Dr. Yan is a Nanyang Assistant Professor (class 2021) jointly appointed at the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) and the School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. Prior to his appointment at NTU, he was a postdoctoral associate at the Research Laboratory of Electronics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA from 2018 to 2021, and a Scientist at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland from 2017 to 2018. He holds a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from EPFL (2017), for which he was awarded the 2019 Professor René Wasserman Award (the only winner), and the Best Graduate Student at EDMX Research Day, EPFL, Switzerland, as well as a BS and MS in Materials Science from the Central South University (2010) and the Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China (2013).

His research interests focus on the development of novel materials, peculiar structure and unique functions for next-generation human-interfaced flexible and soft electronics enabling unique solutions to grand challenges in various fields such as healthcare, medicine, energy, neuroscience, robotics and textiles. He has made several research breakthroughs including
1) single-crystal semiconducting optoelectronic fibers for photosensing and fluorescence imaging;

Peers' remarks: "For the first time, they demonstrated the robust and scalable..." (Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 2021, 9: 439–455)
"...making these devices comparable to some commercial planar photodetectors" (Advanced Materials, 2018, 30: 1803430)

2) ultralong, complexly structured nanoscale metallic glass electronic fibers for brain–machine interface;

"In one bound, the work of Wei Yan has achieved all of these objectives" (Nature Nanotechnology, 2020, 15: 815-818)
"Yan et al. fabricated meters of uniform fibers with widths ranging from 40 nanometers...that can be used to electrically stimulate and record the activity of neurons" (Science, 2020, 369: 1204)

3) unprecedented acoustic fabrics that hear and speak for the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases;

"Yan et. al. report an innovative approach to fabricating hybrid piezoelectric fibres that can act as flexible, robust acoustic sensors — pushing audible sensing to a new high." (Nature, 2022, 603: 585–586)
"Yan and colleagues’ device takes us a step closer to a future in which wearable electronics are integrated into our everyday lives." (Nature, 2022, 603: 585–586)
"...offers an entirely new perspective on innovation and development of the traditional textile industry." (Advanced Fiber Materials, 2022, 4, 321–323)

4) multimaterial electronic fibers enabled intelligent aerospace suits deployed at the International Space Station for the detection of space dust.

"Delivering revolutionary methodologies that result from foundational science is always one of our main priorities, and the opportunity to collect data from space dust using a fiber sensor as a key building block of the system is truly exciting." (US Army)

He has published over 20 articles in high-profile international journals, such as Nature (1), Nature Nanotechnology (2), Advanced Materials (4), and Nature Communications (2) as well as 4 US patents. His research work has been highlighted by many prestigious media and journals, such as Nature, Science, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature News, Nature Podcast, National Science Review, MIT, EPFL, US Army, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Science and Technology Daily, China, China Science Daily, The Wall Street Journals, and other 500 mainstream media and journals worldwide.

He has received many awards, such as a finalist for the Falling Walls Science Breakthroughs in Engineering and Technology (2022, in total 30 finalists worldwide), the 1st Place of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Tech Briefs Design Competition (Aerospace/Defense Category) 2022, Professor René Wasserman Award (2019, the only winner), IEEE Best Young Scientist Award (2021), iCANX Young Scientist Award (10 winners worldwide), Nanoscale Emerging Investigator (2022), Journal of Materials Chemistry C Emerging Investigator (2023) and the finalist of Falling Walls Lab Thailand 2022.

He serves as a funding reviewer for the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Dutch Research Council, Editorial Advisory Board member of "Nanotechnology" (IOP Science), an Editorial Board member of "Advanced Fiber Materials" (Springer Nature) and an Editorial Board member of "Med-X" (Springer Nature).