Rate My Professor Ellen Kang

Ellen Kang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and NanoScience Technology Center at the University of Central Florida, holding a secondary joint appointment in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. She received her B.S. in Physics from Seoul National University in 1999, M.S. in Physics from the same institution in 2001, Ph.D. in Physics from Brown University in 2010, and completed postdoctoral training in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University from 2010 to 2015. Kang joined UCF in Fall 2015 as an Assistant Professor, advancing to Associate Professor in 2022. She also serves as graduate faculty in the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences.

Kang's research centers on molecular biophysics and nanobiology, investigating the mechanics, self-assembly, and organization of cytoskeletal proteins, particularly actin filaments and bundles. Her work explores how macromolecular crowding, electrostatic interactions, cations, and other environmental factors modulate actin polymerization kinetics, bundle structure, and mechanobiology at the nanoscale. She employs integrated approaches from molecular biophysics, protein biochemistry, polymer physics, bioengineering, and nanotechnology. Key publications include "Actin Bundle Nanomechanics and Organization Are Modulated by Macromolecular Crowding and Electrostatic Interactions" (Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences, 2021), "Crowding Tunes the Organization and Mechanics of Actin Bundles Formed by Crosslinking Proteins" (FEBS Letters, 2021), "Molecular Basis for Actin Polymerization Kinetics Modulated by Solution Crowding" (Biomolecules, 2023), "Cations Modulate Actin Bundle Mechanics, Assembly Dynamics, and Structure" (Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2018), and earlier contributions such as "Site-Specific Cation Release Drives Actin Filament Severing by Vertebrate Cofilin" (PNAS, 2014). She received the NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award in 2020 for research on actin cytoskeleton biomechanics and mechanobiology. Additional honors include the UCF Women’s History Month Honor (2020), NASA Florida Space Research Program Award (2019), and Advance Florida Network Women in STEM Scholar Travel Award (2020). With over 1,800 citations on Google Scholar, her contributions advance understanding of cellular mechanotransduction and biopolymer dynamics. She leads the Kang Research Group at UCF's NanoScience Technology Center.