“Expand the scope of mind and imagination.”
Biography
YAO YANG is born in 1993 in Liaoning, China. He received his bachelor’s degree from Tsinghua University (2015) and his PhD degree from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA, 2021), both in Materials Science and Engineering. He got a joint postdoctoral position in Department of Physics at UCLA and National Center for Electron Microscopy, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as a National Science Foundation (NSF) STROBE postdoctoral fellow. He has received NSF DMREF Fellowship, Outstanding student award from China Scholarship Council (CSC), postdoc award from Microscopy Society of America. His research has been published in Nature, Nature Materials, etc.
History
2022
Postdoc award, Microscopy Society of America
Outstanding student award, China Scholarship Council (CSC)
NSF STROBE Postdoctoral Fellow
2021
NSF DMREF Fellowship
2015
Outstanding Thesis in Undergraduate Research, Tsinghua University
Research
The research in Dr. Yang’s group works at the research frontiers on atomic-level structural studies, with atomic electron tomography (AET) as the main tools. His research mainly focuses on using microscopes solving cutting edge science and technology questions such as:
(1) The 3D atomic structure of nano-catalysts, 2D materials and quantum materials and its related properties.
(2) Development of advanced electron microscopy methods include ptychography and machine learning based algorithm.
(3) The 3D atomic structure of amorphous materials and atomic movement during amorphous-crystalline transition.
Representative Publications
1. Y. Yang*, J. Zhou*, F. Zhu*, Y. Yuan*, D. Chang, D. S. Kim, M. Pham, A. Rana, X. Tian, Y. Yao, S. J. Osher, L. Hu, P. Ercius, J. Miao. Determining the three-dimensional atomic structure of an amorphous solid. Nature, 592, 60–64 (2021).
2. S. Moniri*, Y. Yang*, J. Ding*, Y. Yuan, J. Zhou, L. Yang, F. Zhu, Y. Liao, Y. Yao, L. Hu, P. Ercius, J. Miao. Three-dimensional atomic structure and local chemical order of medium-and high-entropy nanoalloys. Nature, 624, 564-569 (2023).
3. J. Zhou*, Y. Yang*, Y. Yang, D. S Kim, A. Yuan, X. Tian, C. Ophus, F. Sun, A. K. Schmid, M. Nathanson, H. Heinz, Q. An, H. Zeng, P. Ercius, J. Miao. Observing crystal nucleation in four dimensions using atomic electron tomography. Nature, 570, 500–503 (2019)
4. Y. Yang*, J. Zhou*, Z. Zhao*, G. Sun*, S. Moniri, C. Ophus, Y. Yang, Z. Wei, Y. Yuan, C. Zhu, Q. Sun, Q. Jia, H. Heinz, J. Ciston, P. Ercius, P. Sautet, Y. Huang, J. Miao. Atomic-scale identification of the active sites of nanocatalysts. arXiv preprint, arXiv,arXiv:2202.09460
5. Y. Yuan*, D. S. Kim*, J. Zhou*, D. J. Chang, F. Zhu, Y. Nagaoka, Y. Yang, M. Pham, S. J. Osher, O. Chen, P. Ercius, A. K. Schmid, J. Miao. Direct observation of 3D atomic packing in monatomic amorphous materials. Nature Materials, 21, 95–102 (2022).
6. X. Tian*, D. S. Kim*, S. Yang*, C. J. Ciccarino, Y. Gong, Y. Yang, Y. Yang, B. Duschatko, Y. Yuan, P. M. Ajayan, J. C. Idrobo, P. Narang, J. Miao. Correlating the three-dimensional atomic defects and electronic properties of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides. Nature Materials, 19, 867–873 (2020).
Contact Us
Email: yangyao@westlake.edu.cn
Our group is recruiting postdoctoral scholars, PhD students as well as research associates. We welcome highly motivated researchers with backgrounds of materials science, condensed matter physics, chemistry, computer science or related field (not essential for PhDs and RAs) to join us.
Please visit https://em.lab.westlake.edu.cn for more information.