Dr. Zhenan Bao from Stanford University is our latest exciting guest. She is currently a K.K. Lee Professor in Chemical Engineering with courtesy appointments in Chemistry and Material Science and Engineering. She was the Department Chair of Chemical Engineering from 2018-2022. She currently has close to 700 referenced publications and more than 80 US patents with a Google Scholar H-index 198.
Show Notes & Links Of Interest
Introduction and Bio [00:13]
Question: How does Dr. Bao describe herself and her work? [02:06]
Question: What is the current focus of her work? [02:33]
Question: For her work on flexible plastic and electronic skin how does she see it being applied and in what context? [03:26]
Question: What timeline does she expect her work to become commercially available? [06:31]
Question: Does she feel the medical applications of her work will become available before the commercial applications? [08:42]
Question: What made her want to found entrepreneurial companies related to her work?[11:12]
Question: Where did she grow up, what was her childhood like and how did it shape who she is today? [13:34 ]
Question: If her life had gone differently, what does she think she would be doing now? [16:48]
Question: How did her parents influence her career? [18:08]
Question: What is one of the most difficult obstacles she has had to overcome in her career and how did she handle it? [21:09]
Question: Does she feel that being a woman has been an advantage or disadvantage in her career? [23:40]
Question: Does she have a particular failure in her life that she feels impacted her in a positive way? [26:55]
Question: Has she struggled with Imposter Syndrome during her career? [29:52]
Question: What is her favorite accomplishment during her career? [31:29]
Question: Did she have any mentors or role models that helped influence her career? [34:23]
Elsa Reichmanis [35:30]
Andrew Lovinger [35:39]
Edwin Chandross [35:50]
Howard Katz [36:25]
Ananth Dodabalapur [36:30]
Question: How has she handled change over the course of her career? [37:00]
Question: What does she do for fun outside of work? [38:26]
Question: What advice does she have for young women trying to pursue their dreams? [39:47]
Question: What advice does she have for young people hoping to pursue a career similar to hers? [40:38]
Question: Does she feel it important for young people to know what they want to pursue when entering college or does she think it is ok to figure it out while in college? [42:30]
Question: What one quality or trait does she feel young girls should embrace when pursuing their dreams? [43:39]
Wrap up [44:49]
Zhenan Bao’s Bio
Zhenan Bao joined Stanford University in 2004. She is currently a K.K. Lee Professor in Chemical Engineering, and with courtesy appointments in Chemistry and Material Science and Engineering. She was the Department Chair of Chemical Engineering from 2018-2022. She founded the Stanford Wearable Electronics Initiative (eWEAR) and is the current faculty director. She is also an affiliated faculty member of Precourt Institute, Woods Institute, ChEM-H and Bio-X. Professor Bao received her Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from The University of Chicago in 1995 and joined the Materials Research Department of Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies. She became a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff in 2001. Professor Bao currently has close to 700 refereed publications and more than 80 US patents with a Google Scholar H-index 198.
Bao is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors. Bao was elected a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Science in 2021. She is a Fellow of AAAS, ACS, MRS, SPIE, ACS POLY and ACS PMSE.
Bao is a member of the Board of Directors for the Camille and Dreyfus Foundation from 2022. She served as a member of Executive Board of Directors for the Materials Research Society and Executive Committee Member for the Polymer Materials Science and Engineering division of the American Chemical Society. She was an Associate Editor for the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Chemical Science, Polymer Reviews and Synthetic Metals. She serves on the international advisory board for Advanced Materials, Advanced Energy Materials, ACS Nano, Accounts of Chemical Reviews, Advanced Functional Materials, Chemistry of Materials, Chemical Communications, Journal of American Chemical Society, Nature Asian Materials, Materials Horizon and Materials Today. She is one of the Founders and currently sits on the Board of Directors of C3 Nano Co. and PyrAmes, both are silicon valley venture funded companies.
