Yuan Yao, PhD

Dr. Yuan Yao is the Assistant Professor of Industrial Ecology and Sustainable Systems at the Yale School of the Environment. She joined Yale University in July 2020. Her research is motivated by the increasing need for sustainable solutions that can support industrial development without compromising the environment or depleting the resources for future generations. She uses interdisciplinary approaches in industrial ecology, sustainable engineering, and machine learning to develop systems analysis tools to support engineering and policy decisions towards sustainable development.

Dr. Yao received the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER) in 2019. Dr. Yao has been leading collaborative projects with U.S. national labs, private companies, non-profits, and different universities to develop quantitative analyses for accelerating the research, development, and deployment of renewable energy, emerging technologies, and sustainable bioeconomy. Dr. Yao earned her B.S. in Metallurgical Engineering from Northeastern University in China and her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University in the United States. She also has a Management for Scientists and Engineers from Kellogg School of Management.