Dr. Yansun Yao BSc, MSc, PhD

• Computational materials discovery
• Development of theoretical methods for infrared and X-ray spectroscopies for synchrotron-based studies at the Canadian Light Source
• Application of state-of-the-art theoretical methods for structural and properties predictions of solids
• Development of a theoretical understanding of reconstructive phase transitions by using advanced molecular dynamics techniques
• Electronic structure methods, frontier orbital concepts, and band theories applied to molecular and crystalline systems
• Hydrogen and boron chemistry, and its applications to energy storage

• Ph.D., Condensed Matter Physics, University of Saskatchewan, 2008, see PhD thesis
• M.Sc., Condensed Matter Physics, Beijing Institute of Technology, 2003
• B.Sc., Applied Physics, Beijing Institute of Technology, 2000

November 2012 - Present

Assistant-Associate-Full Professor, Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada

November 2008 - October 2012

Research Associate-Assistant Research Officer, Steacie Institute for Molecular Sciences, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Canada

• Teacher of the Year, Physics and Engineering Physics Students's Society, University of Saskatchewan, 2019
• New Scientist Research Award, College of Arts and Science, University of Saskatchewan, 2017
• Research Excellence Award, Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, University of Saskatchewan, 2016
• Teaching Excellence Award, Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, University of Saskatchewan, 2015
• Alvin Van Valkenburg Award, awarded by Gordon Research Conference on Research at High Pressures (USA), 2012

• Editorial Board Member, Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 2019-
• Expert Review Comittee Member, Compute Canada Resource Allocation, 2019-
• Guest Editor, Special issue ‘Materials by Design Under Pressure: experiments and theory’, Applied Physics A, 2020
• Peer Reviewer, for 54 scientific journals and NSERC discovery grant