Elizabeth M.Y. Lee

•Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Irvine

•Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Irvine

Biography

Elizabeth M.Y. Lee, Ph.D., is Samueli Faculty Development Chair Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, and Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering by courtesy, at the University of California, Irvine. She is also a member of the Chemical, Applied, and Materials Physics (ChAMP) Program and the Eddleman Quantum Institute at UCI. Through the Lee Computational Engineering of Material Interfaces (CeMi) Lab, she develops and applies theoretical and computational methods—including ab initio electronic structure calculations, molecular simulations, and machine learning—to investigate interfacial phenomena at the atomic and electronic scales, with applications in energy conversion, sustainability, and quantum technologies.

Before joining UCI, Lee completed a postdoctoral appointment at the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, where she worked with Giulia Galli and Juan de Pablo. She received her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was advised by Adam P. Willard and William A. Tisdale. Her doctoral work focused on nonequilibrium energy transport in molecular semiconductors. Lee has been supported by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and received the NSF CAREER Award in 2025.

Lee has authored more than 25 peer-reviewed publications in journals including Nature Communications, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and the Journal of the American Chemical Society. She has been invited to present her research at institutions and conferences internationally, including the University of Cambridge, Academia Sinica, and Humboldt University of Berlin. At UCI, Lee developed and teaches a course on computational modeling of materials, and has organized science and engineering outreach programs for neurodiverse students in partnership with the Craig School in Irvine, California.

Return to top

Education

Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2019
M.S. in Chemical Engineering Practice, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018
B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 2012
B.A. in Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University, 2012

Return to top

Distinctions

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, 2012-2017
Maria Goeppert Mayer Fellowship Finalist, Argonne National Lab, 2019
NSF CAREER Award, 2025
DOE Leadership Computing Challenge Award, 2021
AIChE Electronics and Photonics Materials Award, 1st Place, 2017
NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU), Harvard University, 2011
Research Communication Challenge Award, DOE Center for Excitonics, 2018
Tau Beta Pi National Engineering Honor Society, 2011
Samueli Faculty Development Chair, UC Irvine, 2022
Energy Fellowship, MIT, 2012

Return to top

Areas of Expertise

Computational Materials Interface Engineering
Quantum Dot Exciton Transport
Nanocrystal Charge Carrier Dynamics
Ab Initio Electronic Structure Calculations
Spin Defects in Wide-Bandgap Semiconductors
Neural Network Free Energy Sampling
Polymer Chemical Recycling Mechanisms

Recent Publications

G. M. Milligan, S. Singsen, S. To, T. Aoki, B. Y. Zhi, C. J. Collins, K. S. Ogura, E. M. Y. Lee, M. Q. Arguilla, “Precision Synthesis of a One-dimensional Single Chain Polymorph of Sb₂Te₃ Within Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes”, Advanced Materials, vol. 1010, pp. 177520, 2025.
C. H. Belcher, D. Kamp, S. To, Y. Lu, D. Chassaing, T. Boll, B. E. MacDonald, E. M. Y. Lee, D. Apelian, E. J. Lavernia, “The origin and control of interstitial impurities in refractory complex concentrated alloys”, Journal of Alloys and Compounds, vol. 1010, pp. 177520, 2025.
K. Dold, D. Cordova, S. Singsen, J. Nguyen, G. Milligan, M. Marracci, Z. Yao, J. Ziller, D. Fishman, E. M. Y. Lee, M. Arguilla, “GaSI: A wide gap non-centrosymmetric helical crystal”, Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 146, no. 33, pp. 22881–22886, 2024.
Y. Chen, D. Liang, E. M. Y. Lee, M. Sokseiha, M. Guillaume, M. Braida, A. Emery, N. Marzari, J. J. de Pablo, “Ion Transport at Polymer-Argyrodite Interfaces”, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, vol. 16, no. 36, pp. 48223–48234, 2024.
Y. Chen, E. M. Y. Lee, P. Gil, P. Ma, C. V. Amanchukwu, J. J. de Pablo, “Molecular Characterization of Fluoroether Electrolytes for Lithium Metal Batteries”, Molecular Systems Design & Engineering, vol. 8, pp. 195-256, 2023.
Y. Li, B. Cao, S. Modali, E. M. Y. Lee, H. Xu, V. Petrenko, J. J. Gray, M. Yang, C. Mao, “Understanding the Interactions Between Bone Mineral Crystals and Their Binding Peptides Derived from Filamentous Phage”, Materials Today Advances, vol. 15, pp. 100263, 2022.
A. Yu, E. M. Y. Lee, J. Briggs, B. K. Ganser-Pornillos, O. Pornillos, G. A. Voth, “Strain and crack propagation of HIV-1 capsids during uncoating”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 119, no. 10, pp. e2117781119, 2022.
E. M. Y. Lee, A. Yu, J. J. de Pablo, G. Galli, “Stability and molecular pathways to the formation of spin defects in silicon carbide”, Nature Communications, vol. 12, pp. 6325, 2021.
E. M. Y. Lee, T. Ludwig, B. Yu, A. Singh, F. Gygi, J. K. Nørskov, J. J. de Pablo, “Neural network sampling of the free energy landscape for nitrogen dissociation on ruthenium”, Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, vol. 12, pp. 2954-2962, 2021.
A. Yu, E. M. Y. Lee, J. Jin, G. A. Voth, “Atomic-scale characterization of mature HIV-1 capsid stabilization by inositol hexakisphosphate (IP6)”, Science Advances, vol. 6, no. 38, pp. eabc6465, 2020.
E. M. Y. Lee, A. P. Willard, “Solving the trivial crossing problem while preserving the nodal symmetry of the wavefunction”, Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation, vol. 15, pp. 4332, 2019.
R. H. Gilmore, Y. Liu, N. S. Dahod, W. Shcherbakov-Wu, E. M. Y. Lee, M. C. Weidman, H. Li, J. C. Grossman, W. A. Tisdale, “Epitaxial dimers and auger-assisted de-trapping in PbS quantum dot solids”, Matter, vol. 1, pp. 250, 2019.
E. M. Y. Lee, W. A. Tisdale, A. P. Willard, “Perspective: Nonequilibrium dynamics of localized and delocalized excitons in colloidal quantum dot solids”, Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A, vol. 36, pp. 068501, 2018.
R. H. Gilmore, S. W. Winslow, E. M. Y. Lee, M. N. Ashner, K. G. Yager, A. P. Willard, W. A. Tisdale, “Inverse temperature dependence of charge carrier hopping in monodisperse quantum dot solids”, ACS Nano, vol. 12, pp. 7741, 2018.
Y. Xu, X. Wang, J. Zhou, B. Song, Z. Jiang, E. M. Y. Lee, S. Huberman, K. K. Gleason, G. Chen, “Molecular engineered conjugated polymer with high thermal conductivity”, Science Advances, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. eaar3031, 2018.
E. M. Y. Lee, A. J. Mork, A. P. Willard, W. A. Tisdale, “Including surface ligand effects in continuum elastic models of nanocrystal vibrations”, Journal of Chemical Physics, vol. 147, pp. 044711, 2017.
R. H. Gilmore, E. M. Y. Lee, M. C. Weidman, A. P. Willard, W. A. Tisdale, “Charge carrier hopping dynamics in homogeneously broadened PbS quantum dot solids”, Nano Letters, vol. 17, pp. 893-901, 2017.
A. J. Mork, E. M. Y. Lee, N. S. Dahod, A. P. Willard, W. A. Tisdale, “Modulation of low-frequency acoustic vibrations in semiconductor nanocrystals through choice of surface ligand”, Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, vol. 7, pp. 4213-4216, 2016.
A. J. Mork, E. M. Y. Lee, W. A. Tisdale, “Temperature dependence of acoustic vibrations of CdSe and CdSe-CdS core-shell nanocrystals measured by low-frequency Raman spectroscopy”, Physical Chemistry Chemistry Physics, vol. 18, pp. 28797-28801, 2016.
Matlahov, T. Iline-Vul, M. Abayev, E. M. Y. Lee, M. Nadav-Tsubery, K. Keinan-Adamsky, J. J. Gray, G. Goobes, “Interfacial mineral-peptide properties of a mineral binding peptide from osteonectin and bone-like apatite”, Chemistry of Materials, vol. 27, no. 16, pp. 5562-5569, 2015.

Return to top

Contact Information

Website: https://lee-cemi-lab.eng.uci.edu

Email: elizabeth.lee@uci.edu

Phone: (949) 824-3421

Address: 744C Engineering Tower

Return to top

This profile was created with the help of AI.

Last updated on 9/15/2026.