Group Members

Principle Investigator

Yat Li [CV]
Professor
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, PSB 160
University of California, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064
Email: yatli@ucsc.edu; Phone: +1 (831) 459-1952
ORCID: 0000-0002-8058-2084
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7LTJBnUAAAAJ&hl=en

Yat Li received B.Sc. (1999) and Ph.D. (2002) in Chemistry from The University of Hong Kong. As a graduate student in Prof. Wing Tak Wong’s lab, he researched the coordination chemistry of metal clusters and their catalytic applications. He received a Croucher Foundation postdoctoral fellowship in 2003 to work with Prof. Charles M. Lieber at Harvard University, where he studied the optical and electronic properties of III-nitrides nanowire and nanowire heterostructures. Yat Li joined the University of California Santa Cruz as an assistant professor in 2007, was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2013, and was promoted to full professor in 2018. His research focuses on the rational design, fabrication, and assembly of functional materials. He seeks to understand these materials’ chemical and physical properties and explore their potential applications in catalysis, energy conversion, and energy storage. He has published over 160 papers in leading scientific journals. These publications have been cited over 39000 times, with an H-index of 93. Yat Li has been selected as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics (Web of Science) every year since 2017. His research accomplishments were also recognized by awards and honors, including the Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2022), CAPA Distinguished Faculty Award (2018), Kavli Fellow (2012), NSF Career Award (2009), Croucher Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship (2003), Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fellowship (2002), Li Po Chun Postgraduate Scholarship (2002). Yat Li is serving as an associate editor of Battery Energy (Wiley, 2023-present), and the editorial board member for a few scientific journals including Nano-Micro Letters (2016-present), Science China Chemistry (2018-present), Frontiers of Optoelectronics (2019-present), ChemPhysMater (2019-present), Catalysts (2021-present), Nano Letters (2024-present), and Journal of Physical Chemistry A/B/C (2024-present). 

Graduate Students

Anica Pinongcos
B.Sc., University of California Los Angeles
Email: apinongc@ucsc.edu

Qiu Ren
B.Sc., Guangxi Normal University; M.Sc., Nanjing Tech University
Email: qren6@ucsc.edu

Xinzhe Xue
B.Eng., Tongji University
Email: xxue11@ucsc.edu

Ella Davidi
B.Sc. and M.Sc., Tel Aviv University
Email: edavidi@ucsc.edu

Samuel Eisenberg
B.Sc., Humboldt State University
Email: steisenb@ucsc.edu

Nathan Delaney
B.Sc., University of California, Santa Cruz
Email: ncdelane@ucsc.edu

Cassidy Tran
B.Sc., Westmont College
Email: ctran53@ucsc.edu

Undergraduate Students

Ashley Middling
Senior in Chemistry major
Email: amiddlin@ucsc.edu

Logan Valdovinos
Sophomore in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major
Email: lovaldov@ucsc.edu

Cathleen Hsieh
Senior in Chemistry BS major
Email: chsieh16@ucsc.edu

Yeison Samayoa
Sophomore in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major
Email: ysamayoa@ucsc.edu