Wan - 2020 Rising Star
Three UCSB scientists, including ECE's Yating Wan, among the 150 women nationwide invited to the 2020 Rising Stars in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) Workshop
Electrical and computer engineering postdoc Yating Wan, computer science PhD student Deeksha Dangwal, and materials postdoc Esmat Farzana will participate in the prestigious workshop intended to increase the number of women interested in pursuing academic careers in computer science, computer engineering, and electrical engineering. Participants were selected based on their academic excellence, their interest in a faculty career in the EECS discipline, and their commitment to advancing equity and inclusion. UC Berkeley will host the annual event virtually from November 9-10. Attendees will present their research, interact with faculty from top-tier universities, and receive advice for advancing their careers.
“It is very exciting to be invited to the workshop,” said Wan, a postdoctoral fellow in the research group of Professor John Bowers, a world expert in the areas of silicon photonics, optoelectronics, and energy efficiency. “It will be a great opportunity to receive career advice, technical knowledge, mentorship, and most importantly, help finding a faculty position.”
The focus of Wan’s research is the development of high-performance and high-efficiency quantum dot lasers directly integrated on industry-standard silicon substrates for on-chip optical interconnects. Wan, who joined Bowers’s Optoelectronics Research Group in 2016, has published more than thirty peer-reviewed journal papers and had her work cited more than one thousand times. Previous honors received by Wan include the Young Scientist Award from the Photonics and Electromagnetics Research Symposium (PIERS) and a PhD Research Excellence Award, while at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
“Yating is an excellent scientist with broad scientific interests and a desire to teach. Meeting and interacting with other young scientists will be a great networking opportunity,” said Bowers, director of UCSB’s Institute for Energy Efficiency and an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering. “I think she will make a great professor. She is smart, hard- working, and driven to broaden our scientific knowledge.”
