About
Hello! I'm Yao, a materials engineering student at UNC-Chapel Hill, drawn to the space where materials science meets scientific computing. I like problems that are equal parts physics and engineering: understanding a system well enough to model it, then building the tooling to actually leverage that model at scale. I also don't like being stuck behind a screen, so I keep a hand in hardware and fabrication. Feel free to reach out if you'd like to connect or collaborate on something interesting!
Background
I study materials engineering at UNC-Chapel Hill, with minors in physics and computer science. Computational materials is where my interest runs deepest, and I'll happily chase down the theory I'm missing on my own to get there. Most recently, this has manifested as self-taught learning about molecular dynamics and density functional theory, each acting as the keystone framework in my respective ongoing projects.
My strongest work is making scientific code fast and running it at scale. In my research, that has meant giving care not only to the scientific model, but also to the orchestration layer that stages how that model interacts with an HPC/HTC environment. I like owning the whole path from a physical model to the tooling that runs it.
That depth sits alongside real breadth. I've designed mechanical systems in CAD, built and soldered embedded electronics, and picked up whatever programming language a project called for along the way. I have found that building experience in a wide variety of topics universally helps me grow, and that no knowledge gained ever truly goes unused.
Advanced materials are where I'd like to take all of it next. What excites me the most about materials is something that runs from semiconductors to superconductors to quantum and nanoscale materials—they are cases where what a material can do comes straight out of physics you have to understand and deliberately engineer for. That's the intersection I care about most, where materials science, fabrication, and heavy computation meet, and I want time on both sides of it: the cleanroom bench and the theory behind what happens on it.
Experience
- Role
- Undergraduate Researcher
- Group
- Klotsa Lab, UNC Applied Physical Sciences
- Period
- 04-2026 to present
- Work
- Computational soft- and active-matter research: high-throughput molecular dynamics of many-particle systems, studying how it can be used to model human crowd behavior. See crowd-dynamics project.
- Role
- Design Engineer
- Group
- RAM Engineering, Robotics Divison
- Period
- 08-2025 to 05-2026
- Work
- Built a custom CoreXY food printer, designing a syringe-pump extruder from scratch in Fusion for Direct Ink Writing. Written up as the food printer project.
- Role
- Math Tutor
- Group
- UNC Math Help Center
- Period
- 09-2025 to 05-2026
- Work
- Drop-in tutoring in math courses through multivariable calculus.
Skills
- Programming
- Python · NumPy · pandas · Matplotlib · PIL · MATLAB · C++
- Scientific computing & HPC
- Molecular dynamics · HOOMD-blue · SLURM · Cluster workflows · OVITO · Quantum ESPRESSO · ASE · data analysis
- Design & fabrication
- Autodesk Fusion · 3D printing · KiCad · Wokwi · soldering
- Tooling & web
- Git · Bash · LaTeX · Obsidian · Astro · Vercel
- Languages
- English (fluent) · Mandarin (conversational)
Personal Life
Outside of academics, I'm active in the music community around Chapel Hill and the greater Triangle. I've played trombone for eight years, mostly in jazz, and led the trombone section of a premier youth ensemble that performed at the internationally-acclaimed Midwest Clinic. These days, you will find me playing in both university and extracurricular ensembles—music is a fantastic creative outlet and a great way to connect with people, so I make time for it whenever I can.
As side hobbies, I also enjoy photography, cooking, and rock climbing. If any colleagues, peers, or recruiters want to hit the climbing gym with me, I'll be happy to write it off as networking expenses ;)
Contact
Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn, and to check out my GitHub page.