Bin Dong

Bin Dong serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville within the College of Arts & Sciences. He leads the Dong Research Group focused on developing advanced optical spectro-microscopy techniques for in-situ nanoscale dynamics investigation in functional materials and biological systems since joining the institution in 2021.

Education:

• Postdoctoral Research, Experimental Analytical and Physical Chemistry, Georgia State University
• Ph.D., Analytical Chemistry, Iowa State University
• B.S., Chemistry, Xiamen University

Dr. Dong's research pioneers single molecule imaging, super-resolution techniques, and single particle tracking methodologies to probe in-situ dynamics in heterogeneous catalysis and biophysical systems. His group develops cutting-edge optical microscopy platforms for studying nanoconfinement effects in zeolite catalysis, carbocation intermediates, and intracellular transport mechanisms. Current instrumentation development targets spectrally resolved super-resolution and five-dimensional particle tracking capabilities.

Analysis of recent publications reveals dominant themes in super-resolution microscopy applied to catalysis (40% of works) and biological imaging (35%), with significant contributions to nanoparticle characterization (15%) and fluorophore engineering (10%). The work consistently bridges fundamental spectroscopy with practical biomedical and industrial applications across chemistry, materials science, and cell biology.

Scientific Awards:

• The Alpha Chi Sigma, Iowa State University, 2015
• The Sleight Graduate Fellowship, Iowa State University, 2014
• National Scholarships Inspirational, Xiamen University, Fujian, China, 2008-2010
• Robert and Sandra Connor Faculty Fellowship, 2023
• Scialog Advancing Bioimaging (ABI) Fellow, 2023

Dr. Dong actively mentors four graduate students (Meek, Ethan, Brooke, Elric) in advanced imaging projects, with Ethan securing the prestigious Goldwater Fellowship (2024) and NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (2025). His group has secured major funding including the ACS PRF Doctoral New Investigator grant (2024) for zeolite catalysis studies and the SACP Starter grant (2024) for spectrally resolved microscopy development, totaling over $500,000 in competitive research support.

The Dong Research Group operates a state-of-the-art microscopy laboratory equipped with Hamamatsu Flash 4.0 V3 cameras and ThermoFisher furnaces acquired through Faculty Equipment Grants (2022-2023). The team maintains active collaborations with Dr. Tudor Moldoveanu's apoptosis research group and Dr. Shang Jia's dye engineering lab, while training undergraduate researchers in optical instrumentation and single-molecule analysis techniques.