Welcome to Seung-Jin Lee, Asst. Professor in ERS and CSEP!

LeeName: Seung-Jin Lee
Title: Assistant Professor in Sustainability and Mechanical Engineering
Departments: ERS/CSEP

 Classes I’m teaching:
GEO 380 (Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development)
GEO 491 (Sustainable Systems Seminar)
EGR/POL 235 (Global Energy)

Professional Interests/Activities:
• My previous position was as a postdoctoral fellow at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Risk Management Research Laboratory in Cincinnati, Ohio.
• My first research grant was awarded by a Michigan corporation – the Ford Motor Company.
• I was part of the inaugural group of Life Cycle Assessment Certified Professionals.

Research Interests: Life cycle assessment, industrial ecology, sustainable design and engineering, renewable and clean energy systems, end-of-life management

Awards:
• Symposium on Industrial Ecology for Young Professionals (SIEYP) Travel Grant, International Society for Industrial Ecology
• Graduate Student Scholarship, Korea-US Science Cooperation Center (KUSCO) & Korean American Scientists and Engineers Association (KSEA)
• Graduate Student Research Grant, Ford Motor Company
• Pratt & Whitney Award for Outstanding Senior Design Project in Mechanical Engineering, Boston University

Degree(s)/Education:
• Ph.D Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington, 2011
• M.S. Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 2005
• B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Boston University, 2003

Memberships:
• International Society of Industrial Ecology (ISIE)
• Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association (KSEA)

How I fell in love with my field: I’ve always been for leading a sustainable lifestyle, but never thought about implementing it as a field of expertise. I had a great research opportunity that was literally given to me, and I never looked back ever since.

What I hope for my time at UM-Flint: In simple terms, to be an active contributing part of the UM-Flint family. I want to share as many ideas with students, faculty and staff, such that the campus and the local community can continuously improve towards being one of the best universities in the world.

Three things you should know about me:
1. I’m a third culture kid – born in South Korea, raised in Malaysia and Singapore, and matured all across the United States (Boston, Pittsburgh, Seattle and Cincinnati).
2. I love traveling – I’ve visited approximately 120 cities across 20 countries, mostly in North America, Europe and Asia.
3. Three out of four U.S. metropolitan areas I’ve lived in have won the super bowl within the past decade. The Lions could be next…someday.