Chang Lab’s Ben Emenike named a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow
The Department of Chemistry is pleased to welcome Benjamin Emenike of the Chris Chang Lab as its newest Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow.
Emenike is one of 12 postdocs selected for this annual honor by the Princeton University Office of the Dean of the Faculty in recognition of early scholars in science, engineering, the social sciences, and the humanities who are primed to make important contributions in their fields.
Emenike comes to Princeton Chemistry from Emory University, where he received his doctorate in chemistry in 2024 under the advisement of Monika Raj in the Department of Chemistry. His research interests are in bioconjugation, proteomics, and electrocatalysis.
The appointment with the Chang Lab began in January.
Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow Benjamin Emenike of the Chang Lab.
“It’s hard to describe how happy I was when I got the news of the fellowship in December. I do remember jumping off the couch when I heard,” said Emenike. “For one thing, there is the access to state-of-the-art resources and facilities here at Princeton.
“For another, working in the Chang Lab so far has been awesome,” he added. “The science is great and the people are great. It feels like home already. Everyone is so supportive and it’s a highly collaborative environment. The primary goal is to solve a problem, and what better way to do that than through collaboration?”
At Emory, Emenike focused on the development of chemical technologies for proteome modification. At Princeton, he will focus on expanding his background in biochemistry and molecular biology.
Chris Chang, the Edward and Virginia Taylor Professor of Bioorganic Chemistry, said: “I’m excited for the opportunity to work with and mentor an early-career scientist as talented and motivated as Ben. We look forward to developing chemical platforms to push the frontiers of understanding biology at the atomic scale.”
The department’s last presidential postdoc was named in 2020. That was Jose Roque, who began his fellowship with the Chirik Lab. Today, Roque is an assistant professor of chemistry in the department.
Emenike got his Bachelor of Science in biochemistry in 2017 at Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Anambra State, Nigeria. In 2019, he moved to Georgia for his doctoral work. At Emory, he received the William B. Dickerson Award for excellence in organic chemistry research, and the Quayle Outstanding Dissertation Award for his work on Expanding the Toolbox of Novel Chemical Platforms for Profiling of Proteins and Dimethyl Post-translational Modifications. While at Emory, he also discovered a love of teaching and designed, developed, and taught a course on scholarly inquiry and research for 21 first-year students from a range of majors.
He plans to stay in academia after his postdoctoral work to go into research and teaching.
“I enjoy tackling scientific challenges. It feels like a game to me. The excitement of discovery is what drew me to academic research, and it’s what continues to drive me forward,” said Emenike.
“I also love to teach. I find it easy to understand things and when I do, I love sharing that so that others can understand, too,” he added. “I love the concept of mentorship. I’ve been a huge recipient and would like to give back. I believe I’ll be able to contribute meaningfully to the scientific community.”
Outside of the chemistry lab, Emenike is a “huge” soccer fan, and supports Liverpool FC. He played midfield at Emory and is hoping to find a team here at Princeton.
“We’ll look into that when the weather is nicer.”