Yifan Wang

OIST Assistant Professor leading the Nano-Mechanics, Kinetics, and Sustainable manufacturing Unit. Yifan studied the mechanics of metallic and ceramic materials, focusing on the kinetics and interactions of crystalline defects such as point defects and dislocations. Before joining OIST, Yifan was the first cohort of the Stanford Energy Postdoctoral Fellowship, studying the fundamental mechanics and chemistry underlying green steel technologies, and developing novel atomistic simulation techniques and high-energy X-ray imaging tools. During the Ph.D. study in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford, Yifan advanced the rate theory frameworks for the thermally activated processes in metals, through computational mechanics, molecular dynamics, and high-throughput, data-driven energy landscape analysis. Yifan holds an M.S. in Petroleum Engineering from Stanford and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Tsinghua University.

Experience
2025-present
Assistant Professor (Transitional), Nano-Mechanics, Kinetics, and Sustainable Manufacturing Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Japan
2023-present
Stanford Energy Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, USA
2022-2023
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, USA
2016-2022
Graduate Researcher, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, USA
Awards
2023
Stanford Energy Postdoctoral Fellowship, Doerr School of Sustainability, Stanford University
2022
Juan C. Simo Thesis Award, Mechanics and Computation Division, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University
2020
ME Rising Stars, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
Portrait of Yifan Wang
Yifan Wang
Assistant Professor (Transitional)
2022 M.S. & Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, USA
2016 M.S. in Petroleum Engineering, Stanford University, USA
2013 B.S. in Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, China

Research Unit

Nano-mechanics, Kinetics, and Sustainable Manufacturing Unit

Specialties

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