Areas of Expertise:
Dr. Yang has been a scientist, an engineer, and an entrepreneur in energy conversion and storage. He co-founded UniEnergy Technologies (UET) in 2012 and has since served as CEO and President of the company, with a mission to be a world leader in providing bulk energy storage solutions, through innovation, partnerships and quality control, to the evolving electrical grid and utilities that are not only safe, reliable and affordable, but increasingly demanded to be cleaner, more efficient, resilient, and flexible. UET is accomplishing its mission by engineering and producing new generation vanadium redox flow battery (VFRB) systems, with high performance electrolytes and stacks, highly integrated container base system design, state-of-the-art power electronics and control, and value-added services. Since its inception, UET has successfully engineered and demonstrated MW scale systems and are currently installing the MW Uni.SystemTM in the US and internationally. Please refer to details at http://www.uetechnologies.com.
Previously, Dr. Yang was a Lab Fellow, the highest science and technology rank, at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) of the US Department of Energy (DOE). He played a pivotal role in establishing the Grid Energy Storage Program at the lab, and had since led the program in R&D of varied storage technologies, including new generation VFRB, planar Na-halide batteries, novel Li-ion batteries and new materials/chemistries, along with grid application study. Under Gary’s leadership, the PNNL’s multi-disciplinary team successfully attracted over 20 million dollar funding and made several breakthroughs in battery technologies including planar Na-halide batteries, nanostructured Li-ion batteries and a new generation of VRFB that was later licensed by UET. Earlier, Dr. Yang was a Senior Scientist and later a Chief Scientist leading efforts in RD&D of planar solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) and development of nanostructured hydrogen storage materials. He joined PNNL in early 2001, after 5 year experience as a materials engineer in the auto parts industry, and extensive education and training in materials science, engineering and electrochemistry, at Jilin University (Former Jilin University of Technology), the University of Connecticut, and Carnegie Mellon University.
Dr. Yang was elected a Fellow of ASM International in recognition of “his outstanding contribution to advanced materials and electrochemical energy conversion and storage ….” He has published over 200 research articles, 13 book chapters and editorials, organized over 20 symposiums/conferences, and delivered numerous invited speeches around the world. He is an inventor of over 50 US and foreign patents (including pending). His efforts have won him multiple awards that include twice (on SOFC and VFRB, respectively) the Federal Laboratory Consortium’s (FLC) Excellence in Technology Transfer Award, one of the most prestigious US government awards on technology development and commercialization.