Yang’s research area is 3D Freeze Printing (3DFP) of advanced functional materials, including metals, ceramics and cellulose-based aerogels. 3DFP combines the advantages of freeze casting and additive manufacturing to fabricate multifunctional aerogels. Freeze casting is a cost-effective, efficient and versatile method capable of fabricating micro-scale porous structure inside the aerogels. The 3DFP provides the capability of fabricating highly customized geometries with controlled microporous structures as well. The aerogels they print have broad applications: The hydroxyapatite material has been widely applied to bone tissue engineering due to its biodegradable, biocompatible and osteoconductive properties. The scaffold printed with their method has superior compressive stress and strain, and it also contains interconnected pores which is good for tissue growth. They also print the nano-cellulose aerogels as ultra-lightweight sound absorbers, which can provide significantly higher absorption and transmission-loss properties. It has a great potential to be applied in the aerospace industries. Yang is from China and enjoys cooking, and his favorite food is pizza. Traveling to the moon is on his bucket list. Shuting Lei and Dong Lin are his advisors.