Zhaohui (Julene) Tong is an Associate professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. Before joining Georgia Tech, she has been a faculty at the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at the University of Florida (UF) from 2010 to 2021. She also had industry experience in chemical and energy consulting and packaging/papermaking companies. She obtained her Ph.D. degree in the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology in 2007 under the supervision of Yulin Deng. Her research has been supported by multiple agents such as U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Energy (DOE), National Science Foundation (NSF), and National Academic of Science (NAS).
Tong’s work includes the full range of sustainable products that can be produced from renewable resources and replace fossil fuel-based products. Her training in chemical engineering and natural resources gives her remarkable scope to work at all stages of sustainable processing – from feedstock supply chain, conversion technologies, to final products (chemicals, materials, fuels) and its process modeling and optimization. She has always been motivated by a strong desire to find work of benefit to human health, food security, and the environment (e.g., climate crisis mitigation, carbon negative/neutral, and beneficial circular economy).
In her leisure time, she enjoys baking in her kitchen. She also enjoys traveling with her family.