Education

  • B.S. in Chemical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University
    Ph.D in Chemical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Research interests / expertise

Kong’s interdisciplinary research bridges plant biology, soil science, microbiology, and chemical engineering. Currently, Kong works on understanding how arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), which form mutualistic relationships with land plants, alters carbon allocation within corn plants. He is also leading the Topp lab’s new efforts in cover crop research, which seeks to engineer cover crop root system architectures to optimize their beneficial ecosystem functions including soil structure remediation, altering soil microbiomes, and improving nutrient cycling.

Other interests

Outside of the lab, Kong loves cooking and going to St. Louis Symphony Orchestra concerts.

Awards

Laura Marinelli Prize Runner-up, Rocky Mountain Conference (2022) Bert H. Wells Scholarship, Georgia Institute of Technology (2020) Leadership Fellow, Georgia Institute of Technology (2018-2020) Laura Marinelli Prize Runner-up, Rocky Mountain Conference (2018)