Kueyoung Kim named 2025 Department of Chemistry Commencement Marshal
The Department of Chemistry is pleased to announce that graduating chemistry major Kueyoung Kim has been selected as the 2025 departmental commencement marshal.
Student marshals play an integral role in commencement ceremonies; they represent their college or department and lead their fellow graduates in the procession to enter the commencement hall. The title of student marshal is one of the highest honors an undergraduate student can earn at Penn State. Kim was selected for this important role in recognition of his exemplary academic record and contributions to the chemistry community at Penn State.
Kim, of State College, is a Millennium and Schreyer scholar with extensive undergraduate research experience at Penn State and beyond. He was a recipient of the Goldwater and Churchill Scholarships, and a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship. He is also minoring in mathematics.
Kim has conducted research at Penn State under Lauren Zarzar, associate professor of chemistry, materials science and engineering, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. His other research as an undergraduate includes a research experience for undergraduates (REU) under Robert Carpick, John Henry Towne Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics at the University of Pennsylvania; Amgen Scholars Program under Matthew Francis, Aldo DeBenedictis Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, UC Berkeley; an internship at the Max Planck Institute in Germany under David Zwicker; and the MIT Summer Research Program under Mark Bathe, professor of biological engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He also is proud, he said, of his involvement in Science LionPride in the Eberly College of Science and independent science outreach in collaboration with Gina Noh, assistant professor of chemical engineering, in developing science outreach for K-12 students.
After graduation, Kim will pursue a one-year master of philosophy in physics at the University of Cambridge where he’ll be researching new molecules that have interesting properties for light harvesting and quantum information science. With a long-term goal of addressing global sustainability issues as a professor, he aims to leverage his interdisciplinary perspective and passion for collaboration at the interface of chemistry, physics, and biology.