Photo of Zhenan Bao

Zhenan Bao

1970 - Present
Chemical Engineering
China American

Personal Information

Born: 1970

Country of Birth: China

Nationality: American

Ethnicity: Asian

Education

Nanjing University Chemistry major, no degree; University of Chicago 1993 MS & 1995 PhD both in Chemistry

Professional Life

Field of Study: Chemical Engineering

Institution/Corporation: Stanford University; Lucent Technology Bell Labs

Degrees & Memberships: Member: RSC Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry, 2022; Honorary Member, Chinese Chemical Society, 2022; American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2021; Foreign Member, Chinese Academy of Science, 2021; National Academy of Inventors, 2017; National Academy of Engineering, 2016; MRS Fellow, Materials Research Society, 2014; POLY Fellow, ACS Polymer Chemistry Division, 2014; AAAS Fellow, American Association for Advancement of Science, 2012; ACS Fellow, American Chemical Society, 2011; PMSE Fellow, ACS Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering Division, 2011; SPIE Fellow, 2008. Board of Directors Camille & Dreyfus foundation 2022; Executive board of directors Materials research Society; Executive Committee Polymer Materials Science & Engineering division of ACS; past Associate Editor Royal Society of chemistry journal Chemical Science, Polymer Reviews & synthetic Metals; International Advisory Board Advanced Materials, Advanced Energy Materials. ACS Nano, Accounts of Chemical Reviews, Advanced Functional Materials, Chemistry of Materials, Chemical Communications, Journal of the ACS, Nature Asian Materials, Materials Horizon, & Materials Today; Board of Directors C3 Nano Company

Awards & Achievements

Awards: Samsung Research Award, Samsung Electronics, 2023; VinFuture Prize Female Innovator, 2022; Citation Laurate in Chemistry, Clarivate, 2022; ACS Chemistry of Materials Award, American Chemical Society, 2022; Materials Today Innovation Award, Elsevier, 2022; ACS Outstanding Global Mentor Award in Polymer Science and Engineering, American Chemical Society, 2022; MRS Mid-Career Award, Material Research Society, 2021; AICHE Alpha Chi Sigma Award for Chemical Engineering Research, American Institute of Chemical Engineering, 2021; Charles G. Overberger International Prize for Excellence Polymer Research, American Chemical Society Polymer Chemistry Division, 2021; Alumni Professional Achievement Award, Alumni Board of The University of Chicago, 2021; Outstanding Achievement Award, Chinese American Chemical Society, 2021; ACS Central Science Disruptors and Innovators Prize, America Chemical Society, 2020; Gibbs Medal, by American Chemical Society Chicago section, 2020; Alumni Achievement Award, The University of Chicago, Department of Chemistry, 2020; ACS Nano Lectureship Award, by American Chemical Society ACS Nano, 2018; Wilhelm Exner Medal presented by Austrian Federal Minister of Science, 2018; American Chemical Society (ACS) Applied Polymer Science Award, 2017; L’Oreal UNESCO Women in Science Award in Physical Science, 2017; Nature’s 10, “Master of Materials”, top ten people who mattered in 2015; Andreas Acrivos Award for Professional Progress in Chemical Engineering, American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), 2014; American Chemical Society (ACS) Polymer Division Carl S. Marvel Creative Polymer Chemistry Award, 2013; World Technology Award Finalist, Materials Category, presented in association with TIME, Fortune, CNN, and Science, 2013; Top 100 Materials Scientists, Ranked by Citation Impact by Thomson Reuters, ranging from 2000-2010; Cheung Kong Scholar, Li Ka Shing Foundation and Chinese Ministry of Education, 2012; Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, ACS, for excellence in Organic Chemistry, 2011; "2010 Most influential Chinese in the World", Science and Technology Category, April, 2011; The Royal Society of Chemistry Beilby Medal and Prize for the contributions and discoveries in the field of organic semiconductors, including the demonstration that conjugated polymers can produce high mobilities of charge carriers when self-assembled using solution deposition, 2009; National Science Foundation (NSF) American Competitiveness and Innovation Fellow (ACIF) for her significant contributions to advancing the technology of flexible organic electronics through understanding of organic semiconductor growth and innovative approaches for highly efficient patterning of organic single-crystal and nano/microwire transistors, 2009; David Filo and Jerry Yang Faculty Fellow, Stanford University, 2009; Polymer International IUPAC Polymer Prize for creativity and industrial application in polymer science, 2008; Top 20 most cited authors in the field of Organic Thin Film Transistors by ISI with a total of 2226 citations from 1997 to 2007 (http://esi-topics.com/otft/authors/b1a.html); Nanotech Briefs®’ Nano 50™ Awards in the Innovator category, 2007; Teaching Excellence Award, Stanford Society of Women Engineering, 2007; Sloan Research Fellow, Sloan Foundation, 2006; 3M Faculty Award, 2005; DuPont Science and Technology Award, 2005; Finmeccanica Faculty Scholar, Stanford University, 2004-2007; Terman Fellow, Stanford University, 2004-2007; Robert Noyce Faculty Scholar, Stanford University, 2004-2005; MIT TR-100 by MIT Technology Review magazine as one of the top 100 young innovators for this century, September 2003; Best Mentor Award honoring mentors who have gone above and beyond their duties to ensure that their intern(s) were successful during their internship of summer 2003, by the University Relations of Lucent Technologies, August 2003; Outstanding Young Woman Scientist who is expected to make a substantial impact in chemistry during this century, Women Chemists Committee of the American Chemical Society as an 2002 (featured in Chemical & Engineering News, March 25, 2002); ACS Team Innovation Award, American Chemical Society, for the demonstration of a flexible electronic paper, 2002; Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, Bell Labs, 2001; R&D Magazine’s Editor’s Choice Award of the “Best of the Best” new technology, 2001; R&D 100 Award for the work on “Printed Plastic Circuits for Electronic Paper Displays”, 2001; Science Magazine Top 10 Research Breakthroughs in 2000 for work on large scale integrated circuits based on organic materials (Details can be seen in http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/290/5500/2221); National Academy of Engineering as Top 100 Young Engineers, 2000; GAANN Fellowship, University of Chicago, 1995; Proctor & Gamble Travel Grant, University of Chicago, 1994; Ou Yangzhao Prize for Undergraduate Student, Nanjing University, China, 1989; Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award, Nanjing University, China, 1989

Achievements: known for work on organic field-effect transistors & organic semiconductors for applications including flexible electronics & electronic skin; holds 82 patents; works on developing biodegradable semiconductors & devices to reduce electronic waste; C3 Nano Company (she is 1 of the founders) is the leader in flexible displays using conductive nano material thin films & its products are used in smartphones & TVs; PyrAmes Health, another company she founded, makes a wearable BP monitoring device with paper thin sensors that look like a watch & Boppli which provides accurate, non-invasive, continuous, wireless BP monitoring for neonatal & pediatric patients; her electronic skin technology will likely enable amputees who wear prosthetics to regain their sense of touch

Born & raised in China

emigrated to US 1990 to further her education

lists herself as an American citizen but her date of citizenship is unknown

has been on staff at Stanford University since 2004

was Chairman of Stanford's Chemical engineering department from 2018-2022

worked at Lucent Technology Bell Labs for 9 years before working at Stanford

was accepted to the PhD program at the University of Chicago before she completed her BA

her acceptance was based on 2 awards she won as an undergraduate student

both of her parents were professors at Nanjing University, her mother in Chemistry & father in Physics