Research Interests

Dr. Yifan Wang will join Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) as an Assistant Professor in Apr 2026, leading the Nano-Mechanics, Kinetics, and Sustainable manufacturing (nanoMKS) Unit. Yifan studied the mechanics of metallic and ceramic materials, focusing on the kinetics and mechanisms of crystalline defects such as point defects and dislocations. Yifan is currently the Stanford Energy Postdoctoral Fellow (2023), studying the fundamental mechanics and chemistry underlying green steel technologies, through 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 for stress-driven thermally activated defect processes in metallic materials, 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.

The Nano-Mechanics, Kinetics and Sustainable manufacturing (nanoMKS) Unit investigates how nanoscale mechanisms in solids give rise to mechanical and transport properties of engineering materials. We use these fundamental insights to guide rational design of scalable technologies for sustainable materials production and manufacturing. Combining atomic-level modeling, crystallography theory, computational mechanics, advanced in-situ imaging and characterization, we aim to uncover the coupled kinetics of nano- to micro-scale defect mechanics, morphology evolution, diffusion, and chemical reactions. To bridge fundamental theory with process engineering design, the unit also develops experimental scaling-up platforms that emulate processes at industrially practical conditions. These platforms integrate physics-informed, data-driven models to connect experiments with simulations for accelerating sustainable solutions in materials production and manufacturing.