Youngjae Chun, PhD

Dr. Youngjae Chun is an Associate Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering, Swanson School of Engineering, with a secondary appointment in Swanson’s Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Chun obtained his BS from Inha University (South Korea) in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.  He obtained his Master's at Inha University and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a specialization in Manufacturing and MEMS technology.  He obtained his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at UCLA in June 2009 working on the development of biomedical devices to treat vascular diseases using smart artificial materials through minimally invasive surgery.  He worked as a postdoctoral researcher in UCLA's Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department's Active Materials Laboratory and UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine’s Center for Advanced Surgical and Interventional Technology. Dr. Chun was a recipient of a 2019 Innovative Project Award from American Heart Association, 2019 Independent Research Award from The Children’s Heart Foundation, UCLA’s 2010 Chancellor's Award for Postdoctoral Research, ASME best paper award, and SPIE Smart Materials best paper/presentation award.  Dr. Chun is a member of the American Heart Association, Society for Biomaterials, Biomedical Engineering Society, ASME, SPIE, IIE, and KSEA. Currently, Dr. Chun’s research interests include designing/manufacturing the metallic medical devices, investigating biocompatibility, analyzing the mechanical and physical behaviors, and testing biomedical devices. In current research, Dr. Chun combines the comprehensive knowledge from diverse fields such as material processing, MEMS/Nano fabrication, biomedical science, and surface engineering that is crucially important to successfully fulfill the goal of interdisciplinary projects of metallic biomaterial-based medical devices for vascular repair. Dr. Chun has developed various metallic biomaterial-based endovascular devices for treating brain/aortic aneurysms, cardiovascular disease, peripheral arterial disease, vascular injuries, and trauma. Dr. Chun is also interested in bio-hybrid composites, diagnostic vascular implants, and micro-bio-systems, as well as fundamental device-associated biocompatibility and development of experimental methods. View a partial list of Dr. Chun’s publications here.