Chinedum Osuji (born December 15, 1976) is the Eduardo D. Glandt Presidential Professor and the departmental chair of chemical and biomolecular engineering (CBE) at

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. He is also a former Taekwondo

Olympian Olympian or Olympians may refer to: Religion * Twelve Olympians, the principal gods and goddesses in ancient Greek religion * Olympian spirits, spirits mentioned in books of ceremonial magic Fiction * ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'', fiction ...

and represented

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

. His laboratory works on polymers and soft materials for functional application including liquid

filtration Filtration is a physical separation process that separates solid matter and fluid from a mixture using a ''filter medium'' that has a complex structure through which only the fluid can pass. Solid particles that cannot pass through the filter ...

. He is the associate editor of the journal ''Macromolecules''.

Early life and education

Chinedum Osuji was born in

and lived there until he began his education in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. He studied materials science and engineering, receiving his

bachelor's A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ye ...

degree from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

in 1999. During his studies Cornell he completed a senior thesis on random copolymers for polymer interface reinforcement with Edward J. Kramer. In 2003, Osuji received his

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). At MIT he worked under the supervision of Edwin L. Thomas. His research thesis was on the structure and properties of

liquid crystal Liquid crystal (LC) is a state of matter whose properties are between those of conventional liquids and those of solid crystals. For example, a liquid crystal may flow like a liquid, but its molecules may be oriented in a crystal-like way. T ...

line block copolymers. After receiving his PhD, he worked at Surface Logix Inc., a start-up company, working on using

soft lithography In technology, soft lithography is a family of techniques for fabricating or replicating structures using "elastomeric stamps, molds, and conformable photomasks". It is called "soft" because it uses elastomeric materials, most notably PDMS. So ...

to fabricate cell-based assays, planar waveguides and other devices. From 2005 to 2007, Osuji was a postdoctoral researcher at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

working with

David A. Weitz David A. Weitz (born October 3, 1951) is a Canadian/American physicist and Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics & Applied Physics at Harvard University. He is the former co-director of the BASF Advanced Research Initiative at Harvard, former co-dire ...

on colloidal gels.

Taekwondo career

In 2000, while at MIT, Chinedum Osuji co-founded the MIT sport taekwondo team. He represented

at the

World Taekwondo Championships The World Taekwondo Championship is held every two years by World Taekwondo. Competitions 1 Wuxi, China, was originally selected to host the 2021 World Taekwondo Championships. Due to the impact of the Global COVID-19 pandemic, Wuxi gave up ...

in the

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, and 2005 games. In 2003, he received a silver medal at the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

qualifier. In 2004, Chinedum qualified to compete in taekwondo men's 80 kg at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, but was defeated by Rashad Ahmadov of

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

in the preliminary round. He competed in the

2007 Pan American Games The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athletes from 42 National Olympic Com ...

, receiving a bronze medal and then announced his retirement from future international competitions.

Scientific career and research

In 2007, after completing his post-doc at

, he joined the faculty of

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in the department of chemical and environmental engineering. In 2017 he joined the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering of the

as the Eduardo D. Glandt Presidential Professor. In 2021, he became the chair of the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering. Osuji research focuses on the study of the structure, dynamics, and self-assembly of soft matter for use in applications such as

organic solar cells An organic solar cell (OSC) or plastic solar cell is a type of photovoltaic that uses organic electronics, a branch of electronics that deals with conductive organic polymers or small organic molecules, for light absorption and charge transport t ...

, nanofiltration and

microfluidic Microfluidics refers to the behavior, precise control, and manipulation of fluids that are geometrically constrained to a small scale (typically sub-millimeter) at which surface forces dominate volumetric forces. It is a multidisciplinary field tha ...

bio-assays. In particular, he has studied methods to induce long-range order in soft matter systems such as block copolymers and liquid crystals and self-assembly of nanomaterials. He is the author of over 100 publications. Osuji is currently an associate editor of ''Macromolecules''.

Honors and awards

* 2008 National Science Foundation CAREER Award * 2010

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

Arthur Greer Memorial Prize * 2011

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...

Materials Research Lab Dow Distinguished Lectureship * 2012 3M Nontenured Faculty Award * 2012

Office of Naval Research The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is an organization within the United States Department of the Navy responsible for the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Established by Congress in 1946, its mission is to plan ...

Young Investigator Award * 2013

Materials Department Lange Lectureship * 2015 National Academy of Engineering von Humboldt Frontiers of Engineering Speaker * 2015

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

John H. Dillon Medal * 2015

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

Hendrick C. Van Ness Award * 2016

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

School of Engineering and Applied Science Advancement of Basic and Applied Science Award * 2016

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences The Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is the graduate school of Yale University. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest graduate school in North America, and was the first North American graduate school to confer a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D ...

Graduate Mentor Award * 2018 University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Racheff Lecture * 2018

Fellow * 2019 Nano Research Young Investigator Award * 2021

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

Outstanding Researcher Award

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osuji, Chinedum Yale University faculty Trinidad and Tobago male taekwondo practitioners Cornell University College of Engineering alumni Taekwondo practitioners at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic taekwondo practitioners for Trinidad and Tobago 1976 births Living people Pan American Games bronze medalists for Trinidad and Tobago Pan American Games medalists in taekwondo Taekwondo practitioners at the 2007 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games University of Pennsylvania faculty Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni American materials scientists American chemical engineers Fellows of the American Physical Society