Professor Yan Li with students in her lab. (Photo by Rob Strong)

"I am deeply honored to receive this recognition from the ceramics community," says Li. "Throughout my journey as a woman engineer, I have been fortunate to receive unwavering support from this community. I am committed to paying this forward by empowering the next generation of women engineers in my role as faculty advisor to the Dartmouth chapter of the Society of Women Engineers."

Awardees are deemed to have met three criteria: 1) contributions to the field of ceramic science and engineering; 2) demonstrated commitment to mentoring students and young professionals; and 3) promotion of the society and its related activities in the broader community. The award—consisting of a plaque, a certificate, and a $1,000 honorarium—will be presented on January 29th during the 48th International Conference and Expo on Advanced Ceramics and Composites (ICACC) in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Li joined the Dartmouth Engineering faculty in 2020. Her research focuses on the mechanics of advanced materials and using integrated computational and experimental approaches for next-generation material design, as well as the application of materials science and solid mechanics in advanced manufacturing and biomedical applications. She has won research support from the US Army Research Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, NSF, and NASA, and worked with various industry partners including Boeing, Gulfstream, and GE. She is a recipient of the ASME ORR Early Career Award, NH EPSCorR Pilot Award, Best Paper Award of the 8th International Conference on Computational Methods, WAC Teaching Writing Fellowship and Professors Around the World grant at Cal State Long Beach, and multiple NSF travel awards for leadership and career development.

After receiving her BS in mechanical engineering from Yanshan University in China, Li received her MS in materials science and engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and her PhD in mechanical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Every year, three early/mid-career women and minority professionals are selected for the Engineering Ceramics Division's Jubilee Global Diversity Award and are invited to present at the ICACC. The awardees are encouraged to mentor students and promote society related activities at their institutions.