Lan Yang

Lan Yang is the Edwin H. & Florence G. Skinner Professor of Electrical & Systems Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, affiliated with the McKelvey School of Engineering. She leads the Laboratory of Micro/Nano Photonics and holds memberships in the Center for Aerosol Science and Engineering (CASE), the Institute of Materials Science & Engineering, the Imaging Science PhD Program, and the Center for Quantum Leaps.

Education: PhD from the California Institute of Technology (2005), MS degrees from Caltech (2000) and the University of Science and Technology of China (1999), and a BS from USTC (1997).

Research focuses on advanced nano/micro photonic devices, including ultra-high-quality micro-resonators for sensing, lasing, and biomedical applications. Notable achievements include pioneering work on parity-time symmetry in photonics and developing single-nanoparticle sensors. Her group explores nonreciprocal light transmission and photonic analogs of electronic diodes.

Awards include the NSF CAREER Award (2010) and the PECASE (2011), among others. She is a Fellow of The Optical Society, IEEE, APS, and AAAS.

Her lab's work spans quantum materials, biomedical imaging, and AI integration in health technologies. Recent highlights include breakthroughs in photonic chip design and interdisciplinary health initiatives funded through AI for Health programs.