Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Zhonghua Peng

Dr. Zhonghua (Josh) Peng, Chemistry professor, principal graduate advisor, and division coordinator, has been at UMKC for 16 years.

“I had always wanted to be a faculty member, and UMKC was the first school to offer me this opportunity,” he said. “I took it without any hesitation.”

In 1998, Peng started as an assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2001, then full professor in 2003. At the university level, he has also served as a faculty senator, a member in the campus Promotion and Tenure advisory committee, and even interim chair of the Math Department for a year.

In his work with graduate students, Dr. Peng has daily interactions and weekly research meetings, encompassing such items as discussions of research results, plans for future work, and the writing of manuscripts.

“One of the most rewarding aspects of being a faculty member is the opportunity to train our future scientists and researchers,” he said. “I need to make sure that my graduates are well trained and will be successful in their future careers. That responsibility motivates me to constantly search for exciting new research directions.”

Dr. Peng is the committee chair and adviser for an average of 5 Interdisciplinary Ph.D. students each semester, and serves on the committees of about 30 other students.

“I enjoy teaching and love any opportunity to help our undergraduates to learn,” he said. “At home, I am busy also, enjoying being with my three kids.”

During his time at UMKC, Dr. Peng has earned a Research Corporation for Science Advancement’s Research Innovation Award, a National Science Foundation Career award, a UMKC Trustees’ Faculty Scholar award (2000), a UMKC Trustees’ Faculty Fellow award (2006), and an N.T. Veatch award (2006). Dr. Peng said he is interested in chemistry because chemists make new materials.

“Chemists are inventors at the most fundamental level (molecular levels),” he said. “[Currently], we have been working on materials science, developing new materials for various applications, including hybrid systems for solar cells, photocatalysts for solar water splitting, low bandgap polymers for near infrared sensors, and self-assembled vesicles for drug delivery.”

Dr. Peng said his motivations are intellectual contributions to society and having a positive impact on others.

“In the past, my research has pretty much been done in my own group,” he said. “My next goal is to create a sort of research center that can pull UMKC faculties from different disciplines together. I have already tried a couple of team proposals and will continue to do so.”

Dr. Peng encourages students to study and build a solid foundation, while remaining aware of the major problems and issues facing the world. He enjoys guiding graduate research and interactions with both undergraduates and graduates.

“UMKC is a place where you can do top-notch research,” he said.

 

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