Bao was a recipient of the VinFuture Prize Female Innovator 2022, ACS Award of Chemistry of Materials 2022, MRS Mid-Career Award in 2021, AICHE Alpha Chi Sigma Award 2021, ACS Central Science Disruptor and Innovator Prize in 2020, ACS Gibbs Medal in 2020, the Wilhelm Exner Medal from the Austrian Federal Minister of Science in 2018, the L'Oreal UNESCO Women in Science Award North America Laureate in 2017. She was awarded the ACS Applied Polymer Science Award in 2017, ACS Creative Polymer Chemistry Award in 2013 ACS Cope Scholar Award in 2011. She is a recipient of the Royal Society of Chemistry Beilby Medal and Prize in 2009, IUPAC Creativity in Applied Polymer Science Prize in 2008, American Chemical Society Team Innovation Award 2001, R&D 100 Award, and R&D Magazine Editors Choice Best of the Best new technology for 2001.
Academic Appointments
Professor, Chemical Engineering
Professor (By courtesy), Materials Science and Engineering
Professor (By courtesy), Chemistry
Member, Bio-X
Member, Cardiovascular Institute
Affiliate, Precourt Institute for Energy
Faculty Fellow, Sarafan ChEM-H
Affiliate, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment
Member, Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute
Administrative Appointments
Department Chair, Stanford University Department of Chemical Engineering (2018 - 2022)
Director, Stanford Wearable Electronics Initiative (eWEAR) (2016 - Present)
Honors & Awards
ACS Award of Chemistry of Materials, American Chemical Society (2022)
ACS Outstanding Global Mentor Award in Polymer Science and Engineering, American Chemical Society (2022)
Fellow, Royal Chemical Society (2022)
Honorary Member, Chinese Chemical Society (2022)
Investigator, CZ BioHub (2022)
Materials Today Innovation Award, Elsevier (2022)
VinFuture Prize Female Innovator, VinFuture Foundation (2022)
AICHE Alpha Chi Sigma Award, American Institute of Chemical Engineers (2021)
Charles G. Overberger International Prize for Excellence Polymer Research, American Chemical Society Polymer Chemistry Division (2021)
Foreign Member, Chinese Academy of Science (2021)
MRS Mid-Career Award, Material Research Society (2021)
Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2021)
ACS Central Science Disruptors and Innovators Prize, American Chemical Society (2020)
Gibbs Medal, American Chemical Society (2020)
ACS Nano Lectureship Award, American Chemical Society (2018)
Wilhelm Exner Medal, Austrian Federal Minister of Science (2018)
Applied Polymer Science Award, American Chemical Society (ACS) (2017)
Member, National Academy of Inventors (2017)
Women in Science Award, L'Oreal Foundation and UNESCO (2017)
Member, National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Engineering (2016)
ACS POLY Fellow, American Chemical Society (ACS) Polymer Division (POLY) (2014)
Andreas Acrivos Award for Professional Progress in Chemical Engineering, American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AICHE) (2014)
MRS Fellow, Materials Research Society (MRS) (2014)
ACS Polymer Division Carl S. Marvel Creative Polymer Chemistry Award, American Chemical Society (ACS) (2013)
Honorary Guest Professorship, Soochow University, China (2013)
AAAS Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (2012)
Cheung Kong Scholar, Li Ka Shing Foundation and Chinese Ministry of Education (2012)
Honorary Guest Professorship, Nanjing Industry University, China (2012)
ACS Fellow, American Chemical Society (ACS) (2011)
ACS PMSE Fellow, American Chemical Society (ACS) Polymer Science and Engineering (PMSE) division (2011)
Most influential Chinese in the World, Science and Technology Category, Phoenix TV (2011)
Founder, Board of Directors, C3 Nano Co. (2010-present)
Honorary Si Yuan Chair Professorship, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China (2010-2013)
David Filo and Jerry Yang Faculty Scholar, Stanford University (2009-2012)
The Royal Society of Chemistry 2009 Beilby Medal and Prize, Stanford University (2009)
