He was previously the Gutgsell Professor of Physics,[8] at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he was the principal investigator of Single Molecule Nanometry group.
Upon his return, Ha changed his research interests and joined the lab of Daniel Chemla, a prominent scientist known for his studies of quantum optics of semiconductors.
Soon after joining Chemla's group, Ha began working closely with scientist Shimon Weiss to build a near-field scanning optical microscope, a machine equipped with a small aperture and a short-pulse laser able to measure a material's properties with high time and spatial resolution.
[20] Through the Bloomberg Distinguished Professorship, Ha will be teaching a new undergraduate interdisciplinary biophysics course and will be engaged in the university's Individualized Health Initiative.
In 2003, he was named a Cottrell Scholar for his "high-quality research" and "dedication to the task of teaching undergraduates"[22] and an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow for "outstanding promise.
"[23][24] In 2005, Ha was elected to the American Physical Society and was named an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in the scientific disciplines of Biophysics and Structural Biology, a position he continues to hold today.