Young Bum Lee

Polymer chemistry & soft materials

Biography

Welcome!

Postdoctoral Researcher · Hawker Group

Materials Research Laboratory
University of California, Santa Barbara

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I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Materials Research Laboratory at UC Santa Barbara, working with Professor Craig J. Hawker.

I earned my Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with Professor Paul V. Braun, studying self-healing thermosets and chemically activated embedded 3D printing.

My earlier training at Seoul National University and research at the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology focused on functional nanomaterials, stretchable electronics, and integrated devices. These experiences inform my approach to connecting molecular design with material performance.

View academic CV ↗

Presentations & lectures

Young Bum Lee presenting at his Racheff–Intel Award talk.
Racheff–Intel Award talk
Young Bum Lee presenting at his Ph.D. defense presentation.
Ph.D. defense presentation
Young Bum Lee presenting at his Departmental talk.
Departmental talk
Young Bum Lee discussing thermally stable self-healing chemistry with a seminar audience.
Sharing the chemistry behind self-healing materials.
Young Bum Lee presenting at ACS Spring 2023.
ACS Spring 2023
Young Bum Lee presenting at ACS Spring 2024.
ACS Spring 2024

Selected research highlights

Figure 1: embedded printing in a chemically activating bath, a printed lattice, interfacial catalyst activation, filament curing, and polymerization chemistry.
Featured Advanced Materials · 2025Read paper ↗Enlarge ↗
Figure 1 · Lee et al. © 2025 The Author(s). CC BY 4.0.
Figure 1: frontal polymerization of a thermoset containing microcapsules, damage-triggered healing chemistry, propagation photographs, and capsule micrograph.
Featured Advanced Materials · 2024Read paper ↗Enlarge ↗
Figure 1 · Lee et al. © 2023 The Authors. CC BY 4.0.
Figure 1: exploded schematics of a graphene-based wearable sensing and therapy patch, microneedles, and photographs of devices on skin.
Nature Nanotechnology · 2016Read paper ↗Enlarge ↗
Figure 1 · Lee et al. © 2016 Macmillan Publishers Limited.
Figure 1: flexible nanotube-based piezoelectric energy-harvesting fibers, their structure, outdoor demonstration, and electron micrographs.
Advanced Materials · 2017Read paper ↗Enlarge ↗
Figure 1 · Lee et al. © 2016 Wiley-VCH.
ZnO growth diagrams and electron micrographs showing nanowires, nanosheets, and nanoflowers on graphene and MoS2.
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces · 2017Read paper ↗Enlarge ↗
Figure 1 · Lee et al. © 2017 American Chemical Society.
Microwave-assisted synthesis of MoS2 on gold nanowire arrays with scanning and transmission electron microscopy.
Journal of Materials Chemistry A · 2019Read paper ↗Enlarge ↗
Figure 1 · Lee et al. © 2019 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
Graphical abstract showing how cross-linker substituents control stress relaxation in polyborosiloxane networks.
ACS Macro Letters · 2026Read paper ↗Enlarge ↗
Graphical abstract · Getty et al. © 2026 American Chemical Society.
Embedded frontal polymerization: chemical reaction schemes, pre-print and post-print heating strategies, and printing demonstrations.
Advanced Functional Materials · 2026Read paper ↗Enlarge ↗
Figure 1 · Hossain et al. © 2026 The Author(s). CC BY 4.0.
Roll-to-roll processing of layer-controlled MoS2, equipment photographs, spectroscopy, and atomic structures.
Advanced Materials · 2018Read paper ↗Enlarge ↗
Figure 1 · Lim et al. © 2017 Wiley-VCH.

Research interests

My research connects polymer chemistry, network architecture, and processing to develop functional soft materials. Current interests include reactive 3D printing, self-healing and dynamic networks, and polymer interfaces.

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Academic background

Full profile, education, and appointments →

2024–PRESENT

UC Santa Barbara

Postdoctoral Researcher
Materials Research Laboratory

2019–2024

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering

2015–2018

Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology

Researcher, Thin Film Materials Research Center

2009–2015

Seoul National University

B.S. & M.S., Chemical and Biological Engineering