Liangbing Hu

Liangbing Hu is the Carol and Douglas Melamed Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering. His research focuses on materials innovations, manufacturing, and device integrations, with a particular focus on emerging technologies to address energy and climate challenges.

Hu joined the faculty of the Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science in July 2024, arriving from the University of Maryland College Park, where he was the Distinguished University Professor. Hu also served as director of the Center for Materials Innovation. Hu made groundbreaking contributions in low-dimensional electronic materials and devices, ionic battery materials, nano-cellulose materials, and non-equilibrium material synthesis for energy and electronic applications. His research portfolio is characterized by unusual imagination, juxtaposed with keen visions in technological impacts.

Hu is among the very few scientists who manage to interface and interweave physics, chemistry, electrical engineering, and material science. A prime example is the discovery that physical properties of wood can be drastically modified by nanoscale cell-wall engineering, effectively turning the plywood from Home Depot into a moldable sheet with exceptional strength, transparency, and even conductivity. Hu is a co-founder of InventWood and HighT-Tech among others.

Hu is has received numerous recognitions, including being named a Materials Research Society Fellow. His awards include the Nature Spinoff Prize, a global award that recognizes early-stage university spinoff companies that create products or services from scientific research to address market problems; the American Chemical Society Energy & Fuels Research Excellence Award in Electrochemical Energy Storage; and the Software & Information Industry Association Design Excellence Gold Award from AAAS/Science magazine. A graduate of the University of Science and Technology of China, Hu earned his PhD in physics from the University of California, Los Angeles.