH. Dr. Lee’s research focuses on the development and application of electrochemical sensors for water quality monitoring, greywater reuse systems, bioenergy production from waste streams, and smart water and wastewater treatment technologies. His work integrates environmental nanotechnology, biotechnology, and machine learning to advance sustainable and data-driven water solutions. He has received research funding from NSF, USDA, NASA, DoD, DOE, and USEPA. Dr. Lee has served for seven years as an Office of Naval Research (ONR) Summer Faculty Fellow at the Naval Surface Warfare Center–Carderock Division (NSWCCD). He is a licensed Professional Engineer (P.E.) and currently serves on the U.S. EPA Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC), Social and Community Science Subcommittee. 

Dr. Jungwook Paek is an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at State University of New York at Binghamton. His primary research focuses on developing microphysiological systems, particularly through organ-on-a-chip and organoid technologies to explore disease mechanisms in the human brain and respiratory system. Currently, Dr. Paek is expanding his research to include the recapitulation of electro-neural activity through in vitro neuron cultures interfaced with electronics, aiming to enhance the development of biological artificial intelligence (BAI). Previously, Dr. Paek was a research associate in the Department of Bioengineering at University of Pennsylvania, where he worked on in vitro modeling of human tissues and organs. Prior to his postdoctoral work, Dr. Paek received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University with his primary research centered on the design, fabrication, and application of bio-inspired elastomeric microsystems. 

Young Jong Lee received B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from Seoul National University. After completing a four-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Texas at Austin, he joined the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2006 as a research chemist. Dr. Lee specializes in developing label-free chemical imaging technologies based on vibrational spectroscopy, specifically Raman and infrared spectroscopy. His current research focuses on the high-sensitivity quantitation of protein drugs and other biomolecules within live cells. Additionally, his interest extends to the imaging of polymers, microplastics, and CHIPS packaging. With over two decades of research experience at a government laboratory, Dr. Lee remains a key contributor to the fields of chemical imaging and metrology. For details, visit www.nist.gov/people/young-jong-lee. 

You-Yeon Won is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University. He received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Seoul National University (1992) and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota (2000). He completed postdoctoral training in Materials Science and Engineering at MIT and in Applied Physics at Harvard University. Dr. Won joined Purdue University as an Assistant Professor in 2003 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2009 and Full Professor in 2014. His research spans polymers, colloids, and soft matter physics, with current focus on radio-luminescent theranostic agents for cancer therapy, synthetic pulmonary surfactants for respiratory failure, and sequence-tailored copolymers for controlled drug delivery. He is also actively involved in entrepreneurial efforts to translate these technologies toward commercialization. 

Dr. Sungu Kim is an Assistant Professor in the Michael W. Hall School of Mechanical Engineering at Mississippi State University. Dr. Kim's lab leads innovative research at the intersection of bio-transport phenomena, microfluidics, and scientific computing. Drawing upon advances in electrokinetics and micro-/nanoscale fluid dynamics, Dr. Kim's research focuses on developing experimental and computational frameworks that harness electrokinetic phenomena to manipulate, enrich, and detect biological analytes at the microscale. These powerful platforms enable precise control of charged species within miniaturized fluidic environments, creating versatile tools for biosensing, diagnostics, and point-of-care applications. Simultaneously, his lab develops high-fidelity computational methods capable of resolving the complex, multiphysics interactions that govern electrokinetic transport in biological fluids. Dr. Kim's laboratory is interested in integrating these experimental and computational approaches to uncover the fundamental mechanisms that underlie biological transport processes, with the goal of advancing next-generation microfluidic technologies for biomedical diagnostics and therapeutic applications. 

Hyun-Hwan Jeong, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. He earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from Ajou University in 2015 and completed postdoctoral training at Baylor College of Medicine before serving as a Research Assistant Professor at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

Dr. Jeong is a computer scientist specializing in artificial intelligence and machine learning applications in biomedicine. His research focuses on validating and translating AI/ML models using multi-omics, next-generation sequencing, and electronic health record data to advance precision medicine and rare disease diagnosis. He previously served as a Senior Scientist at Precede Biosciences, where he contributed to the development of an AI/ML-powered liquid biopsy platform and helped support the company’s successful Series A financing.

He currently serves as a multiple principal investigator on a project within the Autism Data Science Initiative ($4.8M over three years), leading efforts to rigorously validate AI and machine learning models for real-world biomedical applications. 

Ellen Hyeran Kang is the Associate Chair of Academics and an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and NanoScience Technology Center at University of Central Florida (UCF). Kang received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Physics from Seoul National University and a Ph.D. in Physics (Biophysics) from Brown University. Prior to joining UCF, she worked as a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University. Her group’s research is focused on protein biophysics and molecular biomechanics, investigating fundamental mechanisms that regulate the mechanical, structural, and physicochemical properties of the actin cytoskeleton- the essential structural component of living cells. Kang is a recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER award. She has been serving as the President of the Association of Korean Physicists in America (AKPA) since 2025. 

Dr. Chi Hwan Lee is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), a University Faculty Scholar, and the Leslie A. Geddes Professor at Purdue University. He holds primary joint appointments in both Biomedical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, with courtesy appointments in Materials Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor in Optometry at Indiana University and in Mechanical Engineering at Hanyang University in South Korea. Dr. Lee earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University in 2013 and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign before joining Purdue University in 2015. His research focuses on developing innovative wearable biomedical devices that address clinical needs with simplicity and effectiveness. He has received numerous honors, including the NIH Trailblazer Award and Purdue College of Engineering research and teaching awards. His scholarly contributions include more than 110 journal publications, 10 book chapters, 13 issued U.S. patents, and more than 20 additional utility patent filings. He has also co-founded four startup companies and has helped secure approximately $50 million in research funding. 

Juhun Lee, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Radiology (primary) and Industrial Engineering (secondary) at the University of Pittsburgh. His research includes developing artificial intelligence methods for breast imaging, focusing on early cancer detection, risk prediction, and robust, explainable deep learning models across mammography, digital breast tomosynthesis, ultrasound, and MRI. Dr. Lee is Principal Investigator of an NIH/NCI R37 MERIT Award on breast cancer risk prediction and also leads an NIH R01 project on occult breast cancer detection. His research integrates generative modeling, density segmentation, radiomics, and longitudinal imaging analysis to improve detection performance and model generalizability across institutions and vendors. Dr. Lee actively mentors postdoctoral fellows and interdisciplinary trainees, several of whom have advanced to independent academic positions.