Seoyoung Jin — Portfolio

Hi, I’m Seoyoung!Here are the things I’ve built, the questions I couldn’t let go of, and the people I met along the way.

Seoyoung at the Library of Proust — Library of Proust, 2026.

01 · Research → Public healthSep 2025 – present

Hypothermia Research & Prevention Campaign

Firsthand experience

Volunteering in jjokbang-chon (single-room slums)

Housing restoration and lunchbox deliveries with NGO Supporters Eroom.

Repainting a jjokbang hallway. Click for the news report.

Lunchbox delivery in Dongja-dong — Lunchbox rounds in Dongja-dong jjokbangchon.

Making the connection

Research meets reality

My hypothermia research gave me a way to understand the cold-weather risks behind the living conditions I'd seen.

The hypothermia review paper — The hypothermia review, Curieux Review. Click to open.

Turning an idea into a project

Reaching out to NGO Supporters Eroom

I contacted its president, Chul Choi, and worked through Kakao Together's complex application process to launch a fundraiser.

Kakao Together crowdfunding page — The campaign page on Kakao Together. Click to open.

Putting it into practice

Community-funded winter relief

$800

raised through crowdfunding

2.3K

crowdfunding donors

170

Households reached

Visited households one by one with NGO members, demonstrating hot water bottle use and sharing practical cold-weather safety guidance alongside research-based posters.

Cold-weather safety poster — The safety poster, drafted from the research.

Packing hot-water bottles — Packing 170 hot-water bottles.

In-person guidance with residents.

02 · Traditional craftAug 2023 – present

Maeum Art Project

Maeum (마음) means “heart” or “mind.” I started the project in ninth grade to express love and gratitude through handmade gifts that took time and care. As I grew more interested in traditional Korean techniques and designs, I began making gifts for people beyond my own circle. Among my favorite pieces are hand-painted coasters adorned with geumbak (gold leaf) and jagae (mother-of-pearl), made for elderly patients and volunteers at Samsung Medical Center.

Night-sky coasters — Night-sky series: gold leaf and a mother-of-pearl moon under resin.

Painting the crane-and-pine coasters — Crane-and-pine series, mid-paint.

Resin, gold leaf and mother-of-pearl flakes on a coaster blank — The materials: resin, gold leaf and mother-of-pearl flakes.

Black coasters with gold-leaf strokes and stamped medallions — Geumbak on black: gold-leaf strokes and stamped medallions.

Sunset coasters curing — Sunset series, resin curing overnight.

Magnolia coasters in organza bags — Magnolia series, bagged for Samsung Medical Center.

03 · Service leadershipAug 2023 – present

Helping Kids Everyday

I joined Helping Kids Everyday as a freshman and now lead it: 120 members, the largest club at my school. The idea I pushed for as president is consistency. Instead of rotating volunteers, each member is matched with the same child at Cheong Woon Welfare Center for the whole year, so the sports, art, and cooking afternoons build into a real relationship. The other half of the year is logistics: schoolwide donation drives, and during winter, buying and assembling 80 winter kits for Afghan refugee families through Miracle OK School.

Making gingerbread houses at the Christmas event I hosted at YISS for children from Cheong Woon Welfare Center.

Group photo after sports day — Group photo on the playground after sports day with the kids from Cheong Woon Welfare Center.

Thank-you card from LifeTogether — A thank-you card from LifeTogether after our sports day.

Operation Christmas Child shoebox drive — Schoolwide drive for Operation Christmas Child shoebox (filled with toys and supplies) donations.

Donating winter kits to Miracle OK School — Donating 80 winter kits to Miracle OK School.

04 · Research → Sustainable energyMay 2026 – present

Cheaper catalysts for green hydrogen

Green hydrogen is made by splitting water, and the slow half of that reaction usually needs iridium, one of the rarest metals on Earth. Through W-Bridge, a government-funded program that picks 100 female student researchers a year, I joined Dr. Han Lim Lee's lab at Myongji University to look for alternatives: high-entropy oxides made from common metals that can survive the acidic side of the cell. My part of the work was data. I organized the lab's catalyst-performance results, trained machine-learning models on them, and used the models to predict which compositions were worth synthesizing next. We presented the findings at a national symposium.

Lab onboarding: materials synthesis and analysis.

Reading results with the graduate students.

Elsewhere

Also: opposite hitter, flutist, translator.

Spiking a volleyball — Opposite hitter, varsity and club.

Team huddle before a match — Pre-match huddle with FAV.

Remember Today (RExTO) — Remember Today 80+ translated student-veteran letters. Click for @remembertoday.kr.

Playing the flute at Bundang Yonsei Convalescent Hospital — Playing the flute with ensemble at Bundang Yonsei Convalescent Hospital.