Jun named ACS Fellow

Young-Shin Jun was elected an American Chemical Society Fellow, the first from the McKelvey School of Engineering

Beth Miller 07.30.2019

First recipient in McKelvey School of Engineering

Young-Shin Jun, professor of energy, environmental & chemical engineering, has been named an ACS Fellow by the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society. She is the first recipient from the McKelvey School of Engineering and the third at Washington University in St. Louis.

Jun is one of 70 members of the society to be named a fellow in 2019 and one of an elite group of more than 1,100 scientists who have received the recognition, which honors members of ACS for outstanding achievements in and contributions to science, the profession and the society. She will be honored at a ceremony and reception Aug. 26 during the Society's national meeting in San Diego.

Jun is an active member of ACS, serving on its organizational level Committee on Science and previously serving as the past division chair (2017), division chair (2016), program chair (2015), and program chair-elect (2014) of the ACS's Geochemistry Division.

Jun's research in the Environmental NanoChemistry Laboratory (ENCL) includes environmental chemistry and engineering, geochemistry, nanochemistry, materials chemistry and engineering, surface chemistry and chemical engineering. Research in her lab investigates energy-related subsurface engineering systems, including geologic CO₂ sequestration, conventional and unconventional oil and gas recovery, hydrothermal energy and nuclear waste disposal. Based on a scientific understanding of nanoscale interfacial chemistry and solid nucleation, she and members of her lab seek new treatment techniques and new catalysts for purifying drinking water and remediating contaminated water and soil, benefiting water reuse, managed aquifer recharge, and membrane processes (reverse osmosis membranes and ultrafiltration). In addition, her group studies biomineralization and bio-inspired chemistry to develop novel materials for a more sustainable environment.

Jun joined the faculty at Washington University in St. Louis in 2008. Among her many honors include a 2008 Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award and a 2011 U.S. National Science Foundation CAREER Award. She was named a 2015 Kavli Fellow by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, a 2016 Frontier of Engineering Fellow by the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and a 2018 Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. She serves on the advisory board of Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts, serves as an associate editor of Geochemical Transactions and sits on the editorial boards of RSC Advances and the Journal of Hazardous Materials.

Jun earned bachelor's and master's degrees at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea, master's and doctoral degrees from Harvard University and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

The McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis promotes independent inquiry and education with an emphasis on scientific excellence, innovation and collaboration without boundaries. McKelvey Engineering has top-ranked research and graduate programs across departments, particularly in biomedical engineering, environmental engineering and computing, and has one of the most selective undergraduate programs in the country. With 165 full-time faculty, 1,420 undergraduate students, 1,614 graduate students and 21,000 living alumni, we are working to solve some of society’s greatest challenges; to prepare students to become leaders and innovate throughout their careers; and to be a catalyst of economic development for the St. Louis region and beyond.