Dr. Pak earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from University of Oregon in 1999 and was a postdoctoral associate at UC Irvine until 2001. Dr. Pak began his independent career at Idaho State University in 2001 and is currently a full-professor and a chair. His research interests cover wide range of materials chemistry from nanomaterials to polymers. Dr. Pak's research projects have been funded by various federal and private organizations including DOE, NSF, ACS, and Murdock Foundation. Dr. Pak is also interested in providing research experiences to underrepresented groups in STEM by involving students in his research projects from the high school to postdocs. He also visits school classrooms, public libraries and museums providing STEM outreach activities.