The University of Michigan – Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute (UM-SJTU JI, JI hereafter) Professor Yaping Dan has been elected a Fellow of Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET), in recognition of his “outstanding contribution to the revolutionary photoconductive gain principle”, according to a recent announcement by the global leading professional organization based in the United Kingdom.

IET has been recognizing the contribution of outstanding researchers and engineers to engineering and technology as Fellows since 1873. Up to date, there are about 200 Fellows of IET in China.

“This is a great honour. I have been exploring the gain mechanism behind the extraordinarily high photogain in photoconductors for nearly a decade. Being elected as a Fellow of IET in 2023 is an important recognition to my research work,” said Professor Dan.

Over the past 10 years, Professor Dan has been pioneering the research in high-gain photoconductors and has published a series of papers on this topic that are recognized by industry experts as “overcoming many of the misconceptions concerning photoconductive gain and the physical mechanisms that are responsible.” His research work has revolutionized the classical photoconductive gain theory and established a new explicit theory that serves as a principle for photoconductor design.

Professor Dan delivers a speech at the 2018 JI graduate commencement ceremony.

IET is a multidisciplinary professional engineering institution formed from two separate institutions: the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE), dating back to 1871, and the Institution of Incorporated Engineers (IIE) dating back to 1884. Its worldwide membership is currently in excess of 158,000 in 153 countries.

Fellowship is the highest category of IET membership. Fellowship will be only awarded to the high achievers – those respected professionals at the forefront of engineering, technology, or cognate disciplines.

Personal Profile

Yaping Dan is currently a full professor at UM-SJTU Joint Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He received his Bachelor degree in electrical engineering from Xi’an Jiaotong University in 1999, Master’s degree in microelectronics from Tsinghua University in 2002, and Ph.D in electrical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 2008. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University before joining the joint institute in 2012 as an associate professor. He was tenured in 2020 and promoted to the rank of full professor in Dec., 2021. He was appointed as the associate editor of AIP Advances and Frontiers in Physics starting in Jun, 2022, and elected in 2023 as Fellow of Institute of Engineering and Technology (FIET), UK. He received a number of awards including the prestigious national high-level talent program from Chinese Central Government, “Pujiang Talent Program” award from Shanghai Government, “Kai Yuan Ten Best Teachers” and “Teaching and Education” (2nd prize) Award from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.