About Ying
Principal Investigator
Ying Diao
Associate Professor
I. C. Gunsalus Scholar
Dow Chemical Company Faculty Scholar
Lincoln Excellence for Assistant Professor (LEAP) Scholar
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Department of Chemistry
Materials Research Laboratory
Executive Committee & CO-Chair of Molecular Science and Engineering Theme, Beckman
Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
Molecular Maker Lab Institute Executive Committee
Thrust Leader of AI-Guided Autonomous Materials Discovery, Molecular Maker Lab Institute
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
213 Roger Adams Laboratory
600 S. Mathews Ave., Urbana, IL 61801
Email : yingdiao [at] illinois.edu
Phone : (217) 300 3505
Short Bio
Professor Diao is a Beckman Fellow, Dow Chemical Company Faculty Scholar, Lincoln Excellence for Assistant Professor (LEAP) Scholar at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She received her Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering from MIT in 2012. Her doctoral thesis was on understanding heterogeneous nucleation of pharmaceuticals by designing polymeric substrates. In her subsequent postdoctoral training at Stanford University, she pursued research in the thriving field of printed electronics. Diao group, started in 2015 at Illinois, focuses on understanding assembly of organic functional materials and innovating printing approaches that enable structural control down to the molecular and nanoscale. Her work has been frequently featured in scientific journals and news media such as the Science Magazine and Nature Materials. She is named to the MIT Technology Review’s annual list of Innovators Under 35 as a pioneer in nanotechnology and materials. She is also a recipient of NSF CAREER Award, NASA Early Career Faculty Award, 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award and was selected as a Sloan Research Fellow in Chemistry as one of the “very best scientific minds working today”.
Education
2011 – 2014 Postdoctoral Scholar
Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University
Material Science Division, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Topics : Solution printing and in situ X-ray scattering of organic semiconductors
2006 – 2011 Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, MIT
Minor : Materials Science and Engineering
Thesis : Design of polymeric substrates for controlled molecular crystallization
2006 – 2008 M.S., Chemical Engineering Practice, MIT
2002 – 2006 B.S., Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University
Selected Awards and Honors
2022 New Horizons Solvay Lectures in Chemistry, International Solvay Institutes
2022 Thiele Award Lecture, University of Notre Dame
2022 “Rising Star” series of Advanced Materials
2022 Soft Matter Emerging Investigator
2021 List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent, Fa’16, Sp’18, Sp’20, Fa’20, Fa’21
2021 Campus Distinguished Promotion Award
2021 I. C. Gunsalus Scholar, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
2020 NASA Early Career Faculty Award
2020 Rising Star in Materials Chemistry, Chemistry of Materials “Up-and-Coming Series”
2020 List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent, Fall 2016, Spring 2018, Spring 2020, Fall 2020
2020 Emerging Investigator, Chemical Society Reviews, the Royal Society of Chemistry
2019 Lincoln Excellence for Assistant Professor (LEAP) Scholar, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
2019 Beckman Fellow, Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2019 Early Career Award, AVS Prairie Chapter
2019 Emerging Investigator in Crystal Growth & Design, ACS Publications
2019 Emerging Investigator, Molecular Systems Design & Engineering, the Royal Society of Chemistry
2019 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2018 NSF CAREER Award
2018 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award
2018 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship in Chemistry
2018 Chemistry of Materials Reviewer Excellence Award, ACS Publications
2017 School of Chemical Sciences Teaching Award, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2017 US Frontiers of Engineering Symposium, National Academy of Engineering
2016 MIT Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35 (MIT TR35 Award)
2016 Emerging Investigator, Journal of Materials Chemistry, the Royal Society of Chemistry
2014 William E. and Diane M. Spicer Young Investigator Award, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
2014 Best Oral Contribution Award, Materials Research Society – Organic Electronics Symposium
2011 Separations Division Graduate Research Award, AIChE
2011 Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor of the Year, MIT
2006 Bayer Graduate Fellowship, Chemical Engineering, MIT
2006 Institute Excellent Graduate Award, Tsinghua University
2006 Outstanding Senior Thesis Award, Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University