Yilun (Paul) Zhao

Yilun (Paul) Zhao has held a variety of professional positions since 2017. In 2017, they were an Undergraduate Student Researcher at Vanderbilt University, where they conducted honors research about nanoparticles and presented their results at a regional ACS conference. Yilun (Paul) also served as a Math Department Undergraduate Grader, assisting the professor in designing the curriculum. In 2019, they were an intern on the Mergers and Acquisitions Team at China Merchants Bank. In 2020, they worked as a Biomedical Engineer at NanoCellect Biomedical, Inc., where they followed complex system and hardware step-by-step verification procedures for component, instruments and software testing about a microfluidic cell-analysis-and-sorting device in development. Yilun (Paul) also performed QA/QC testing to ensure consistent quality of company products and analyzed and interpreted data statistically and generated reports through written and graphical formats. Additionally, they were a Strategic & Technical Student Consultant at Amyris, where they supported the company's strategic transition to zero-waste/circular-economy manufacturing by evaluating market opportunity and value proposition for a specialty functional food ingredient and a new biomaterial additive in the Amyris R&D pipeline, in personal care, food and industrial applications. Yilun (Paul) also recommended the most viable products based on technical novelty, cost, performance, relevant market sizes, and sustainability factors, and performed techno-economic and cost-in-use evaluation of the proposed products in their target applications, advising Amyris on the most important strategic & technical requirements to ensure product competitiveness.

Yilun (Paul) Zhao has an educational background that spans from 2012 to 2020. Yilun (Paul) completed their high school diploma in 2015 at Shenzhen Foreign Languages School. Yilun (Paul) then attended Vanderbilt University from 2015 to 2019, where they earned a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry & Mathematics. In 2019, they began their Master of Science in Chemical Engineering - Product Development Program at the University of California, Berkeley, which they completed in May 2020.