Su was born and raised in Da Nang, Vietnam. She moved to the United States in 2013 to pursue her undergraduate studies at the University of Mississippi. In 2022, she completed her PhD in Organic Chemistry in the laboratory of Prof. Robert Knowles at Princeton University. For her dissertation, she developed light-driven methods to (1) construct aliphatic C–N bonds through olefin hydroamidation, (2) convert low-value biomass into high-value chemical feedstocks, (3) chemically recycle plastic wastes and develop new sustainable plastics, and (4) covalently attach target molecules to the diamond surface for applications in nanoscale sensing.
Following her doctoral studies, Su joined the group of Prof. Jeremiah Johnson at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as a Schmidt Science Postdoctoral Fellow. At MIT, she has worked on various research topics, including (1) molecular strategies to enhance the toughness and tearing energy of polymer networks, (2) new ligand design for synthesizing and stabilizing gold nanoparticles for bio-applications, and (3) sustainable commodity plastics.
In March 2025, Su joined the Institute of Chemicals Science and Engineering (ISIC) at EPFL as a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor, where she leads the Laboratory of Synthetic Polymer Chemistry.
Research Interests
Polymer chemistry • Organic chemistry • Photocatalysis • Plastic recycling • Polymer networks • Surface chemistry • Biomaterials
Selected Honors & Awards
- The Schmidt Science Postdoctoral Fellowship (2023–2024)
- The Arthur A. Patchett ’51 Graduate Fellowship in Chemistry (2021) (Princeton University)
- The Maeder Graduate Fellowship in Energy and the Environment (2020–2021) (Princeton University)
- The David V. Milligan ’62 Graduate Fellowship in Chemistry (2018) (Princeton University)
- The Hugh Stott Taylor Merit Prize (2017––2019) (Princeton University)
- The Taylor Medal (2017) (University of Mississippi)
- The Ventress Scholar Medal (2017) (University of Mississippi)
Patents
- Mechanophore Crosslinkers for Tough, Crosslinked Polymers. Johnson, J. A.; Nguyen, S. T.; Herzog-Arbeitman, A.; Sang, Z.; Craig, S.; Wang, S.; Yao, Y. US Patent Application filed on June 11, 2024.
- Chemical Upcycling of Hydroxylated Polymers via C–C Bond Cleavage Reactions. Knowles, R. R.; Nguyen, S. T.; Cox, J. H.; McLoughlin, E. A.; Fors, B. P. U.S. Application (No. 18/285,087) filed on September 31, 2023.
- Chemical Methods for Diamond Surface Functionalization. De Leon, N.; Knowles, R. R.; Rodgers, L.; Nguyen, S. T. PCT International application (No. 18/028,278) filed on March 24, 2023