
Yunyan Qiu Ph.D.
Presidential Young Professor
Department of Chemistry
National University of Singapore
yunyanq@nus.edu.sg
chem.qiulab@gmail.com

Dr. Yunyan Qiu completed his undergraduate training, majoring in medicinal chemistry, at Peking University with Professor Demin Zhou. Then he came to the United States and earned his Ph.D. in Polymer Chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University under the guidance of Professor Kevin Noonan and Tomek Kowalewski. During his graduate study, Dr. Qiu’s research encompassed organometallic chemistry and polymer science, focusing on the rational design of conjugated polymers and developing controlled methodologies to afford well-defined functional materials using metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions. Since December 2016, Dr. Qiu has been a postdoctoral fellow working with Professor Sir Fraser Stoddart, the 2016 Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry, at Northwestern University (NU), where he researches molecular machines and related functional materials. In October 2021, Dr. Qiu is promoted to a research assistant professor of chemistry at NU.
In Fall 2022, Yunyan will start his independent career as a Presidential Young Professor (PYP) of Chemistry at National University of Singapore.
To know more about Dr. Qiu, please check the spotlight page produced by International Institute for Nanotechnology at Northwestern University.
Professional Appointment
October 2022 Presidential Young Professor of Chemistry
National University of Singapore
October 2021 Research Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Northwestern University
Education and Professional Training
Dec 2016–Sep 2021 Postdoctoral Fellow, Northwestern University
with Sir Fraser Stoddart
Aug 2011–Sep 2016 Ph.D. Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University
with Professor Kevin Noonan and Tomasz Kowalewski
Sep 2007–Jul 2011 B.S. Medicinal Chemistry / Pharmaceutical Science
Peking University Health Science Center with Professor Demin Zhou
Awards and Recognition
2021 Foresight Fellow in Molecular Machines
2020 Dream Chemistry Top 5 Prize
2020 International Institute for Nanotechnology Outstanding Researcher Award
2018 CAS SciFinder® Future Leaders
2018 PMSE Future Faculty Scholars, ACS National Meeting, Boston, MA
2017 ACS Excellence in Graduate Polymer Research Symposium
2015 John and Nancy Harrison Legacy Graduate Fellowship in Chemistry and Biochemistry, CMU
The Team
We are looking for creative, dedicated and highly motivated individuals to join our laboratory!
Interested postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, undergraduate students, and research assistants who are interested in exploring new chemistry are encouraged to apply directly by contacting Dr. Qiu.
For more information, see the Join Us tab.

Jiaqi Han
Ph.D. student
Jiaqi was born and grew up in Heilongjiang, China. He completed his undergraduate training, majoring in organic materials, with Prof Lan Sheng and received his B.S. degree in Chemistry at Jilin University in 2019. Afterwards, he moved to the Department of Chemistry at Nankai University, where he commenced his education in asymmetric hydrogenation and asymmetric total synthesis of natural products under the supervision of Prof Qi-Lin Zhou & Prof Jian-Hua Xie and received his M.S. degree in 2022. In October 2022, he joined the group of Prof Yunyan Qiu in Chemistry at the National University of Singapore as a Ph.D. student. His research interests focus on the design and synthesis of polyrotaxanes. In his spare time, he likes reading and looking for delicious food in Singapore.

Jiajia Ping
Ph.D. student
Jiajia was born in Baoding, Hebei province in China. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in polymer materials and engineering from Tianjin University of Science and Technology in 2019. Then she came to Tianjin University to start her master’s study in polymer materials, working on the crystallization and phase transition behavior of isotactic polybutene under the direction of Prof Zhe Ma. She joined the Qiu research group as a Ph.D. student under the guidance of Professor Yunyan Qiu at the National University of Singapore in October 2022. Her current research interests focus on polymer controlled polymerization. In spare time, she like to watch comedy movies and talk shows.

Jiahao Liu
Master student
Jiahao comes from Huanggang city, China. He got his B.S. degree in material science and engineering at Wuhan University of Technology in 2021. During his undergraduate study in Prof. Yu Jiaguo and Assoc. Prof. Liu Tao’s group, Jiahao concentrated on the area of energy and environment, especially MOFs and carbon used in supercapacitors and batteries. In September 2022, he joined Prof. Qiu’s group at the National University of Singapore with his research on conjugated frameworks.

Lanxi Li
Master student
Lanxi was born and grew up in Tianjin, China. She obtained her bachelor's degree from Southwest University in 2022, majoring in Applied Chemistry. In October 2022, she joined the Qiu research group as a master student at the National University of Singapore. Her research interests focus on reprocessable and recyclable covalent adaptable networks.