Yuanning was born in Dandong, Liaoning and grew up in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. After obtaining the gold medal in the Chinese Chemistry Olympiad Final, he started his undergraduate studies at Tsinghua University with an Outstanding Incoming Student Fellowship. Yuanning worked as an undergraduate research assistant on organic synthesis and supramolecular self-assembly in Professor Mei-Xiang Wang’s group at Tsinghua University as well as in Professor Jonathan Sessler’s group at the University of Texas at Austin. In the summer of 2016, he completed his BS Degree in Chemical Biology as a Tsinghua Xuetang Talent Fellow (Honorary Program) under the supervision of Professor Xi Zhang with a research project on supra-amphiphiles. After that, Yuanning joined Professor Fraser Stoddart’s group at Northwestern University, working on artificial molecular machines and graduated with a PhD Degree in September 2021. He used to spend a little time with Professor Douglas Philp (University of St Andrews) working on a supramolecular polymer incorporating systems chemistry and working as a visiting scholar with Lecturer Dong Jun Kim (University of New South Wales). Yuanning’s research focus on (i) the design and synthesis of artificial molecular pumps, (ii) the characterization and application of mechanically interlocked molecules, (iii) autocatalytically self-replicating supramolecular polymers and (iv) dynamic organic fluorescent dyes for bioimaging. He has been selected as recipients of the 2021 Foresight Institute Distinguished Student Award, the 2022 International Institute for Nanotechnology Outstanding Researcher Award, the 2022 Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad and the 2022 Foresight Fellow.
Yuanning Feng CV
