Yong Wang

Biography

Dr. Wang joined PNNL in 1994 and was promoted to 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 (http://iic.pnl.gov) since 2008. In 2009, Dr. Wang assumed a joint position at Washington State University and PNNL. In this unique position, he continues to be a Laboratory Fellow and associate director of IIC at PNNL and is the Voiland Distinguished Professor in Chemical Engineering at WSU, an endowed, full professorship with tenure.

Dr. Wang is best known for his leadership in the development of novel catalytic materials and reaction engineering to address the issues related to energy and atom efficiency for converting fossil and biomass feedstocks to fuels and chemicals. Dr. Wang has authored >230 peer reviewed publications with H index=58 and more than 13,800 citations (Google Scholar Citations). He has co-edited 2 books and 6 special journal issues, and given more than 140 invited presentations since 2001. He is the inventor on 256 issued patents including 102 issued U.S. patents (>90% of his patents are licensed to industries). His discoveries in microchannel reaction technologies led to the formation of Velocys, trading under the London Stock Exchange (VLS). He was recently elected to the Washington State Academy of Science and is a fellow of 4 major professional societies: AIChE (American Institute of Chemical Engineers), ACS (American Society of Chemistry), RSC (Royal Society of Chemistry), and AAAS (American Association of the Advancement of Science). He has won numerous awards including 2006 Asian American Engineer of the Year Award, Presidential Green Chemistry Award, 3 R&D 100 Awards, Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award from Chemical Engineering at WSU, 2 PNNL Inventor of the Year Awards, Battelle Distinguished Inventor Award, and the first recipient of PNNL Laboratory Director’s Award for Exceptional Scientific Achievement Award. He is the past chair of the Energy & Fuel Division of the American Chemical Society, and currently serves as the director to the Catalysis and Reaction Engineering division of AIChE and on the editorial board of 7 catalysis and energy related journals including ACS Catalysis, Catalysis Today, Chinese Journal of Catalysis, and Journal of Energy Chemistry.

Education and Credentials

• Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, Washington State University, 1993
• M.S., Chemical Engineering, Washington State University, 1992
• M.S., Chemical Engineering, Chengdu University of Science and Technology (now Sichuan University), China, 1987
• B.S., Chemical Engineering, Chengdu University of Science and Technology (now Sichuan University), China, 1984

Selected Awards, Honors, and Societies

• Member of Washington State Academy of Science (2015)
• Director to the Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division of AIChE (American Institute of Chemical Engineers) (2015-present)
• Chair elect, ACS (The American Chemical Society) Petroleum Division (2011)
• Fellow of AIChE (American Institute of Chemical Engineers) (2013)
• Fellow of RSC (Royal Society of Chemistry) (2013)
• Fellow of ACS (The American Chemical Society) (2010)
• Fellow of AAAS (The American Association for the Advancement of Science) (2008)
• R&D 100 Award, Fischer-Tropsch fuels using Velocys microchannel technology (2008)
• R&D 100 Award, full-scale vaporizer for automotive fuel cell fuel processor (1999)
• R&D 100 Award, production of chemicals from biologically derived succinic acid (1997)
• Presidential Green Chemistry Award, use of biomass to produce useful chemicals (1999)
• Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award, Dept of Chem.Eng., Washington State University (2008)
• Asian American Engineer of the Year Award (2006)
• PNNL Inventor of the Year (2006)
• PNNL Inventor of the Year (2004)
• Distinguished Battelle Inventor (2004)
• First recipient of PNNL Laboratory Director’s Award for Exceptional Scientific Achievement (2005)
• Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, Washington State University (1993)
• Guest Professor of Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP), Sichuan University (China), Tianjin University, and Dalian University of Technology
• National Academy of Engineering 2005 Japan-American Frontiers of Engineering Symposium, Japan, 2005
• 10th National Academy of Engineering Annual Symposium on Frontiers of Engineering, Irvine, CA, September 9–11, 2004
• Award for Distinguished Oversea Chinese Young Scholars, National Natural Science Foundation of China, hosted by Tsinghua University 2008)
• “1000 Talent Plan”, China (2009)
• Scientific advisory board, Center for Environmental Beneficial Catalysis Center, University of Kansas (2011–)
• Editorial board, ACS Catalysis (2010–present)
• Editorial board, Catalysis Today (2006–present)
• Editor of Journal of Energy Chemistry (2012–present)
• Editorial board, Journal of Nanomaterials (2005–present)
• Editorial board, Biofuel Research Journal (2014-present)
• Editorial board, Chinese Journal of Catalysis (2014-present)
• Honorary Chairman of Trends in Renewable Energy (Future Energy Service and Publishing), (2015-present)
• Chair elect, ACS Petroleum Division (2011)
• Co-Chair, ACS Energy & Fuel Division (2012)
• Chair, Program Committee of the ACS Petroleum division (2006 –2008)
• Secretary of Pacific Coast Catalysis Society (2006–2009)