Peidong Yang (; born 1971) is a Chinese-American chemist, material scientist, and businessman. He is currently a professor at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

(since 1999) and a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

. He is a Professor of Chemistry and a Professor of Materials Science. His research group studies the synthesis of

nanomaterials * Nanomaterials describe, in principle, materials of which a single unit is sized (in at least one dimension) between 1 and 100 nm (the usual definition of nanoscale). Nanomaterials research takes a materials science-based approach to na ...

and their electronic and optical properties. He is also a Department Head at the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, Senior Faculty Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Deputy Director of the Center of Integrated Nanomechanical Systems (COINS). He is an associate editor of the ''

Journal of the American Chemical Society The ''Journal of the American Chemical Society'' is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that was established in 1879 by the American Chemical Society. The journal has absorbed two other publications in its history, the ''Journal of Analytic ...

'', an

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

Journal.

Biography

Yang received a B.A. in Chemistry from the

University of Science and Technology of China A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

in 1993. For his graduate studies, he worked with Charles M. Lieber at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, and in 1997, he was awarded a Ph.D. in Chemistry. He was a post-doctoral fellow with Galen D. Stucky at

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

from 1997–1999, until being hired as an assistant professor in Chemistry at

, where he was granted tenure in 2004.

Career

Yang is well known for his work in nanostructure synthesis and characterization, having co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed journal articles. One of his most notable papers, "Room-Temperature Ultraviolet Nanowire Nanolasers", was published in ''Science'' in 2001 and has received over 5000 citations. In 2010, Yang was ranked as the top materials scientist and among the top 10 chemists of the decade 2000-2010 by

Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational media conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where it is headquartered at the Bay Adelaide Centre. Thomson Reuters was created by the Thomson Corpora ...

, in order of citation impact. As one of the leaders of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, a DOE Energy Innovation Hub awarded in 2010, he is coordinating efforts to develop materials that use sunlight to convert water to fuel. Since coming to Berkeley, Yang has mentored over 30 graduate students and over 30 postdoctoral researchers.

Business ventures

He was a founding member of the scientific advisory board at

Nanosys Nanosys is a nanotechnology company located in Milpitas, California and founded in 2001. The company develops and manufactures quantum dot materials for display products. Products Quantum Dot Enhancement Film (QDEF) Nanosys Quantum Dot Enhance ...

, a nanomaterials company, and he is also the founder of

Alphabet Energy Alphabet Energy was a startup company founded in 2009 at the University of California, Berkeley by thermoelectrics expert Matthew L. Scullin and Peidong Yang. The company uses nanotechnology and materials science applications to create thermoe ...

with Matthew L. Scullin. He lives with his wife, Mei, and their daughter, Rachel.

Awards

Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation is a New York City-based foundation founded in 1946 by chemist and investor Camille Dreyfus in honour of his brother, Henry Dreyfus. The two men invented the acetate yarn Celanese, and Henry Dreyfus was ...

New Faculty Award (1999) * 3M Untenured Faculty Award (2000) *

Sloan Fellowship The Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded annually by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation since 1955 to "provide support and recognition to early-career scientists and scholars". This program is one of the oldest of its kind in the United States. ...

Research Fellowship (2001) *

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...

CAREER Award (2001) * Hellman Family Faculty Award (2001) * ACS ExxonMobil Solid State Chemistry Award (2001) *

Beckman Young Investigators Award The Beckman Young Investigators Award was established by Mabel and Arnold Beckman in 1991, and is now administered by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation. The Beckman Young Investigator (BYI) Program is intended to provide research support to p ...

(2002) *

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

Technology Review ''MIT Technology Review'' is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and editorially independent of the university. It was founded in 1899 as ''The Technology Review'', and was re-launched without "The" in ...

TR100 The Innovators Under 35 is a peer-reviewed annual award and listicle published by ''MIT Technology Review'' magazine, naming the world's top 35 innovators under the age of 35. at ''Technology Review'' with lists of winners at technologyreview.com ...

(2003), as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35. *

ChevronTexaco Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation. The second-largest direct descendant of Standard Oil, and originally known as the Standard Oil Company of California (shortened to Socal or CalSo), it is headquartered in Sa ...

Chair in Chemistry, Berkeley (2003) * First Chairperson for

, Nanoscience Subdivision (2003) * Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (2004) * Dupont Young Professor Award (2004) *

Julius Springer Julius Springer (10 May 1817 – 17 April 1877) was a German publisher who founded the academic publishing house Springer Science+Business Media (formerly known as Springer-Verlag). Springer-Verlag In 1842, Springer founded the retail bookshop Spr ...

Prize for Applied Physics (2004) *

Materials Research Society The Materials Research Society (MRS) is a non-profit, professional organization for materials researchers, scientists and engineers. Established in 1973, MRS is a member-driven organization of approximately 14,000 materials researchers from academi ...

Outstanding Young Investigator Award (2004) *

ACS Award in Pure Chemistry The American Chemical Society Award in Pure Chemistry is awarded annually by the American Chemical Society (ACS) "to recognize and encourage fundamental research in pure chemistry carried out in North America by young men and women." "Young" me ...

(2005) *

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

McElvain Lectureship (2006) *

Chinese Academy of Science The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republ ...

Molecular Science Forum Lectureship (2006) *

A. T. Waterman Award (2007) *

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it ...

50 Award (2008) * Miller Research Professorship (2008) *

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Brian Bent Lectureship (2009) *

MacArthur Fellow The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

(2015) * National Academy of Sciences (2016) *

Global Energy Prize The Global Energy Prize is an international award in the field of energy industry which is given for ''"outstanding scientific research and scientific-technical developments in the field of energy which promote greater efficiency and environmental ...

(2020)

References

External links

Executive profile
at ''

Bloomberg Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Peidong 1971 births 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American chemists American chemical industry businesspeople American energy industry businesspeople American technology chief executives American technology company founders Businesspeople from Suzhou Chemists from Jiangsu Chinese emigrants to the United States Educators from Suzhou Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory people Living people MacArthur Fellows Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Scientists from Suzhou UC Berkeley College of Chemistry faculty University of Science and Technology of China alumni