Employment

Aug/2016– Associate Professor (Level I), Leader of the Colloidal Assembly Group

Frontier Institute of Science and Technology,Xi’an Jiaotong University, China

Sept/2015–Aug/2016 Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Oxford, UK

Sept/2013–Aug/2015 Marie-Curie Fellow, University of Oxford, UK

Sept/2012–Aug/2013 Postdoctoral Scholar, University of California Santa Barbara, US

Nov/2010–Aug/2012 Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, US

Dec/2008–Oct/2010 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The Australian National University, Australia

Education

Sept/2002–Nov/2008 PhD (Soft Condensed Matter Physics), Department of Physics,

McGill University, Canada

Sept/1998–Jul/2002 B.Sc. (Condensed Matter Physics), Department of Physics, JiLin University, China

Synthesize and design novel colloidal systems for self and directed assembly under controlled excluded-

volume, depletion, dipolar and active interactions and confinement

Understand new physics emerged from these novel systems and further indentify and establish new strategies

for controlling the spatial and temporal organization of soft materials in and out of equilibrium

1. Thermal Analog of Gimbal Lock in a Colloidal Ferromagnetic Janus Rod. Gao, Y.; Balin, A.K.; Dullens, R.P.A.; Yeomans, J.M.; Aarts, D.G.A.L. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2015, 115, 248301.

2. Microdynamics and arrest of coarsening during spinodal decomposition in thermoreversible colloidal gels.

Gao, Y.; Kim, J.; Helgeson, M.E. Soft Matter 2015, 11, 6360 (Cover Article).

3. Texture Analysis Microscopy: Quantifying Structure in Low-Fidelity Images of Dense Fluids. Gao, Y.;

Helgeson, Optics Express 2014, 22, 10046. 4. Non-equilibrium Umbrella Sampling Applied to Force Spectroscopy of Soft Matter. Gao, Y.; Wang, G.M.; Williams, D.R.M.; Williams, S.R.; Evans, D.J.; Sevick, E.M. J. Chem. Phys. 2012, 136, 054902. 5. Dynamics of Molecular Shock-absorbers: energy dissipation and the Fluctuation Theorem. Gao, Y.; Williams, D.R.M.; Sevick, E.M., Soft Matter 2011, 7, 5739. 6. A Model of a Homopolymer Brush as a Switch. Gao, Y.; Sevick, E.M. Macromolecules 2010, 43, 2042.

7. Accurate Detection and Complete Tracking of Large Populations of Features in Three Dimensions. Gao, Y.;

Kilfoil, M.L. Optics Express 2009, 17, 4685.

8. Intermittent and Spatially Heterogeneous Single-Particle Dynamics Close to Colloidal Gelation. Gao, Y.; Kilfoil, M.L. Phys. Rev. E 2009, 79, 051406.

9. Direct Imaging of Dynamical Heterogeneities Near the Colloid-Gel Transition. Gao, Y.; Kilfoil, M.L. Phys. Rev.

Lett. 2007, 99, 078301.

10. Experimental Determination of Order in Non-Equilibrium Solids Using Colloidal Gels. Gao, Y.; Kilfoil, M.

J. Phys. Condens. Matter 2004, 16, S5191.