IUPAC Award, Polymer International (2008)
SPIE Fellow, SPIE (2008)
50 Awards in the Innovator category, Nanotech Briefs (2007)
Featured in Women in SPIE Optics Planner calendar, SPIE (2007)
Ranked 4 among the Top 20 most cited authors in the field of Organic Thin Film Transistors, ISI (2007)
Teaching Excellence Award, Stanford Society of Women Engineering (2007)
Sloan Research Fellowship, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (2006)
Du Pont Science and Technology Award, DuPont (2005)
Finmeccanica Faculty Scholar, Stanford University (2004-2008)
Terman Fellow, Stanford University (2004-2007)
Robert Noyce Faculty Scholar, Stanford University (2004-2005)
3M Faculty Award, 3M (2004)
Best Mentor Award, University Relations of Lucent Technologies (2003)
Top 100 young innovators for this century, MIT Technology Review (2003)
Team Innovation Award, American Chemical Society (2002)
Editor's Choice of the "Best of the Best" in new technology, R&D Magazine (2001)
R&D 100 Award for the work on Printed Plastic Circuits for Electronic Paper Displays, R&D Magazine (2001)
Top 10 Research Breakthroughs for work on large scale integrated circuits based on organic materials, Science Magazine (2000)
Top 100 Young Engineers, National Academy of Engineering (2000)
Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations
Advisor, Science For America (2022 - Present)
Advisory Council Member, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago (2022 - Present)
Board of Directors, Camille and Henry Dreyfus Fondation (2022 - Present)
Program Chair, US-China National Academy of Engineering Frontier of Engineering Symposium (2019 - 2019)
Scientific Advisory Board Member, Beijing Institute for Collaborative Innovation (2018 - 2022)
Science Committee Member, Future Prize of China (2018 - 2021)
International Advisory Board, Accounts Chemical Reviews (2017 - 2022)
Scientific Advisory Board, Solvay (2017 - 2020)
International Advisory Board, J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2015 - Present)
International advisory board member, ShanghaiTech, School of Physical Science and Technology (2014 - 2019)
Associate Editor, Chemical Science (2014 - 2016)
International Editorial Advisory Board, Materials Horizon (2013 - Present)
International Editorial Advisory Board, Advanced Materials (2013 - Present)
International Editorial Advisory Board, Chemical Communications (2012 - Present)
International Editorial Advisory Board, Advanced Energy Materials (2012 - Present)
International Editorial Advisory Board, Nanoscale (2012 - Present)
Board of Directors, C3 Nano, Co. (2011 - Present)
International Editorial Advisory Board, ACS Nano (2011 - Present)
International Editorial Advisory Board, Nature Asia Materials (2011 - Present)
International advisory board member, LG Display (2010 - 2014)
Conference Chair, Gordon Research Conference on Electronic Processes in Organic Materials (2010 - 2010)
Board Member, National Academies Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology (2009 - 2012)
Executive Committee Member/Member-at-Large, Division of Polymer Materials Science and Engineering, American Chemical Society (2009 - 2012)
Associate Editor, Synthetic Metals (2009 - 2011)
International Editorial Advisory Board, Chemistry of Materials (2006 - 2011)
Scientific Advisory Board Member, Plastic Electronics Foundation (2006 - 2009)
Associate Editor, Polymer Review (2004 - 2008)
Board of Directors, Material Research Society (MRS) (2003 - 2005)
International Editorial Advisory Board, Materials Today (2002 - Present)
Meeting chair, Materials Research Society Spring Meeting (2002 - 2002)
International Editorial Advisory Board, Advanced Functional Materials (2001 - 2005)
Executive Committee Member/Member-at-Large, Division of Polymer Materials Science and Engineering, American Chemical Society (2000 - 2006)
Professional Education
MS, The University of Chicago, Chemistry (1993)
PhD, The University of Chicago, Chemistry (1995)
Hosts
