Mechanical Engineering assistant professor Guihua Yu has been selected by The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) to receive its 2017 Early Career Faculty Fellow Award.
TMS was founded in 1871 and its work encompasses the entire range of minerals, metals and materials science and engineering, from minerals processing and primary metals production to basic research and the advanced applications of materials.
The Early Career Faculty Fellow Award recognizes Yu for research accomplishments that have advanced the University of Texas at Austin, and for his ability to broaden the technological profile of TMS.
Yu joined the UT Austin Department of Mechanical Engineering faculty in fall 2012. His research has advanced chemical synthesis, fundamental understanding, and technological applications of novel nanostructured organic and hybrid organic-inorganic materials for energy, environment and healthcare technologies.
His recent work on developing a new class of polymeric materials — nanostructured electronic gels — has significant implications in energy storage and conversion, biosensors and smart responsive devices.
Yu has received several notable awards and honors for young scientists including, most recently, the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, Chemical Society Review’s Emerging Investigator Lectureship, MIT Technology Review’s “35 Top Innovators Under 35,” the 3M Nontenured Faculty Award, the Ralph E. Powe Jr. Faculty Award, US Frontiers of Engineering by NAE, and also named Emerging Young Investigator by both the Royal Society of Chemistry and the American Chemical Society.
Additionally, Yu serves as an advisory/editorial board member for Chem (Cell Press), Nature Scientific Reports, Energy Storage Materials (Elsevier), Frontiers in Energy Research, and Science China Materials.
