Professor Hyung Joon Cha received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Seoul National University in 1995. From 1996 to 1998, he was a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute in the USA, and an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park, from 1998 to 1999. He joined POSTECH in 1999.

His areas of interest include biomolecule-based biomaterials, tissue and biomedical engineering, drug delivery systems, and biosensors. He has published ~300 peer-reviewed research papers and holds more than 100 registered patents.

Currently, he serves as the Dean of Engineering at POSTECH, as well as the Director of the Biomaterials Research Institute (formerly, the Marine BioMaterials Research Center), which is funded by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Korea, in recognition of his prominent work on mussel-derived adhesive biomaterials for biomedical and healthcare applications. He is also the co-founder and co-CEO/CTO of Nature Gluetech Co., Ltd, for the technology commercialization of mussel adhesive protein as an innovative medical bioadhesive.

His work has been recognized by numerous awards, including Korea Toray Science and Technology Prize, Order of Service Merit (Red Stripes), the Korea Engineering Award presented by the Korean President, the Inventor of the Year Award, the 2020 Future 100 Best Technologies and Researchers Award, the 2023 National R&D 100 Best Researcher Award, and the Song-Gok Science and Technology Award.

He is currently a Fellow of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology (KAST), a Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering of Korea (NAEK), and the President of the Korea Marine Biotechnology Industry Organization (K-MarineBIO).