Chinedum Osuji

Chinedum Osuji is the Eduardo D. Glandt Presidential Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania, with a secondary appointment in Materials Science and Engineering. He received his B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Cornell University in 1996 and his Ph.D. in the same field from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2003, where his dissertation focused on structure-property relationships and self-assembly of liquid crystalline block copolymers. Following his doctorate, he served as a Senior Scientist at Surface Logix Inc. from 2003 to 2005, working on soft lithography, and then as a Postdoctoral Associate in Applied Physics at Harvard University from 2005 to 2007, studying shear-induced structure and dynamics of colloidal gels. Osuji joined the faculty of Yale University's Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering in 2007, advancing to Associate Professor with tenure before moving to the University of Pennsylvania in 2018 as a full Professor.

Osuji directs an experimental research group investigating the structure, dynamics, and functional properties of soft materials and complex fluids, including colloidal suspensions, liquid crystals, surfactants, polymers, and biological materials. His studies emphasize interfacial phenomena, directed self-assembly of block copolymers and soft mesophases using magnetic and optical fields, rheology, transport in nanoporous membranes with sub-1 nm pores for water purification and electrochemical devices, phase behavior of liquid crystals, and autonomous experimentation. Representative publications include "Materials for next-generation desalination and water purification membranes" (Nature Reviews Materials, 2016), "Directed self-assembly of block copolymers: a tutorial review of strategies for enabling nanotechnology with soft matter" (Soft Matter, 2014), "Structure, function, and self-assembly of single network gyroid (I4132) photonic crystals in butterfly wing scales" (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2010), "High performance nanofiltration membrane for effective removal of perfluoroalkyl substances at high water recovery" (Environmental Science & Technology, 2018), and "Scalable fabrication of polymer membranes with vertically aligned 1 nm pores by magnetic field directed self-assembly" (ACS Nano, 2014). Osuji has been honored with the American Physical Society Fellowship (2018), John H. Dillon Medal (2015), NSF CAREER Award (2008), Intel Outstanding Researcher Award (2021), Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water (2022), Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award (2012), and 3M Nontenured Faculty Award (2012). He serves as Associate Editor for Macromolecules and was a member of the Materials Research Society Board of Directors (2021-2024).

Professional Email: cosuji@seas.upenn.edu