Catalyst for change: Northwestern postdoctoral fellow tackles sustainable manufacturing
This summer, the Northwestern University Sustainability and Energy Fellows program welcomed its inaugural cohort, bringing top-tier global talent to campus. Among them is postdoctoral fellow Jinwon Oh, PhD, a materials science and engineering expert with degrees from Korea University, KAIST, and Stanford. Oh will spend his three-year fellowship developing cutting-edge catalysts that convert greenhouse gases into valuable chemicals.
Under the mentorship of renowned chemistry professors Chad A. Mirkin, PhD, and Mercouri Kanatzidis, PhD, Oh is bridging the gap between lab-scale science and real-world industrial solutions. Here, he shares what brought him to Evanston and how he hopes to reshape the future of sustainable manufacturing.
What do you find most exciting about the Northwestern University Sustainability and Energy Fellows program?
I am excited about the opportunity to conduct independent research while collaborating with world-class researchers at Northwestern University over the next three years. I am also looking forward to interacting with people from industry, government, and NGOs through the fellowship, since opportunities to engage with such a broad community are uncommon in traditional research programs. I believe these experiences will give me a broader perspective on energy and sustainability challenges beyond the laboratory.
What stood out to you about this fellowship opportunity compared with other postdoctoral programs?
I was looking for a postdoctoral opportunity where I could not only conduct fundamental research but also seriously consider how that research can be translated into practical technologies. Many challenges in energy and environmental systems are interdisciplinary, so I wanted to work in an environment that connects engineering, policy, and industry perspectives. Northwestern and this fellowship felt like the ideal place for me to grow as a researcher while pursuing research with broader societal impact.
What will you work on during your fellowship?
During my fellowship, I will work on developing durable, scalable catalysts for sustainable CO2 conversion technologies. While many catalyst materials show promising performance in academic studies, they often do not last long enough or are difficult to manufacture at a large scale for practical applications.
To address this challenge, I will use high-throughput synthesis and characterization methods to rapidly identify stable catalyst materials. I will also develop scalable ways to produce these materials more efficiently for future real-world applications.
How does your research help address real-world challenges in energy or sustainability?
My research focuses on converting CO2, a major greenhouse gas, into useful chemicals using renewable electricity. In particular, I am interested in producing ethylene, which is widely used to make plastics and is produced on a massive scale worldwide. Today, ethylene is mainly made from fossil resources through highly energy-intensive processes that generate significant CO2 emissions.
My goal is to develop catalytic systems that can produce ethylene directly from CO2 using electricity. If powered by renewable energy, this approach could help reduce fossil fuel use and carbon emissions while enabling more sustainable chemical manufacturing.
What do you hope to learn from your fellowship experience and your mentors in particular?
I want to learn how to evaluate research not only from a scientific perspective, but also from the standpoint of implementation and long-term impact. In energy and environmental technologies, a system may achieve excellent performance in the lab while still facing challenges related to cost, scalability, or infrastructure. Through this fellowship and mentorship, I want to explore economic feasibility, policy considerations, and potential barriers to commercialization so that I can design research projects with stronger practical relevance. I also want to learn how to communicate my research more effectively to people outside academia and engage with broader communities connected to energy and sustainability challenges.
What do you look forward to about your time at Northwestern and in the Evanston and Chicago area?
My father started his PhD at Northwestern in 1988, so I grew up hearing many great things about Evanston. I am very excited to spend time on such a beautiful lakeside campus and explore the Chicago area. I am also looking forward to finally trying the famous deep-dish pizza.
Outside of your work, do you have any hobbies or interests you would like to share?
I am a big baseball fan and closely follow the South Korean baseball league. Since moving to the Chicago area, I have also become excited about MLB because Chicago has two historic MLB teams, the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox. I am looking forward to watching their games soon.