Prism Award

Yang Luo, Ph.D., is senior director of process technology for Honeywell International’s Advanced Materials research and development (R&D) process technology team, which is responsible for the development and scaling up of new chemical processes for fluorine products, polymers, additives, films, fibers, refrigerant, and battery chemicals. A technology leader with 25 years of broad industrial experiences in R&D innovation strategy, technology road map, portfolio management, and process development, Dr. Luo has led the development and commercialization of numerous novel, high-impact process technologies.

Earlier in her career, Dr. Luo worked for Delphi Corporation in various capacities, including senior project engineer and program manager. She was the first woman engineer inducted into the Delphi Automotive Systems Innovation Hall of Fame in its Harrison Radiator Division’s 85-year history. She also earned Delphi’s highest innovation recognition, the Boss Kettering Award, for her industry-first invention and commercialization in electrostatic dry fluxing and thermal degreasing process for aluminum heat exchanger brazing process. This accomplishment propelled her career in Delphi from focusing on innovating, developing, and commercializing manufacturing process technologies to leading a cross-functional team and successfully launching a high-volume vehicle program.

Giving back to the community that nurtured her, Dr. Luo deeply believes in promoting the development of women professionals and students in engineering and technology. Growing up, she was strongly influenced by her mother, who was a geology professor and believed that girls have equal intellectual capacity as boys in science and technology. Dr. Luo has provided mentoring and coaching for many women engineers in her workplaces and in professional societies. She has served on the industry advisory board for North Carolina State University’s chemical and biomolecular engineering department (CBE). As a judge for CBE’s Schoenborn Graduate Research Symposium, she encouraged the department to bring more women Ph.D. students to present and compete. She also proposed and established the Praxair/Linde Exceptional Teaching Assistant Award for CBE to highlight women graduate students and their achievements.

Dr. Luo has received numerous awards and honors, including the Linde Global Innovation Award, the Praxair Innovation Award, Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Environmental Excellence in Transportation Award, and the Delphi Materials Conservation/Pollution Prevention Project of the Year Award.

An elected American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) fellow, Dr. Luo played an instrumental role in the success of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Rapid Advancement in Process Intensification Deployment Institute, operated by AIChE. She served the institute in many leadership capacities, including governing board chair. She also co-chaired AIChE’s education initiatives in Aligning Industrial-Academia Expectation for Chemical Engineering Education.

Dr. Luo holds a B.S. and an M.S. in chemical engineering from Zhejiang University and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from North Carolina State University. At home, she encourages her daughters to pursue and excel in engineering and sciences. In her spare time, she enjoys travel, reading, and music.