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Minjung Kim, a graduate student in the department of chemistry in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, has been awarded the 2024 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, a prestigious scholarship granted to immigrants or children of immigrants.
Kim is one of just 30 students nationwide to be awarded the fellowship, chosen for their potential to make significant contributions to U.S. society, culture or their academic field. The two-year fellowship provides up to $90,000 to cover graduate education expenses.
“The Soros Fellowship isn’t just about celebrating the accomplishments of New Americans, it also highlights our experiences and struggles of having to navigate through different cultures, languages and identities,” Kim said. “Having been awarded this fellowship is incredibly validating, as it recognizes not just my scientific journey but also the challenges that my family and I faced as immigrants.”
Kim’s research interests include using metal-organic frameworks and photocatalysts for environmental remediation applications. She currently is co-advised by professors Omar Farha and Dayne Swearer. Kim hopes her fundamental studies in light-matter interactions of novel nanomaterials catalyze the implementation and expansion of direct air capture and environmental remediation.
She was born in Seoul, South Korea, and immigrated to the United States when she was seven years old. Kim grew up in Houston and received her bachelor’s degrees in chemical and biomolecular engineering and in chemistry at Rice University.
“Minjung’s array of engagements from environmental policy to music performance embodies the Soros Fellowship’s intention to integrate lessons learned from the immigrant experience in all facets of American life,” said Elizabeth Lewis Pardoe, director of the Office of Fellowships. “A deep thinker about the human condition, Minjung is the sort of citizen scientist we need to build ethical and efficacious solutions for today and tomorrow.”
Hungarian immigrants Paul and Daisy Soros founded the Soros Fellowship for New Americans in 1997. Since then, the program has provided more than $80 million in funding, and recipients have studied a range of fields from medicine and the arts to law and business.