Jie Lian, Ph.D., has been named the William Weightman Walker Professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). An endowed chaired professorship is among the highest honors bestowed on a Rensselaer faculty member.

Lian is a professor in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering. His research uses state-of-the-art materials synthesis and characterization experiments to obtain fundamental understanding of advanced materials to tackle important problems in energy. He has authored over 300 papers in journals and conference proceedings including Science, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Materials, Nature Communications, Physical Review Letters, Journal of American Chemical Society, Journal of Nuclear Materials, Nuclear Instrument Methods Physical Research B, and Journal of Materials Research, among others.  He has also contributed three book chapters and holds two patents. He has an H-index of 65 with over 19,000 citations.

Lian has received many awards for his pioneering work, including best paper awards from the Journal of the American Ceramic Society in 2018 and two at the 2010 Microscopy and Microanalysis Annual Meeting; the NSF Faculty Early Career Development Award in 2012; the James Tien ’66 Early Career Award at RPI in 2016; and twice winning RPI School of Engineering Research Excellence Awards. Lian received a B.S. degree in materials science from Yanshan University in 1994. He earned three master’s degrees – in materials science (Tsinghua University, 1998), in nuclear engineering (University of Michigan, 2000), and in electrical engineering, also from Michigan in 2002. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan in 2003 with a concentration in nuclear engineering and radiological sciences. He remained at Michigan initially as a postdoctoral research fellow and later as an assistant research scientist in the Departments of Geological Sciences and Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences, where he studied radiation effects in complex ceramic materials, semiconductor compounds, and structural materials. Lian joined the tenure-track faculty at RPI as an assistant professor in 2008. In 2013, he received tenure and was promoted to associate professor, and in 2017 was promoted to professor. 

Learn more about Jie Lian.