Rate My Professor Yanbao Ma

Professor Yanbao Ma serves as a Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering within the School of Engineering at the University of California, Merced. He obtained his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2004, his M.S. from the Institute of Mechanics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing in 1997, and his B.S. from the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei in 1994. Throughout his career at UC Merced, Ma has advanced research in thermal sciences and energy systems, leading the Water and Energy Lab.

Ma's research specializations encompass mesoscale non-diffusive heat transfer, mesoscale mass and energy transport in energy systems, thermal management of electronics and energy systems, environment-friendly water desalination systems, fluid mechanics, solar energy and thermal sciences, heat transfer, metallic additive manufacturing, water and energy technologies, and X-ray technologies. His scholarly contributions include highly cited publications such as 'Thermal management for high power lithium-ion battery by minichannel aluminum tubes' (Applied Thermal Engineering, 2016), 'Prevent thermal runaway of lithium-ion batteries with minichannel cooling' (Applied Thermal Engineering, 2017), 'Receptivity of a supersonic boundary layer over a flat plate. Part 1. Wave structures and interactions' (Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2003), 'Receptivity of a supersonic boundary layer over a flat plate. Part 2. Receptivity to free-stream sound' (Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2003), 'Thermal energy storage using phase change materials in building applications: A review of the recent development' (Energy and Buildings, 2023), 'Renewable energy potential towards attainment of net-zero energy buildings status–a critical review' (Journal of Cleaner Production, 2023), and 'An ultra-compact x-ray free-electron laser' (New Journal of Physics, 2020). These works address critical challenges in battery thermal management, hypersonic flows, renewable energy, and advanced X-ray technologies.