Dr. Xiao Yan

Xiao Yan is a postdoc at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has been working on microdrolet-surface interaction, which governs applications ranging from condensation, frosting/icing, water harvesting, thermal management, and aerosol transport. During his early time in the Energy Transport Research Laboratory, he developed a microdroplet manipulating and visualization system, which enables the dispensing of liquid droplets with well-controlled sizes (~10 to 1000 microns) onto various surfaces. Interfaced to a high speed camera and Nikon micro lenses, the system opens a window for him and his colleagues to explore the microscale world in the energy transport and heat transfer field. In addition to the “Swimming Jellyfish” video which was recognized as the first prize by the 2020 Nikon Small World competition (with Kazi Fazle Rabbi as the co-winner), his research work with visualization about droplet jumping, droplet slingshot, partial coalescence, hierarchical condensation, etc., has also been recognized by the scientific community. Nowadays, as he has always been doing, he is exploiting microscale visualization as a powerful tool to go further into the scientific research about heat transfer towards a low-carbon and energy-saving world.

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