Interview: Yi Cui

Who/what inspires you to the field of energy and nanomaterials? My Ph.D advisor Professor Charles Lieber has been a big inspiration to me since my graduate school study. I was later influenced quite a bit by my postdoctoral mentor Professor Paul Alivisatos. By the end of my postdoctoral study in 2005, I was also influenced by Professor Steven Chu, who is a major figure to excite me to go into the energy area. I have many on-going collaborations with Professor Chu. What is your great achievement in your research work so far? My achievement is on the materials design, synthesis, characterization and device applications for energy, environment and quantum materials. The breadth covers batteries, solar cells, electrocatalysts, water and air filtration, soil cleanup, thermal textile, 2D materials, topological insulators and cryogenic electron microscopy. What is your vision for the future research in the field of energy? For energy research, I would recommend scientists to do system-level analysis and identify the most critical problems to address. These feedbacks would guide materials research. An example is the large amount of low-cost renewable electricity available. Therefore, electrochemical research involving batteries, fuel cells and electrocatalysis would present a lot of scientific and technological opportunities. Where/How do you find new/hot research topics? I always search for critical problems our society is facing and try to come up new ideas to solve those problems. These serve as sources of research topics. This methodology is particularly powerful for energy and environment research. Stanford is a top university full of the spirit of business and entrepreneurship, what influence do you think it may have on scientific research? Stanford provides a lot of freedom for faculty toexplore entrepreneurship. Stanford sits in the heart ofSilicon Valley and surrounds by the world bestecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship. I have been influenced significantly by this incredibly exciting environment. If you didn't choose your current scientific research, what career would you pursue? Being a professor has always been my top career choice. I enjoy doing three things: 1) Doing cutting-edge research with high impact; 2) Translating my technology into real world; 3) Educating a large number of young scientists to become highly innovative. The academic career at a university like Stanford gives me the greatest satisfaction. My next career choice might be a venture capitalist to invest in the high-tech area. What do you think the most important things as a scientist, academically as well as morally? be creative and open minded. As a top-tier scientist, what suggestions do you have for the young researchers? To develop into a “T” shape person, having both breadth and depth in your scientific background. What is your extramural interest, such as your favorite music and films? I like playing soccer. Yi Cui is a Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University. He received B.S. in Chemistry in 1998 at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Ph.D in 2002 at Harvard University. After that, he went on to work as a Miller Postdoctoral Fellow at University of California, Berkeley. In 2005 he became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University. In 2010 he was promoted withtenure. He has published ~430 research papers and has an H-index of 180 (Google). In 2014, he wasranked NO.1 in Materials Science by Thomson Reuters as “The World's Most Influential Scientific Minds”. He is a Fellow of Materials Research Society, Electrochemical Society and Royal Society of Chemistry. He is an Associate Editor of Nano Letters. He is a Co-Director of the Bay Area Photovoltaics Consortium and a Co-Director of Battery 500 Consortium.His selected awards include: Dan Maydan Prize in Nanoscience (2019), Nano Today Award (2019), Blavatnik National Laureate (2017), MRS Kavli Distinguished Lectureship in Nanoscience (2015), the Sloan Research Fellowship (2010), KAUST Investigator Award (2008), ONR Young Investigator Award (2008), Technology Review World Top Young Innovator Award (2004). He has founded three companies to commercialize technologies from his group: Amprius Inc., 4C Air Inc. and EEnovate Technology Inc.