Jenny Yue-fon Yang () is an American chemist. She is a Professor of chemistry at the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...

where she leads a research group focused on inorganic chemistry, catalysis, and solar fuels.

Early life and education

Jenny Yue-fon Yang was born in the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

and raised in

Chatsworth, Los Angeles Chatsworth is a suburban neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles, California, in the San Fernando Valley. The area was home to Native Americans, some of whom left caves containing rock art. Chatsworth was explored and colonized by the Spanish be ...

. She is a second-generation Taiwanese-American. Yang studied chemistry at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, where she worked in the laboratory of

Jeffrey R. Long Jeffrey R. Long is a professor of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley known for his work in Metal–organic framework, metal−organic frameworks and Single-molecule magnet, molecular magnetism. He was elected to the American Acad ...

. Yang synthesized novel

Prussian blue Prussian blue (also known as Berlin blue, Brandenburg blue or, in painting, Parisian or Paris blue) is a dark blue pigment produced by oxidation of ferrous ferrocyanide salts. It has the chemical formula Fe CN)">Cyanide.html" ;"title="e(Cyani ...

analog materials and analyzed their magnetic properties. She graduated in 2001 with a bachelor's in science in chemistry, and moved to the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

for graduate studies in the laboratory of

Daniel G. Nocera Daniel George Nocera (born July 3, 1957) is an American chemist, currently the Patterson Rockwood Professor of Energy in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences a ...

. Yang's work in the Nocera lab focused on the synthesis of novel salen complexes that mimic the activity of the

catalase Catalase is a common enzyme found in nearly all living organisms exposed to oxygen (such as bacteria, plants, and animals) which catalyzes the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen. It is a very important enzyme in protecting t ...

enzyme, and exhibit

epoxidation In organic chemistry, an epoxide is a cyclic ether () with a three-atom ring. This ring approximates an equilateral triangle, which makes it strained, and hence highly reactive, more so than other ethers. They are produced on a large scale for ...

activity towards

olefins In organic chemistry, an alkene is a hydrocarbon containing a carbon–carbon double bond. Alkene is often used as synonym of olefin, that is, any hydrocarbon containing one or more double bonds.H. Stephen Stoker (2015): General, Organic, an ...

. She graduated with her Ph.D. in 2007.

Career

Yang moved to Washington to conduct postdoctoral research at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), where she worked with Daniel L. DuBois on mechanistic studies of H₂ oxidation with nickel bis(

diphosphine Diphosphane, or diphosphine, is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula P2H4. This colourless liquid is one of several binary phosphorus hydrides. It is the impurity that typically causes samples of phosphine to ignite in air. Propert ...

) complexes. In 2009, she was hired as a senior staff scientist at PNNL. She then worked as a research scientist at the Molecular Catalysis group of the

Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis The Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP), founded in 2010, is a (DOE) Energy Innovation Hub whose primary mission is to find a cost-effective method to produce fuels using only sunlight, water, and carbon-dioxide. The program has a budg ...

at the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

. In 2013, Yang joined the faculty at

as an assistant professor of chemistry. Yang publishes in the area inorganic and

organometallic chemistry Organometallic chemistry is the study of organometallic compounds, chemical compounds containing at least one chemical bond between a carbon atom of an organic molecule and a metal, including alkali, alkaline earth, and transition metals, and so ...

, electrocatalysis, as well as materials science.

Awards and honors

Yang has received several awards. These include the DoE Early Career Research Award in 2014 and the

National Science Foundation CAREER Award The National Science Foundation CAREER awards, presented by the National Science Foundation (NSF), are in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through research and education, and the integration of these endeavors i ...

in 2016. In 2017, she was honored with the

Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) is the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent research careers. The White ...

(PECASE), the Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellowship, and a

Research Corporation Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA) is an organization in the United States devoted to the advancement of science, funding research projects in the physical sciences. Since 1912, Research Corporation for Science Advancement has id ...

Advanced Energy Materials Scialog Fellowship. In 2018, she was awarded a

Sloan Research Fellowship The Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded annually by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation since 1955 to "provide support and recognition to early-career scientists and scholars". This program is one of the oldest of its kind in the United States. ...

, and in 2019 she was named a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar. In 2015, Yang was selected as a member of the

Global Young Academy The Global Young Academy is an international society of young scientists, aiming to give a voice to young scientists across the globe.... Membership strength is capped at 200, and the membership tenure is 5 years. Organization and membership Th ...

and in 2018, she was named a

CIFAR The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) is a Canadian-based global research organization that brings together teams of top researchers from around the world to address important and complex questions. It was founded in 1982 and is s ...

Azrieli Global Scholars.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Jenny Y American women chemists 21st-century American chemists 21st-century American women scientists UC Berkeley College of Chemistry alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni University of California, Irvine faculty California Institute of Technology faculty Sloan Research Fellows People from Chatsworth, Los Angeles Scientists from California Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American people of Taiwanese descent American people of Chinese descent American women academics Chemists from California Recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers