Students and Colleagues Remember Professor Jeeyon Jeong

Jeeyon Jeong, an associate professor of biology known for her pathbreaking research on iron homeostasis in plants, died on Oct. 14. President Michael Elliot and Dean of the Faculty Martha Umphrey informed the college community of the news in an email.

Jeong’s colleagues and students remembered her as an incredibly ambitious and talented, yet kind and soft-spoken presence who admirably balanced her demanding career with her role as a devoted mother.

A biochemist by training, Jeong joined the Amherst faculty in 2015. Her research lab at Amherst investigated the molecular components inside plant cells essential for maintaining the balance of iron. She was lauded by her peers for her innovative, interdisciplinary research methods.

“One of her approaches was a genetic approach, where she could essentially cripple the proteins and then see what happens to the plants. And another approach was a biochemical approach, where she could actually measure what the proteins are doing and how they’re going about maintaining that delicate balance of iron,” said Caroline Goutte, Edward S. Harkness Professor of Biology.

This research was a critical step toward improving plant growth, crop yield, and human nutrition.

Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, Jeong received her B.E. from Yonsei University in 2000 and her M.S. from Pohang University of Science and Technology in 2002. She then emigrated to the United States and studied iron homeostasis in plants at Dartmouth College, where she received her doctorate in 2008.

After studying zinc homeostasis in mammalian cells and yeast at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a postdoctoral researcher, she joined the Amherst faculty and redirected her research focus back to iron.

Internationally recognized for her research, Jeong received the CAREER award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in March 2022. The five-year grant is a prestigious award designed for young faculty members. While the grant supported Jeong’s research lab, she also used it to develop an educational outreach program alongside the Center for Community Engagement at Amherst. The finished product was a biology and educational studies course named “Elements of Life: Biology Outreach through Community-based Learning,” which involved students leading science activities at local public schools and was taught by Jeong last spring.

To Goutte, Jeong’s use of the award was indicative of her character. “She had very high standards for really good research. But at the same time, the caring side of her comes out, because she cares about teaching science and reaching out to the community,” Goutte said.

Rachel Hendrickson ’25, Jeong’s thesis student who also worked for multiple years in her lab, agreed. “I think that she was very externally focused and really good at bringing the students of her lab into a greater community-minded outlook around science,” Hendrickson said.

As part of her community focus, Jeong and members of her lab wrote multiple science education articles over the years designed for young students, published through the academic journal Frontiers for Young Minds. Jeong also regularly facilitated outreach opportunities for her students at Crocker Farm Elementary School in Amherst.

In a press release celebrating a separate NSF grant she received in 2018, Jeong reflected on the importance of science education. “By fifth grade, a lot of kids think science is not for them,” Jeong said. It was important to her, therefore, to show children that scientists are “regular human beings.”

Within the Amherst community, Jeong displayed a similar devotion to cultivating scientists. “She was really good at setting up mentorship for younger students from older students and really good at creating systems of care within science,” Hendrickson said.

The bonds and mentorship that Jeong pursued have already seen visible results. Over the past two years, three members of her lab won the Goldwater Scholarship, one of the most prestigious scholarships in the natural sciences, which provides funding to undergraduates planning a career in STEM research.

Claire Macero ‘25, another of Jeong’s thesis students, expanded on her impact as a teacher. “Although she seemed shy when I first met her, she was very easy to talk to,” Macero said. “A quick question about a lab procedure often turned into a long conversation, giving updates on our families and talking about life outside of the lab or classroom.”

Jeong’s commitment to her students was well observed by her colleagues. “Jeeyon was tireless in her support of students and their research,” Ashley Carter, program chair of the biochemistry and physics departments, said. Carter highlighted the fact that Jeong was also a member of the biochemistry and biophysics program. This entailed “more work, but faculty choose to do more work because they feel a deep connection to the program and to the students.”

Jeong was perhaps best remembered by her colleagues and students for her two-pronged determination and kindness.

“I think her defining characteristics [were] just this little, tiny powerhouse with really high standards, amazing ambition, but a twinkle in her eye and a smile all the time,” Goutte said.

“She was always smiling,” Hendrickson added. “She was so intelligent … and she was really funny and sweet. She loved to chat.”

Jeong is survived by her husband, Joohyun Lee, as well as her daughter, Yoonsa, her son, Joonsah, and her parents and her sisters.

Colleagues spoke to her familial devotion. “Her children were her absolute priority, and she just did everything to guide them in their explorations of who they were and their academic and extracurricular developments,” Goutte said.

Outside of the classroom and lab, Jeong was a fixture at Buckley Hall for student recitals. She held an interest in classical music and loved to play the piano and accompany her children in their musical performances, Hendrickson and Goutte said.

Students and colleagues close to Jeong expressed their shock and sorrow in the midst of her unexpected passing. For her thesis students, Jeong’s absence forms a void that they find hard to bear. “Every day, science is such a big part of my life and a big part of the way that I see the world, and she has been a large part of what has made me able to see myself as a scientist,” Hendrickson said.

“I will feel her absence deeply, both inside and outside the lab,” Macero added.

Jeong was known among her colleagues for having much to say yet possessing an unimposing demeanor and a quiet speaking voice. Goutte recounted a usual occurrence at faculty discussion meetings: “Everyone’s going around with this idea, and this idea, and she would say something very quietly.” As Jeong spoke, the rest of the faculty would fall into silence, leaning in intently to hear what she had to say.

Her service will be held on Sunday, Oct. 27., from 3:00 to 5:00 PM in Lipton Lecture Hall Room E110 of the Science Center. The service will be followed by a reception in the science center living room.