Researchers

Kai Lan

Postdoctoral Associate

Advisor: Yuan Yao

Dr. Kai Lan conducts research on developing powerful tools to address sustainability issues. His research interests cover renewable energy, bio-based products, carbon accounting, and recycling. He has developed many advanced models to assess the sustainability of emerging technologies and products. His research aims at providing insightful information for future pathways. He got his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Michigan, and Ph.D. in Forest Biomaterials from North Carolina State University.    

Zhengyin Piao

Postdoctoral Associate

Advisor: Yuan Yao

Zhengyin is a postdoctoral associate at the Center for Industrial Ecology. He focuses on developing and improving the methodology frameworks of environmental analyses, together with their applications in industry and city management. His research topics include sustainability assessments for urban mining, road infrastructure, acoustics, bio-based products, and metallic materials. He conducts experiment and simulation-based investigations, aiming at demonstrating the feasibilities of current and emerging industrial technologies from environmental perspectives. Before joining Yale in 2022, he obtained his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from ETH Zurich (Switzerland), M.S. in Metallurgical Engineering from RWTH Aachen (Germany), and B.Eng. in Metallurgical Engineering from University of Science and Technology Beijing (China).

Bingquan Zhang

Postdoctoral Associate

Advisor: Yuan Yao

Dr. Bingquan Zhang is a postdoctoral associate at the Center for Industrial Ecology. He conducts research that sits at the intersection between system modeling, environmental assessment, and economic analysis of bioenergy, bio-based chemicals, and materials. He has research interests in system analysis of bio-based product supply chain starting from land-use change to final consumption. His research aims to provide more insights for future mitigation strategies of carbon emission and how to achieve a low-carbon bioeconomy. He obtained his Ph.D. in bioenergy system analysis at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. He got his M.Sc. in Plant Science and Agricultural Extension from China Agricultural University and B.S. in Seed Science and Engineering from Shandong Agricultural University.