Optimizing Energy

College of engineering

Dr. Yu Yang, Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, is a proponent of intelligent automation in industry and has conducted extensive research on the topic. Prior to joining CSULB, he used reinforcement learning to safely control unstable chemical reactions and created numerical models for suck-rod pump operations in the oil and gas sector in Alberta Canada. Dr. Yang also developed innovative optimization techniques to hedge financial and operational risks in crude oil procurement at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Since joining The Beach, Dr. Yang has shifted his research focus to renewable energy systems, including battery power, biodiesel, solar power, and hydrogen, to contribute to California’s fight against climate change. He prioritizes the use of artificial intelligence to promote clean energy usage and states his “long-term goal is to build a research hub at CSULB on the ‘intelligent control and optimization for energy-intensive systems,’ which enables decarbonization for environment protection and the national energy security.”

To achieve this goal, Dr. Yang has collaborated with faculty across campus and been the recipient of multiple federal and state grants. These grants include a Department of Defense grant to secure a laboratory-scale steam power plant to train students and provide them the opportunity to research efficient power generation using natural gas and a National Science Foundation grant to study the advanced optimization technology in healthy oil development. Dr. Yang was also co-principal investigator on the recently awarded ASCEND: AANAPI Student Success Center & Development Program grant from the Department of Education.