Jae Hyun Nam Receives ACS Energy & Fuels Division Student Award
The Department of Mechanical Engineering is pleased to announce that Jae Hyun Nam, a graduate student, has been recognized with the Silver Award in the Student Excellent Presentation Award competition of the Energy and Fuels Division (ENFL) of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and Peter Derrick Memorial Fund at the 2026 ACS Spring National Meeting.
The ACS Energy and Fuels Division (ENFL) Student Excellent Presentation Award recognizes outstanding oral presentations delivered by graduate students in ENFL symposia at ACS National Meetings. The competition is sponsored by the Peter Derrick Memorial Fund and awards Gold, Silver, and other honors to the top-ranked student presenters, based on the scientific quality, originality, and clarity of their presentations. The award reflects ENFL’s commitment to supporting and advancing the next generation of researchers in the fields of energy and fuels chemistry.
Nam’s presentation highlighted a pioneering research platform developed in the Department of Mechanical Engineering: the first-of-its-kind in-situ plasma transmission electron microscopy (TEM) system capable of monitoring the morphological evolution of nanomaterials under live plasma conditions. This breakthrough platform bridges the low-temperature plasma and energy and fuels research communities by demonstrating carbon-free material processing and enabling real-time investigation of its kinetics at the nanoscale.
His advisor, Professor Peter Bruggeman, praised Nam’s exceptional contribution to advancing the field:
“Jae spearheaded the development of a plasma in situ TEM device—currently the only operational system of its kind globally. His groundbreaking experiments yielded unique data that unlocked fundamental new insights in plasma nano-engineering, directly impacting applications in energy, sensing, and catalysis.”
Reflecting on years of perseverance through a development process that once seemed out of reach, Nam speaks to the deeper meaning this recognition holds:
“Winning an award for this work is meaningful especially after spending several years into the development, which seemed almost impossible at the beginning. I am delighted that our work is broadly recognized by the chemistry community.”