Cheon Jinwoo is the H.G. Underwood Professor at

Yonsei University Yonsei University (; ) is a private research university in Seoul, South Korea. As a member of the " SKY" universities, Yonsei University is deemed one of the three most prestigious institutions in the country. It is particularly respected in t ...

and the Director of the Center for Nanomedicine, Institute for Basic Science (IBS). As a leading chemist in inorganic materials chemistry and

nanomedicine Nanomedicine is the medical application of nanotechnology. Nanomedicine ranges from the medical applications of nanomaterials and biological devices, to nanoelectronic biosensors, and even possible future applications of molecular nanotec ...

Cheon and his group research chemical principles for the preparation of complex inorganic materials. He has been a Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher both in the field of chemistry in 2014, 2015, 2016 and cross-field in 2018. He is a fellow of the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society (professional association) in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Ro ...

, and Korean Academy of Science and Technology, a senior editor of ''

Accounts of Chemical Research ''Accounts of Chemical Research'' is a semi-monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Chemical Society containing overviews of basic research and applications in chemistry and biochemistry. It was established in 1968 and t ...

'' and an editorial advisory board member of ''

Journal of Materials Chemistry The ''Journal of Materials Chemistry'' was a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering the applications, properties and synthesis of new materials. It was established in 1991 and published by the Royal Society of Chemistry. At the end of 201 ...

'', '' Nano Letters'' and '' Materials Horizons''.

Education

Cheon enrolled in

in 1981 majoring in chemistry. He later obtained a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

and

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast ...

in 1985 and 1987, respectively. Studying under Professor

Gregory S. Girolami Gregory S. Girolami (born October 16, 1956) is the William H. and Janet G. Lycan Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on the synthesis, properties, and reactivity of new inorganic, organometal ...

, Cheon received a Ph.D. in chemistry from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Unive ...

at Urbana-Champaign in 1993. Staying in the U.S., he did postdoc work in the

University of California Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

Career

Staying in the U.S., Cheon was a postdoc in the

. For the next three years, he was a staff research associate at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

before returning to Korea to work as an assistant and then associate professor at

KAIST The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) is a national research university located in Daedeok Innopolis, Daejeon, South Korea. KAIST was established by the Korean government in 1971 as the nation's first public, resear ...

. His research at KAIST focused on geometrical shape control of nanoparticles and magnetic particles. This also marked his first publication on

nanocrystal A ''nanocrystal'' is a material particle having at least one dimension smaller than 100 nanometres, based on quantum dots (a nanoparticle) and composed of atoms in either a single- or poly-crystalline arrangement. The size of nanocrystals disti ...

s which is a reoccurring interest in his research career and a source of multiple highly cited articles. He started working at Yonsei University as a full professor in 2002 and later became the Horace G. Underwood Professor in 2008. His research at Yonsei on nanoscale phenomena has led to nanomaterial applications in biology, including highly sensitive MRI contrast agents and nanoscale toolkits for cells. A notable study is from 2004, when he demonstrated the principle of size-dependent MRI contrast effects using nanoparticles which enabled the development of magnetism-engineered iron oxide (MEIO) as an ultra-sensitive nanoparticle MRI contrast agent which might help detect early stage cancer. From 2010 to 2016, Cheon was the director of the National Creative Research Initiative Center for Evolutionary Nanoparticles. From 2015, he became the director of the newly established Yonsei-Institute of Basic Science Center for Nanomedicine at the

Sinchon campus.

Awards and honors

*2024:

Humboldt Research Award The Humboldt Prize, the Humboldt-Forschungspreis in German, also known as the Humboldt Research Award, is an award given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany to internationally renowned scientists and scholars who work outside of G ...

*2018: Madhuri and Jagdish N. Sheth International Alumni Award for Exceptional Achievement (

) *2015:

Ho-Am Prize in Science The Ho-Am Prize in Science was established in 1990 by Kun-Hee Lee, the Chairman of Samsung, to honour the late Chairman, Lee Byung-chul, the founder of the company. The Ho-Am Prize in Science (previously the Ho-Am Prize in Science & Technology) ...

(HOAM Foundation) *2014: The World's Most Influential Scientific Minds (Thomson Reuters) *2013: KCS Academic Achievement Award (Korean Chemical Society) *2012:

POSCO TJ Park Prize POSCO TJ Park Prize is an annual award presented by the POSCO TJ Park Foundation in four categories; science, education, community development and philanthropy, and technology. The science prize is given to Korean scientists in natural science or ...

(POSCO TJ Park Foundation) *2012: Korea's 100 Most Influential Person for Next 10 Years (DongA Daily News) *2010: Inchon Prize (Inchon Memorial Foundation) *2007: Song-Gok Science Prize (

Korea Institute of Science and Technology Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic of ...

) *2004: KCS Award in Inorganic Chemistry (Korean Chemical Society) *2002: Young Scientist Award, Korean Academy of Science and Technology *2001: Wiley Young Chemist Award (Korean Chemical Society-Wiley & Sons)

Selected recent publications

* * * * * * * * *

References

External links

Google Scholar Jinwoo CheonIBS Center for NanoMedicine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheon, Jinwoo 1962 births Living people Institute for Basic Science Organic chemists Recipients of the Ho-Am Prize in Science South Korean chemists South Korean scientists POSCO TJ Park Prize Humboldt Research Award recipients