Yayuan Liu, a Russell Croft Faculty Scholar and assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering with a secondary appointment in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, has been selected as a Sloan Fellow for 2026 by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. These two-year, $75,000 fellowships are awarded to early-career scientists in the U.S. and Canada who show strong potential to be leaders in their fields. Liu is among 126 scholars chosen for this competitive award, with more than 1,000 nominations each year.
Her research group works at the interface of chemical engineering, materials science, and electrochemistry to accelerate the realization of energy and environmental sustainability. The Liu research group engineers materials and electrochemical processes, using advanced characterization to connect microscopic phenomena with macroscopic performance. Its work centers on redox-active carbon capture and electrosynthesis, precision electrochemical interfaces for separations, and high-resolution imaging of electrochemical processes.
“I’m honored to be selected as a 2026 Sloan Research Fellow. This fellowship is incredibly meaningful to me, as it recognizes not only the work our group has accomplished so far but also the broader vision of advancing electrochemical technologies for carbon capture and critical materials recovery. I’m especially grateful to my students and collaborators, whose creativity and dedication make this research possible,” says Liu.
With this recognition, Liu will advance ambitious research at the forefront of sustainable electrochemical engineering.
“The Sloan Fellowship will provide valuable flexibility to pursue high-risk, high-reward ideas that aim to make electrochemical processes more scalable, energy-efficient, and impactful for addressing climate and resource challenges,” she says.