People | Yao Lab

Principal Investigator

Yuan Yao, PhD

Associate Professor of Industrial Ecology and Sustainable Systems

Yale School of the Environment

Chemical & Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering & Applied Science

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Postdoctoral Scholars

Bingquan Zhang

Postdoctoral Scholar, Yale School of the Environment

Ph.D. in Bioenergy System Analysis, University of Groningen, Netherlands

M.S in Plant Science, China Agricultural University, China

B.S. in Seed Science and Engineering, Shandong Agricultural University, China

Zhengyin Piao

Postdoctoral Scholar, Yale School of the Environment

Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

M.S in Metallurgical Engineering, RWTH Aachen, Germany

B.E. in Metallurgical Engineering, University of Science and Technology, Beijing, China

Zhenyang Chen

Postdoctoral Scholar, Yale School of the Environment

Ph.D. in Industrial Ecology, Leiden University, Netherlands

M.Eng in Environmental Engineering and Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China

B.Eng in Environmental Engineering and Science, Central South University, China

Students

Hannah Wang

PhD student, Yale School of the Environment

Visiting scholar in Statistics, University of Wisconsin-Madison

M.S in Forestry & Resource conservation (Biomaterial group), National Taiwan University

B.S in Psychology and Forestry & Resource conservation, National Taiwan University

Jennifer Kroeger

PhD Student, Yale School of the Environment

NSF Graduate Research Fellow

Baccalaureate Fellow, Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI)

B.A. in Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences from Rice University

Amma Asantewaa, Agyei Boakye

Ph.D. Student, Yale School of the Environment

MEM, Yale School of the Environment

B.Sc. Chemical Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology

Youyi Xu

PhD student, Yale School of the Environment

Visiting scholar in Duke Marine Laboratory

M.S. in International and Public Affairs (Energy & Environment), Columbia University

B.S in Environmental Science, Tianjin University

Xiang Zhao

PhD student, Yale School of the Environment

M.S. in Systems Engineering, Cornell University

B.Eng. in Chemical Engineering, Tshinghua University, Beijing, China

B.B.A. in Business Administration, Tshinghua University, Beijing, China

Clara Zwolanek

Master of Environmental Science student, Yale School of the Environment

B.S. in Environmental Engineering, University of Wisconsin- Madison

Alumni:

Emma Hansen, Visting Master student (2025). Master student, ETH Zurich Switzerland
Jiawei Huang, Visiting PhD student (2025). PhD student, North Carolina State University
Fan Yang, Postdoctoral Scholar (2023-2025). Research Engineer, China National Offshore Oil Corporation
Konstantina Vasilakou, Visiting PhD student (2024). PhD student, University of Antwerp
Tessa Lee, MESc student (2021-2023), Postgraduate Associate (2023-2024). Analyst, Industrial Economics
Kai Lan, Postdoctoral Scholar (2021-2023), PhD student at NCSU (2017-2020). Assistant Professor, NC State University
Rodrigo Buitrago, PhD student at NCSU (2018-2023). Postdoctoral Fellow, Argonne National Laboratory
Darlene Echeverria, PhD student at NCSU (2018 - 2022), Master student at NCSU (2017-2018). Advanced Chemical Engineer, Circular Economy Integration Team, Eastman
Zhenzhen Zhang, PhD student at NCSU (2017-2021). Data Scientist, Revibe.
Na Wu, Postdoctoral Scholar (2021-2023). Research Assistant Professor, Zhejiang University
Hardik Pokhrel, Research Assistant (2020-2021). Associate, Sol Systems.
Meghana Kharod, Research Assistant (2020-2022). Associate Consultant, WSP USA