CAREER Award-winning Joshua Moon comes full circle with NSF
July 7, 2025 by Dave Schlenker
As a kid in Memphis, Joshua Moon hoped his love for math and science would translate to a career in cutting-edge technology. Now with a Ph.D. and a position as an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, he is the one creating that technology.
In fact, he recently won a coveted National Science Foundation Early CAREER Award, the foundation’s premier honor recognizing rising academic leaders.
“As a kid growing up without cable, I watched PBS shows when I came home from school,” he said. “They would show the NSF logo, and a voiceover would say ‘This episode was sponsored in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF) – supporting America’s investment in the future.’ I wondered what this mystical science organization did. I had no idea, but I was at least grateful they enabled me to watch my favorite shows. I’m really honored they are continuing to support that investment they started with me many years ago.”
The award will support Moon’s research on membrane-based separation processes and creating new ways to reduce energy consumption through chemical engineering.
Here is more information on one of ChemE’s brightest stars.
Question: Could you summarize your research project?
Moon: Chemical separations are responsible for around 10% of the entire U.S. energy consumption, and transitioning to membrane-based separations can potentially reduce that by as much as 90%. The project is focused on developing more efficient gas separation membranes and understanding how they work at a molecular level.
Think about if you fill a rubber balloon with helium and leave it for a few days; why does it deflate? The helium permeates through the rubber in the balloon. We’re trying to understand how that permeation process takes place at the molecular level and how we can make new materials that allow us to control that process.
Question: Ultimately, how will this help people?
Moon: Since this project will hopefully lead to more efficient technologies for chemical separations, these could be used to make energy sources and commercial products like plastics cleaner and cheaper for everyone.
Another big part of the project is developing new outreach activities for middle and high school teachers across Florida and developing a new program to improve safety education at the college and pre-college level. We hope that teachers across Florida can implement practical science demos on sustainability in their classrooms to introduce more students to STEM.
Question: What was your reaction to winning the CAREER Award?
Moon: Honestly, I kept doing a double take to make sure it was real. I was also grateful the United States has continued investing in early career researchers like me through NSF.
Question: What are your other research projects at UF?
Moon: I recently published a research paper with one of my Ph.D. students and a couple undergraduate researchers on facilitated transport membranes. This is another way of capturing carbon dioxide that uses chemical reactions to enhance the membrane’s ability to separate CO2. We have an ongoing project looking at how absorbed CO2 interacts and diffuses inside a membrane at the microscopic level and plan to publish some new findings soon.
I’m also collaborating with Austin Evans, Ph.D., [assistant professor in the UF Department of Chemistry]. Essentially, we’re trying to create membranes that are 10-100x thinner than a hair, which have molecule-sized channels that can “sieve” one type of gas molecule from another.
Question: What brought you to UF?
Moon: My Honda Civic.
Actually, it was the collaborative research culture. UF has over 30 faculty members just studying polymers for all different sorts of applications, and it’s exciting to be a part of an interdisciplinary research community where people look forward to working together to solve big problems.
Question: What are your favorite things at UF/in Gainesville?
Moon: I really like the energy of college towns. I like trying out new coffee shops and restaurants, and there are some good ones here in town. I also joined a running club, TeamFTC, which has been a really welcoming community for me.
Also, the fact that there are no snowstorms is nice.
Question: What pop culture are you tuning into these days?
Moon: I’ve been enjoying Severance. I also love high-fantasy book series like Lord of the Rings. It’s cool to see how different writers approach world building.
Source: University of Florida, Department of Chemical Engineering