Yet-Ming Chiang, a co-founder of A123 Systems, will give the plenary address at the 2011 Materials Research Society Spring Meeting in San Francisco. The plenary session will be held Wednesday, April 27th, at 6:30 p.m. in the San Francisco Marriott Marquis.

Chiang is also the Kyocera Professor of Ceramics in the Materials Science and Engineering Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he focuses on the design, synthesis, and characterization of advanced inorganic materials and related devices. His current research interests include new cathode and anode materials for lithium ion batteries, phase transformations in electroactive materials, electrochemical device design, electrochemical-to-mechanical energy conversion, self-assembling colloids, and the stability and defect chemical properties of interfaces in inorganic materials.

In 1987, Chiang co-founded American Superconductor. He has published widely in materials science and engineering, and served on numerous government panels and editorial boards of journals in his field. Chiang received an SB degree in materials science and engineering in 1980 and an ScD degree in ceramics in 1985, both from MIT.