The Installation of Yayuan Liu as the Russell Croft Faculty Scholar

About Yayuan Liu

Yayuan Liu is the Russell Croft Faculty Scholar and assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering with a secondary appointment in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Her research group works at the interface of chemical engineering, materials science, and electrochemistry to accelerate the realization of energy and environmental sustainability. The group designs and synthesizes materials at the molecular and the microscopic level, develops novel electrochemical processes using functional materials, and uses advanced characterization tools to correlate microscopic phenomena with macroscopic performance. Specifically, the Liu research group explores the following themes: redox-active materials for carbon capture and its subsequent utilization in electrosynthesis; molecularly precise electrochemical interfaces for separations in water remediation and chemical manufacturing; imaging platforms for visualizing electrochemical processes at high temporal/spatial resolution and chemical specificity.

Liu earned her bachelor’s degree in materials science and engineering in 2014 from Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) and was a recipient of the Lee Kuan Yew Gold Medal for academic achievements. She earned her PhD in 2019 from Stanford University under the guidance of Professor Yi Cui in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, supported by the Stanford Graduate Fellowship. Liu completed her postdoctoral training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working with Prof. T. Alan Hatton in the Department of Chemical Engineering.

Liu has received multiple awards for her research, including an NSF CAREER Award, a Packard Fellowship, and a Beckman Young Investigator Award. She was also named an Innovator Under 35 by MIT Technology Review.
About the Position

The Russell Croft Faculty Scholar Award was established in 2015 through the generosity of L. Gordon Croft '56 in honor of his son, Russell Croft. The Russell Croft Faculty Scholar Award serves the Whiting School’s mission in a powerful and visible way, recognizing outstanding junior faculty for their scholarship, research, and entrepreneurial thinking, whose research involves nanotechnology and alternatives to fossil fuels with applications to solar energy.