2008 Alumni Awardee: Yong Wang

Regents Professor.
Laboratory Fellow and Associate Director of IIC
(Pacific Northwest National Laboratory).

Dr. Wang joined Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in 1994 and was promoted to the position of Laboratory Fellow in 2005. He led the Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Team from 2000 to 2007 and has served as the Associate Director of the Institute for Integrated Catalysis (IIC) since 2008. In 2009, he assumed a joint appointment at Washington State University (WSU) and PNNL, where he continues to hold the title of Laboratory Fellow and Associate Director of IIC at PNNL, and is also the Voiland Distinguished Professor in Chemical Engineering at WSU. In 2022, Dr. Wang received the title of Regents Professor, a recognition awarded to only 30 faculty members at WSU at any given time.

He is widely recognized for his pioneering work in developing novel catalytic materials and reaction engineering to tackle energy and atom efficiency challenges in converting fossil and biomass feedstocks into fuels and chemicals. With expertise spanning fundamental principles to crucial industrial applications, he drives advancements in sustainable technologies to address present and future energy, resource, and environmental concerns. As a researcher, inventor, and visionary collaborative academic leader, he has 440 peer-reviewed publications with an H-index of 101 and 45,633 citations (as of Sept. 30, 2024) and is listed as a highly cited researcher by Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics). Additionally, he holds 285 issued U.S. patents (with over 90% licensed to industries), has delivered over 200 invited lectures, and co-edited 6 special journal issues and 2 books. The impact of his research on industry is evident in his invention of the commercial Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) process, which converts renewable, plant-based glycerol into 100,000 metric tons per year of propylene glycol, achieving a 61% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to petroleum sources. Additionally, he played a central role as a founding member in the creation of Velocys (traded on the London Stock Exchange, VLS). Established in 2001, based primarily on inventions by Wang and his colleagues, Velocys has been leading the commercialization of compact reactors for sustainable fuel production.

His research has been supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, encompassing fundamental programs like Basic Energy Sciences (SC-BES) and applied programs such as Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM), U.S. Department of Defense, and NSF. He has also conducted funded research and/or consulting for industrial organizations, including Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP, Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM), GEVO, Nexceris, Ascend Performance Materials, BASF, Scientific Design, Chambroad, Ammbonia, Nike, Al Gore, and Velocys.

Dr. Wang is a member of the Washington State Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), American Chemical Society (ACS), Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), and American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He has received numerous awards and recognition, including the 2021 ACS E.V. Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, the 2019 AIChE Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Practice Award, the 2006 Asian American Engineer of the Year Award, the Presidential Green Chemistry Award, three R&D 100 Awards, a Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award from the Chemical Engineering program at WSU, two PNNL Inventor of the Year Awards, a Battelle Distinguished Inventor Award, the first recipient of the PNNL Laboratory Director’s Award for Exceptional Scientific Achievement, and Voiland College Safety Award (2020) which is a testimony of achieving high productivity with well-established safety culture.

He has served as the past chair of the Energy & Fuel Division of the American Chemical Society,past director of the Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division of AIChE, secretary of Pacific Coast Catalysis Society, and member of the American Chemical Society National Award Committee (2016-2019). He is currently serving as Co-Editor-in-Chief of Applied Catalysis B: Environment and Energy and Executive Editor of the Chemical Engineering Journal.