Professor Hyun Kwon is currently working with two students, Rufado and Robert, in doing further research projects in her biosensors lab.
Dr. Kwon sees this research as fundamental for students, and as something that helps make the classroom work come alive. Dr. Kwon says, “In class, you teach what is known. In research, you don’t yet know the result. You are exploring something new. That is the fun and difficult part, because the person doing the research doesn't know the answer or outcome.”
By bringing what is learned in the classroom to the lab and research, students learn to think critically and independently. Dr. Kwon said, “In research, no one tells you what to do. You have to think for yourself to solve the problems.”
The research done in the biosensors lab will be helpful to society through bioengineering, a rapidly growing field. Dr. Kwon and her students are currently assembling a new piece of equipment—optical tweezers—which is vital to her biosensors research. Dr. Kwon and her students are researching ways to calibrate the optical tweezers to add more detectors and components. As a result, one can graph and manipulate biological particles without physically touching them.
Biosensor technology requires knowledge from a variety of fields, including biochemistry, chemistry, nano-engineering, electronics, and chemical and mechanical engineering.
