Chemical Engineering Doctoral Student Xintong Yuan Named Schmidt Science Fellow

For the first time since the establishment of the global Schmidt Science Fellowship in 2017, a UCLA student has been selected to join the program. Xintong Yuan, a chemical engineering doctoral student at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, has been selected to join the 2025 class of next-generation researchers in pursuit of postdoctoral studies.

The international fellowship, an initiative of nonprofit organization Schmidt Sciences in partnership with the Rhodes Trust, which awards Rhodes Scholarships, announced today its latest 32 fellows representing 15 nationalities from 27 universities across the globe. They will join a community of 209 fellows from nearly 40 countries who are leaders in interdisciplinary science. The fellowship provides financial support for a postdoctoral placement of one to two years at a research institution selected by a fellow. The cohort will also participate in a yearlong interdisciplinary Science Leadership Program that offers a professional-development curriculum, including three in-person meetings and multiple virtual sessions throughout the first year of the fellowship. The program is designed to bring the fellows from across the world to build the skills, experience and networks required for them to become interdisciplinary science leaders.

Yuan, who recently defended her doctoral thesis, is on track to graduate in June and plans to study interfacial physics for her postdoctoral appointment supported by the fellowship at Stanford University. At UCLA, she has been advised by chemical and biomolecular engineering assistant professor Yuzhang Li. As a member of his research group, Yuan has focused on technologies for next-generation batteries, exploring the fundamentals of lithium-metal deposition during battery cycling, as well as imaging the formation of the metal’s solid electrolyte interphase using cryogenic-electron microscopy.

For her postdoctoral fellowship, Yuan will pivot from chemical engineering to explore interfaces — the boundaries between distinct phases of matter, which are crucial in electrochemical processes because they control how ions and electrons move between different materials and phases. Specifically, she will examine how ions and electrons behave at the interfaces between liquids and solids in the presence of an electric field, with the aim of improving clean energy technologies. Yuan’s research may unlock and improve electrochemical processes at scale by developing new materials and devices designed to enhance interfacial control. Ultimately, she says she hopes her work will contribute to safer, and more efficient and sustainable energy storage solutions.

The Schmidt Science Fellowship is the latest of several major accolades for Yuan. She has been honored as a MIT Chemical Engineering Rising Star and a Materials Science and Engineering Rising Star co-organized by MIT, Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She has also received a Materials Research Society Graduate Student Gold Award and an American Institute of Chemical Engineers Women in Chemical Engineering Travel Award. She has authored 21 journal publications, including five as a first author, one of which was featured on the cover of the scientific journal Nature.

“Philanthropic funding of scientific research, and especially support of early-career researchers, has never been more important,” said Wendy Schmidt, who co-founded Schmidt Sciences with her husband, Eric, in the organization’s announcement of the 2025 cohort of fellows. “By providing Schmidt Science Fellows with support, community and freedom to work across disciplines and gain new insights, we hope they’ll tackle some of the world’s most vexing challenges, achieve breakthroughs and help create a healthier, more resilient world for all.”