Houston Daily

Two professors from the University of Houston have been named to Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers list, highlighting their significant contributions to global energy research. Zhifeng Ren from the Department of Physics and Yan Yao from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering were recognized for the impact and influence of their work over the past decade.

Both researchers are core members of the Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston (TcSUH), which is a leading center for superconductivity and energy research in the United States. Ren has now received this recognition eight times, while Yao has been honored twice. They are part of a group of 10 UH researchers who have collectively earned this distinction nearly 40 times since 2014, placing them among the top 1% most cited scientists worldwide.

“I congratulate Professors Zhifeng Ren and Yan Yao for earning recognition as Highly Cited Researchers,” said Claudia Neuhauser, UH vice president of research. “This distinction reflects the excellence of their research and the impressive impact of their work in areas of national interest.”

The Highly Cited Researchers program identifies individuals whose published work is frequently referenced by peers, signaling that their findings are influencing their fields and guiding future studies. This year, 7,131 researchers globally were recognized through data collected by Clarivate’s Institute for Scientific Information using the Web of Science database.

According to data from Web of Science, Ren holds an h-index of 116 with 354 indexed publications that have received more than 69,000 citations. His work has also been cited nearly a thousand times in patents. Yao’s h-index is 77 with 189 publications and over 33,000 citations; his work was cited more than four hundred times in patents.

“Congratulations to Zhifeng Ren and Yan Yao on being named among this year’s Highly Cited Researchers. Their work pushes the boundaries of innovation and reflects the extraordinary scholarship happening across our campus,” said Diane Z. Chase, UH senior vice president of academic affairs and provost.

Ren serves as director at TcSUH and holds an endowed chair in condensed matter physics. His research covers superconductivity for energy storage, thermoelectric materials, hydrogen production catalysts, boron arsenide crystals with high thermal conductivity, and battery-recycling technologies.

“The work my group has been doing for many years has been leading each of the fields,” Ren said. “People have been continuously working on the topics we have started that are potentially very important to either understand the physics or for practical applications.”

Yao is distinguished as both a professor and co-founder of Li-Beyond. His focus lies in electrochemistry and materials science aimed at developing next-generation energy-storage technologies.

“Being recognized again as a Highly Cited Researcher is an affirmation that our work is resonating with the scientific community and helping shape the field,” Yao said.