Jin Lee
Chemical Engineering Student @ Carnegie Mellon University
About
Hello,
I'm Jin, a junior studying Chemical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. I'm drawn to the places where chemistry turns into hardware, especially battery design and soft robotics.
My path here ran through dual enrollment at Georgia State and Emory, then biochemical engineering coursework at the University of Georgia, before I transferred to CMU.
This past summer I interned with GP EnergyTech in Hong Kong and China, building and testing nickel-zinc cells. This October I'm joining Dr. Carmel Majidi's Soft Machines Lab, researching aquatic siphonophore robots.
Outside of class, I:
- make perfume and am working toward launching my own brand, REN Perfumes
- lead the Singapore Students Association as president
- cook some really good meal preps
- love weightlifting (currently running U/L ∞)
- am slowly learning bass guitar
Feel free to contact me at jinlee2@andrew.cmu.edu.
Projects
- Project 1 Perfumery Formulating with 200+ aromachemicals, oils, and bases
- Project 2 L'Oréal Brandstorm Emoi, a wearable that dispenses a calming fragrance
- Project 3 Venturi Flow Meter CAD and COMSOL for a 3D-printed artery flow meter
- Project 4 Bananas Bananas Bananas! Measuring potassium by titration and AAS
Project 01 / 04
Perfumery
I've been working in perfumery for several years, handling and dosing over 200 aromachemicals, essential oils, and specialty bases.
I create educational content around fragrance creation and formulation, and you can find me @jinlee.perfumery on Instagram and TikTok.
Highlights
- Currently sitting at 7.5K followers and 2M+ views across social media platforms.
- Currently working to release my fragrance brand, REN Perfumes.
- Reach out if you want to learn more about perfumery, formulation, or fragrance storytelling.
Open TikTok profile →
Project 02 / 04
L'Oréal Brandstorm
Concept and case study for a wearable perfume watch. This project explores product form, user interaction, and scent delivery mechanisms.
Overview
In a team of three, we designed Emoi, a wearable bionic watch that tracks heart rate and blood pressure through microsensors. When it detects signs of an anxiety attack, the watch dispenses a specially formulated perfume shown to modulate GABA-A receptors, the brain's main calming (inhibitory) receptors.
Role
I designed the watch's chassis (shown here) and created a preliminary formula for the calming fragrance using linalool and linalyl acetate. My teammates developed the user experience and integrated the piezo disks and microcontrollers into the chassis.
Project 03 / 04
Venturi Flow Meter: 06-261
CAD design and COMSOL simulation for a 3D printed venturi flow meter, built by a four-person team around an enlarged artery, with blood flow simulated by corn syrup in water at different concentrations.
What did I do?
- Completed all renditions of the CAD model for the flow meter geometry.
- Debugged segments of the COMSOL simulation.
Why does this work?
Constricting the flow through a narrow throat speeds the liquid up. By Bernoulli's principle that faster flow has lower pressure, so the pressure difference across the throat gives the velocity.
Project 04 / 04
Bananas Bananas Bananas!
For our final project in 09-221: Analytical Chemistry Lab, three classmates and I measured the potassium in unripe bananas, ripe bananas, and plantains to find the best snack for pre-exam jitters.
- We dehydrated, ashed, and acid-digested each fruit, then quantified potassium by ion-precipitate back titration and by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS).
- Titration was the most accurate, AAS the most precise (R² > 0.995), and standard addition the most suitable because it revealed a strong matrix effect.
- Plantains came out on top with the most potassium.
Experience
Gold Peak Technology Group (GP EnergyTech)
Cell + Manufacturing Engineering and Product Management Intern
- Fabricated Nickel-Zinc coin cells end-to-end — electrode coating, cell assembly, and electrochemical characterization via galvanostatic cycling and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS)
- Performed failure analysis on Ni-Zn cells to diagnose key degradation mechanisms, including zinc dendrite formation, hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), electrode passivation, and active material dissolution
- Worked in the Dongguan factory plant to manage a factory of 500+ employees while designing 384-cell battery packs for usage in data centres and hospital backup batteries
Extracurriculars
Extracurricular 01 / 04
CMU Orientation Counselor
Role: First-Year OC + Transfer OC
Date: Fall 2026
I coordinated a week-long orientation for first-year students, and I was one of two transfer orientation counselors for an incoming class of 64 transfer students.
This involved planning specialty events while integrating them into the Tartan community.
Extracurricular 02 / 04
CMU SSA
Organization: Singapore Students Association
Role: President
Status: Active
The Singapore Students Association at Carnegie Mellon creates a vibrant and inclusive community for students of Singaporean heritage and allies.
Through cultural events, discussions, and social gatherings, SSA fosters a sense of belonging and celebrates diversity on campus. As President of the organization, I act as the primary liaison between the University officials, organization members, external partners (Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Red Dot Link), and the Singapore Government.
Extracurricular 03 / 04
Tartan Cultural League
Organization: Multicultural Club League
Role: Representative for SSA
Status: Active
Tartan Cultural League (TCL) is a student-run organization that hosts intercultural events for participating societies.
Each representative collaborates to create new events and acts as a correspondent for their respective organization.
Extracurricular 04 / 04
Carnegie Mellon Solar Racing
Subteam: Power
Status: Active
Carnegie Mellon Solar Racing is building a solar-electric racing boat. I'm on the power subteam, which handles how energy gets from the sun to the propeller: solar array, batteries, motor controller, motor.
New members start small, measuring two 0.45 W solar panels to see how open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current, the maximum power point, series and parallel wiring, shading, and panel angle shape a panel's output.
The same physics scales up to the boat: strings of panels, an MPPT that keeps the array near its maximum power point, and the wiring, waterproofing, and telemetry a full-size system needs.
Research
CMU Robotics Institute – Soft Machines Lab
Incoming Undergraduate Researcher · Dr. Carmel Majidi
- Will research aquatic siphonophore robots in the Soft Machines Lab (SML)
Skills
Simulation
Lab Skills
Programming and Markup
Relevant Coursework: Heat & Mass Transfer, Optimization and Machine Learning, Mathematical Methods, Fluid Mechanics, Molecular Foundations
Resume
Education
Carnegie Mellon University - Chemical Engineering 28'
- Fall 2025
- 06-100: Intro to ChemE
- Spring 2026
- 06-223: Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics
- 06-261: Fluid Mechanics
- 06-262: Mathematical Methods of Chemical Engineering
- Fall 2026
- 06-323: Heat and Mass Transfer
- 06-324: Computational Optimization and Machine Learning for Chemical Engineering
- 06-310: Molecular Foundations of Chemical Engineering
- 09-217: Organic Chemistry I
University of Georgia - Coursework in Biochemical Engineering
- Fall 2024
- ENGR 1120: Engineering Graphics and Design
- Spring 2025
- ENGR 1140: Computational Methods for Engineering
- ENGR 2120: Statics
Emory University - Dual Enrollment
- Fall 2023
- BIO 141K: Introduction to Modern Biology I + Lab
Georgia State University - Dual Enrollment (Fall and Spring 2023)
- 41 credit hours worth of coursework transferred to UGA