Eileen Seo

Education

Undergraduate Institution: University of California, Berkeley

Graduate Institution: Northwestern University

Biography

Eileen received her B.S. degree in Chemical Biology from University of California, Berkeley in 2012. At Berkeley, she worked with Professor Jamie Cate where she studied synthetic biology strategy to sustain a sugar consuming yeast in different environmental conditions (e.g., acetic acid concentration). Then, she went to Northwestern University to work under Professor Chad Mirkin’s guidance and obtained her Ph.D. degree in Chemistry. Specifically, her Ph.D. work seeks to enhance the understanding of DNA-driven nanoparticle assembly and introduce kinetic routes to control mesoscale crystal habit and size for the first time (Thesis Title: Single Crystal Engineering with DNA). During her Ph.D., Eileen has been recognized with several fellowships including CBES and CCTSM Fellowships. Over the course of her undergraduate and graduate career, she has worked at the interface of chemistry, materials science, nanoscience and technology, and energy sciences. Eileen joined Professor Craig Hawker group in May 2018 as a postdoctoral fellow.

Research

Recently, Eileen developed an open-to-air synthetic method for polymer brush growth using in situ enzyme degassing and surface-initiated PET-RAFT polymerization.  Additionally, she introduced the concept of generating stimuli-responsive polymeric solids via 3D printing by incorporating thermally expandable microspheres into the photocurable resin.