Dr. Yan Yao is Cullen College of Engineering Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Houston. He received B.S. and M.S. from Fudan University in 2000 and 2003, and Ph.D. from UCLA in 2008, all in Materials Science and Engineering. Before joining the University of Houston in 2012, he worked as a senior scientist at Polyera Corporation and a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University. Yao is recognized as a leading expert in materials for energy conversion and storage. He has contributed and pioneered important aspects of science and technology, particularly those related to organic batteries, organic photovoltaics, and organic thin-film transistors. His recent interests include organic batteries, solid-state batteries, multivalent-ion batteries, and aqueous batteries. Yao is the author of 110 peer-reviewed articles, 1 book chapter, 10 U.S. patents and 9 foreign patents. Five of them have been licensed to Raynergy Tek Incorporation to enable high-speed production of flexible organic solar panels. He serves as editorial board member for PLOS ONE and guest editor for ChemSusChem on a special issue of Organic Batteries. He is the recipient of Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics, Scialog Collaborative Innovation Award on Advanced Energy Storage, Emerging Investigator Award in Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage, and Cullen College of Engineering Professorship. Yao is a Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry, Senior Member of National Academy of Inventors and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.