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The Graduate School congratulates Dr. Seonhee Jang as a recipient of the 2024 Outstanding Master’s Mentor Award.

Dr. Jang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Her research includes efforts to understand better the composition of materials that allow easy flow of electrical currents/signals in flexible circuit “boards.” Essential to bendable electronics, this research is applied to smart clothing and other consumer, industrial and defense-oriented electronics. She joined the faculty at UL Lafayette in 2018 and instantly began mentoring graduate students, most often one-on-one, with patience and determination. 

Nominated by her department head, Dr. Alan Barhorst, Dr. Jang is a subject matter expert in Material Science and, more specifically, electronic materials. She served for many years as a material scientist for Samsung. That experience, along with her expansive research, has helped her better prepare our graduate students to develop a depth of knowledge beyond the current curriculum. With her commitment, graduate students are prepared better than ever for the competitive job market in electronics manufacturing. 

“My primary goal is to help graduate students develop the fundamental knowledge and practical skills to put their ideas into practice,” she says. “Additionally, I advise students to build up their creative and innovative thinking capacities so they can overcome academic challenges and successfully enter a variety of industries or academia.”

Dr. Jang’s dedication to effective mentorship is especially evident in her relationships with the twelve graduate students she has advised since 2018. Since becoming a committee chair, six master's students have graduated, and two more master's students as well as one Ph.D. student will finish within the next year and a half. Several have won awards including a National Science Foundation Travel award, Engineering and Technology Oral Presentation Competition award, the Graduate School STEM Research Showcase Competition award, and recognition as an Alumni Association Outstanding Master’s Graduate Finalist. students’ productive dissemination of their research. Perhaps even more impressive is the publication and conference record of these students. Not only do her students win awards but together they have published and presented their research extensively.

Dr. Jang works on many fronts to prepare her graduate students. She has created two new graduate-level courses focused on material development and manufacturing. Her lab introduces students to advanced materials and manufacturing with great intention to broaden their perspective in ways that will set them apart in future careers. To ensure that her graduate students leave the University as efficient leaders, she helps them become effective mentors themselves by allowing them to lead training undergraduate students to operate state-of-the-art lab equipment. Once she locates a need, she works to fill the gap. In her own, “I will continuously devote myself to increasing graduate student satisfaction and success.”
 
Thank you, Dr. Jang, for your deep commitment to graduate student career success. “It is clear,” Dr. Barhorst shared, “that Dr. Seonhee Jang has taken it upon herself to be an outstanding mentor of our M.S. students. She has completely dedicated herself to the role of graduate student mentor.” We too are grateful for your steadfast commitment to our graduate student outcomes. You are what defines graduate education excellence at the �������Ƶ.