Both positions are for nanopore research funded by NIH and NSF: one is to investigate deformability of soft nanoparticles such as viruses (AAVs and HIVs) and liposomes (http://bastlabs.org/spectroscopy.html) and the other to understanding protein-protein interactions such as binding/unbinding mechanics and conformational changes under electric fields (http://bastlabs.org/nanopore.html).

For direct PhD program in the Mechanical Engineering Department at SMU, undergraduate GPA should be >3.5/4.0. Candidates' undergraduate major should be Mechanical, Electrical, or Biomedical Engineering for nanopore research.

Any qualified students for these positions, please kindly contact Prof. MinJun Kim (mjkim@lyle.smu.edu) with your CV, transcript, TOEFL(or IELTS) and GRE Quantitative scores, and three letters of recommendation.

MinJun Kim Ph.D.   PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Dr. MinJun Kim is presently the Robert C. Womack Endowed Chair Professor of Engineering at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Southern Methodist University. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Yonsei University in Korea and Texas A&M University, respectively. Dr. Kim completed his Ph.D. degree in Engineering at Brown University, where he held the prestigious Simon Ostrach Fellowship. Following his graduate studies, Dr. Kim was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Rowland Institute in Harvard University. He joined Drexel University in 2006 as Assistant Professor and was later promoted to Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics. Dr. Kim has been exploring biological transport phenomena including cellular/molecular mechanics and engineering in novel nano/microscale architectures to produce new types of nanobiotechology, such as nanopore technology and nano/micro robotics. His notable awards include the National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2008), Drexel Career Development Award (2008), Human Frontier Science Program Young Investigator Award (2009), Army Research Office Young Investigator Award (2010), Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship (2011), KOFST Brain Pool Fellowship (2013 & 2015), Bionic Engineering Outstanding Contribution Award (2013), Louis & Bessie Stein Fellowship (2008 & 2014), ISBE Fellow (2014), ASME Fellow (2014), Top10 Netexplo Award (2016), KSEA & KOFST Engineer of the Year Award (2016), IEEE Senior Member (2017), Gerald J. Ford Research Fellowship (2018), and Protégé of The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (2019).