Graduate Student Profile-  Dahye Lee

DayheDahye Lee successfully defended her Ph.D. dissertation on April 13, 2026. Dahye is originally from South Korea. She obtained her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Dongguk University-South Korea. 

Dahye's dissertation was entitled, "Engineering a Yeast Platform for Valorization of Agricultural Biomass into Value-Added Byproducts." Her research focused on on genetically engineering yeast to convert agricultural food waste into valuable products.

Dahye was advised by Eun Joong Oh. Other members of her graduate committee included Arun Bhunia, Kee-Hong Kim, and John Morgan.

Dahye considered a few different factors when she chose to continue her education within the Purdue Food Science Department. She said, "I chose Purdue because its strong focus on agriculture and food science provided exactly the resources I needed to conduct my research. I also really valued the collaborative environment and supportive research culture."

During her time at Purdue, Dahye expanded her professional skill set by working as an R&D Genome Editing Regulatory Policy Analyst Intern at Corteva Agriscience. She also took full advantage of many opportunities offered in the Purdue Food Science department and beyond, earning many awards and recognition. Dahye has garnered the following awards:

  • Plant-Based Foods Product Development and Marketing Competition (First place, 2026)
  • National Honey Board Product Development Competition (Fourth place, 2025)
  • Indiana Soybean Alliance Student Product Development Competition (Fourth place, 2025)
  • Next-generation Leader Network Program in Science and Technology Scholarship from Korea Federation of Science and Technology Societies (2024)
  • Industrial Associates Meeting and Poster Competition (Second place, 2022)

Outside of departmental activities, Dahye was an active member of the Greater Lafayette Baking Club.

We are proud of Dahye's many accomplishments during her time at Purdue. As for Dahye's next giant leap, she will return to Corteva Agriscience in Iowa as an intern this summer. She is also exploring postdoctoral opportunities to pursue further learning.Congratulations, Dahye! We wish you all the best!