Professor Jong-in Hahm

Academic Training

My academic training started at Seoul National University in Seoul, Korea. As a part of my undergraduate training there, I carried out a senior thesis project on the research topic of surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy of metallic nanoparticles. After getting a B. S. degree, I came to the U.S. and started a Ph. D. program in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Chicago in Chicago, IL During my doctoral training, my research centered on the development of new scanning probe techniques and their applications to various systems including diblock copolymers, metallic surfaces, and bacterial cells. I then carried out postdoctoral research in the Department of Chemistry at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA. My postdoctoral research was focused on the detection of polymorphisms and mutations in human genes using single-walled carbon nanotubes and boron-doped silicon nanowires. I began an independent research and teaching career as an assistant professor in the Chemical Engineering Department at the Pennsylvania State University in University Park, PA. In Aug. 2010, I moved to Washington, DC where I am currently serving as a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Georgetown University. My research interests lie in the highly multidisciplinary areas of nanoscience and nanobiotechnology through advancing fundamental knowledge in the areas of physical and analytical chemistry.  A suite of microscopy, spectroscopy, and surface characterization approaches are employed in order to investigate unique chemical, optical, and optoelectronic properties of one-dimensional polymeric, inorganic, and  bio-based nanomaterials as well as their hybrid systems.