Dr. Yakai Zhao is currently a Senior Research Fellow in School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, since 2019. He received his B.Eng. degree from Harbin Institute of Technology, China in 2011 and Ph.D. degree from Hanyang University in Republic of Korea in 2017, both in Materials Science and Engineering. After obtaining Ph.D., he firstly worked at Beijing Institute of Technology, China as a postdoctoral fellow. In 2019, Dr. Zhao joined NTU as a Research Fellow with Prof. Upadrasta Ramamurty as the supervisor, where later in July 2021 he got promoted to Senior Research Fellow.
Dr. Zhao's main research interest lies in understanding the mechanical behavior, especially in micro- and nano-scale, of advanced metallic materials, which ultimately lead to the optimizations in materials’ mechanical properties and service performance through alloy design and microstructural tailoring. The target materials include high-entropy alloys, additive manufactured (3D-printed) alloys, metallic glasses, etc. He has published papers on Acta Materialia, Journal of Science and Technology, Scripta Materialia etc.
Dr. Zhao serves as the peer reviwer for journals including Acta Materialia, International Journal of Plasticity, Scripta Materialia, Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Scientific Reports, Journal of Materials Science, etc. He is also among the organizing committee for the International Conference on Advances in Structural Alloys and Their Manufacturing (ASATM) to be held during 11–13 January 2023 at NTU (https://www.ntu.edu.sg/mae/research/asatm).