Skip to main content

Faculty

Yan Yao
Dr. Yan Yao, Fellow Royal Society of Chemistry (UK), Senior Member of NAI, IEEE
Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor
Office Location N324 Engineering Building 1
Phone 713-743-4432
Fax 713-743-5961
Email yyao4 [at] central.uh.edu
Publications
Education
B.S. Materials Science, Fudan University, (2000)
M.S. Materials Science, Fudan University, (2003)
Ph.D. Materials Science and Engineering, Univ. of California, Los Angeles, (2008)
Postdoctoral Scholar, Stanford University, (2010-2012)
Professional Experience
Professor (2020-Present), Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA
Associate Professor (with Tenure, 2017- 2020), Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA
Assistant Professor (2012-2017), Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA
Postdoctoral Scholar (2010-2012), Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Senior Scientist (2008-2010), Polyera Corporation, Skokie, IL, USA
Research Assistant (2003-2008), University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Classes
ECE6308 Advanced Batteries
ECE5319/6306 Introduction to Nanotechnology
ECE6397 Advanced Batteries II
ECE4335 Senior Design I
Awards & Honors
Fellow of Royal Chemical Society (UK), 2020
Cullen College of Engineering Professorship, 2020
Senior Member of National Academy of Inventors, 2020
Highly Cited Researchers List (Top 1% by citations), Clarivate Analytics, 2018
Senior Member, IEEE, 2019
Scialog Fellow, Research Corporation for Science Advancement, USA, 2017
Teaching Excellence Award, Cullen College of Engineering, University of Houston, 2016
Junior Faculty Research Excellence Award, Cullen College of Engineering, University of Houston, 2016
ARPA-E RANGE Award, Principal Investigator, Washington DC, USA, 2013
US Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator Award, Arlington, USA, 2013
Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award, Oak Ridge Ass. Univ., USA, 2013
Robert A. Welch Endowed Professorship, TcSUH, 2012
Excellence in Graduate Polymer Science Research, American Chemical Society, USA, 2008
Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Students Abroad, China, 2007
ICI Student Award Finalist in Applied Polymer Science, American Chemical Society, USA, 2007
Dissertation Year Fellowship, UCLA, USA, 2007
Editorial Boards
Nature Scientific Reports (2014-2018)
PLOS ONE (2018-present)
Research Interests

Advanced materials and devices for energy conversion and storage; magnesium and sodium batteries; organic and polymeric batteries; aqueous batteries for grid storage; solid state electrolytes and all-solid-state-batteries; computational modeling of battery microstructures.

Selected Publications