Chulsung Bae is Ford Foundation Professor at Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology (with a joint appointment at Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Broadly speaking, Bae's research group focuses on development of functional polymeric materials that might find applications in the areas of clean energy and environment technologies, using synthetic organic chemistry as a tool. Specific examples of projects include innovative ion conducting polymer electrolytes that can be used as a key component in next generation energy conversion and storage technologies, such as fuel cells, hydrogen production via water splitting, and redox flow battery, and functional polymers that can play a crucial role in energy efficient separation process.
Bae received BS in Polymer Science & Engineering at Inha University, MS in Materials Science at POSTECH, MS in Chemistry at University of Massachusetts at Lowell, and PhD in Chemistry at University of Southern California under the guidance of Surya Prakash and Nobel Laureate George Olah. After postdoctoral research with John Hartwig at Yale University, he started independent academic career at University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) as an Assistant Professor in 2004. In 2012 Bae relocated his research group to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Dr. Bae received a number of awards including New Investigator Award of UNLV (2005), National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2008), and RPI School of Science Outstanding Research Award (2016). In 2017 Dr. Bae received a $2.5 million contract from the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Products Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to develop innovative solid ion conducting materials for next generation renewable energy conversion and storage technology.