Ping Yang

Ping Yang graduated from Michigan Tech with a PhD in Chemistry in 2005 and is the Deputy Director of the G.T. Seaborg Institute for Transactinium Science and a Staff Scientist in the “Physics and Chemistry of Materials” group of the Theoretical Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). 

She has extensive experience in computational approaches to modeling electronic structure and reactivity of actinides, surface chemistry, and nanomaterials in solution environments. She has published more than 150 papers and given over 100 invited presentations. Her research focuses on understanding fundamental electronic structures, optical and magnetic properties, reactivity, and dynamical behaviors of chemistry and materials that are important for energy security. 

Yang has broad interests in both applications of current high-performance computing frameworks and the development of new computational methods for long-time-scale simulations of complex actinide systems. She enjoys working with students and postdocs (>50) and was awarded a ‘Distinguished Postdoctoral Mentor Award’ by LANL. 

She has played an active role in fostering an active community by organizing international workshops and symposia. She also took part in the elaboration of research priorities for the US DOE Basic Energy Science and Nuclear Energy sectors by developing national strategic reports such as “Research Opportunities in Physical Sciences Enabled by Cryogenic Electron Microscopy” and “Innovative Separations R&D Needs for Advance Fuel Cycles”, where she was acting as a Crosscutting R&D Lead. 

Taken from the Academy of Sciences and Arts Induction Ceremony

Updated September 2024