![]() | |||||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nationality | Trinidad and Tobago | ||||||||||||||
Born | 15 December 1976 | ||||||||||||||
Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||||||||||||||
Weight | 80 kg (176 lb) | ||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||
Sport | Taekwondo | ||||||||||||||
Event | 80 kg | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Chinedum Osuji (born December 15, 1976) [1] is the Eduardo D. Glandt Presidential Professor and the departmental chair of chemical and biomolecular engineering (CBE) at University of Pennsylvania. He is also a former Taekwondo Olympian and represented Trinidad and Tobago. His laboratory works on polymers and soft materials for functional application including liquid filtration. [2] He is the associate editor of the journal Macromolecules. [3]
Chinedum Osuji was born in Trinidad and Tobago and lived there until he began his education in the United States. [4] He studied materials science and engineering, receiving his bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 1999. [5] During his studies Cornell he completed a senior thesis on random copolymers for polymer interface reinforcement with Edward J. Kramer. [5] In 2003, Osuji received his PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). [6] At MIT he worked under the supervision of Edwin L. Thomas. [7] His research thesis was on the structure and properties of liquid crystalline block copolymers. [7]
After receiving his PhD, he worked at Surface Logix Inc., a start-up company, working on using soft lithography to fabricate cell-based assays, planar waveguides and other devices. [5] [6] From 2005 to 2007, Osuji was a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University working with David A. Weitz on colloidal gels. [5]
In 2000, while at MIT, Chinedum Osuji co-founded the MIT sport taekwondo team. [8]
He represented Trinidad and Tobago at the World Taekwondo Championships in the 2001, 2003, and 2005 games. [9]
In 2003, he received a silver medal at the Pan American Games qualifier. [9]
In 2004, Chinedum qualified to compete in taekwondo men's 80 kg at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, but was defeated by Rashad Ahmadov of Azerbaijan in the preliminary round. [1]
He competed in the 2007 Pan American Games, receiving a bronze medal [9] and then announced his retirement from future international competitions. [4]
In 2007, after completing his post-doc at Harvard University, he joined the faculty of Yale University in the department of chemical and environmental engineering. [4] In 2017 he joined the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering of the University of Pennsylvania as the Eduardo D. Glandt Presidential Professor. [10] In 2021, he became the chair of the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering. [11]
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, nanofiltration and microfluidic bio-assays. [12] In particular, he has studied methods to induce long-range order in soft matter systems such as block copolymers and liquid crystals [13] [14] [15] and self-assembly of nanomaterials. [16]
He is the author of over 100 publications. [17] Osuji is currently an associate editor of Macromolecules. [3]