After spending two years as the Chief Reliability Engineer at Canadian Solar Inc. in Suzhou, China, Xuanji Yu is bringing his skills to Case Western Reserve University’s SDLE Research Center as a postdoctoral scholar.

"I always want to develop new or better products for the world, hence I selected engineering as my major,” said Yu, who earned his B.E. and M.E. in chemical engineering from East China University of Science and Technology and his PhD in materials science and engineering from Boston University. “As modern manufacturing processes are getting more and more advanced and complicated, my interests are in using data to solve problems and help make better decisions.”

A native of Changsha, China, Yu was drawn to the postdoc position for the “exciting research projects and great and resourceful research platform,” as well as the data driven approach of his supervisors, Professor Roger French and Research Associate Professor Laura Bruckman. Yu’s research at CWRU will focus on using data analytics to understand and predict materials degradation and lifetime performance. He will combine time series, spectral and image data on photovoltaic modules in a variety of climates with detailed point in time data on small sets of materials, components or systems. The data will then be cross-correlated with similar datasets on materials under accelerated exposures, helping him to understand degradation mechanisms and the role stressors play in degradation and prediction of lifetime in different climates. Yu said he is looking forward to “learning and using data science to solve complex yet crucial problems in the photovoltaic industry.”

While at Canadian Solar, Inc, Yu created a climate risk assessment tool for the photovoltaic industry, in which he produced a risk-level world map and climate stressor data to use different racking designs to identify the risk of mechanical loads, thermal-mechanical fatigue, hail, ultraviolet and temperature humidity in any assigned location. Additionally, he used shingled photovoltaic modules to investigate degradation of electrically conductive adhesives and module lifetime and conducted power and product warranty extension research. Some of his collaboration partners came from the United States Department of Energy, University of New South Wales, University of Toronto and Électricité de France.

Yu has authored sixteen publications and presented at eight conferences. Away from the engineering arena, he enjoys swimming, cycling and basketball.