Ying Diao, Ph.D.

Ying Diao is a researcher at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and an associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Her research seeks to understand and control multiscale molecular assembly processes to achieve sustainable manufacturing of materials and devices for environment, energy, and healthcare applications, including therapeutic products. Molecular assembly, where a set of inanimate molecules can form structures with ever-evolving complexity and emergent properties, is inextricably linked to the origin of life. With the advent of modern drug development, the rise of nanotechnology, and most recently the renaissance in energy research, the field has resurged into prominence.
The Diao Research Group, started in 2015 at UIUC, aims to understand the assembly of organic functional materials and innovate printing approaches that enable structural control down to the molecular and nanoscales. 
Education

Postdoctoral scholar, Stanford University & SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2011-2014
Ph.D., chemical engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2011
M.S., chemical engineering practice, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2008
B.S.E., chemical engineering, Tsinghua University, 2006

Honors

2023 University Scholar, University of Illinois
2023 New Horizons Solvay Lectures in Chemistry, International Solvay Institutes
2023 List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent, Fa’16, Sp’18, Sp’20, Fa’20, Fa’21, Fa’22
2022 Van Ness Award Lecture, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
2022 Thiele Award Lecture, University of Notre Dame
2022 “Rising Star” series of Advanced Materials
2022 Soft Matter Emerging Investigator
2021 Campus Distinguished Promotion Award
2021 I. C. Gunsalus Scholar, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
2020: NASA Early Career Faculty Award 
2020: Rising Star in Materials Chemistry, Chemistry of Materials “Up-and-Coming Series” 
2020: List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent (Fall and Spring)
2020: Emerging Investigator, Chemical Society Reviews, the Royal Society of Chemistry
2019: Lincoln Excellence for Assistant Professor Scholar, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences 
2019: Beckman Fellow, Center for Advanced Study, UIUC 
2019: Early Career Award, AVS Prairie Chapter 
2019: Emerging Investigator in Crystal Growth & Design, ACS Publications 
2019: Emerging Investigator, Molecular Systems Design & Engineering, the Royal Society of Chemistry 
2019: Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 
2018: List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent (Spring)
2018: NSF CAREER Award 
2018: 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award 
2018: Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship in Chemistry 
2018: Chemistry of Materials Reviewer Excellence Award, ACS Publications 
2017: School of Chemical Sciences Teaching Award, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2017: US Frontiers of Engineering Symposium, National Academy of Engineering