Rachel Yang (she/her) is an electrical engineer, researcher, writer, and science communicator.
For research, Rachel works on power electronics, a critical technology that provides power to anything requiring electricity, from smartphones to electric vehicles. She works to make power electronics more energy efficient and more energy dense by improving their most limiting parts: the magnetic components. By developing better magnetic components, Rachel hopes to help advance technology for a more sustainable society, such as by reducing the energy consumption of power-hungry data centers or by accelerating the development of electrified aircraft.
Besides research, Rachel loves helping other scientists and engineers improve their communication skills. She is a Communication Fellow at the MIT EECS Communication Lab, where she coaches undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs on technical communication skills. In the past, Rachel has co-taught a workshop series on science communication to STEM graduate students and postdocs at MIT.
Rachel also strives to spark interest in science and to make STEM more accessible. Currently, she is a script writer and editor at TED-Ed, where she works on animated shorts about science. She is also a fact-checker for the popular science YouTube channel SciShow. Previously, Rachel has interned as a science writer at MIT News.
As an electrical engineer, Rachel has worked on the Xbox Adaptive Controller, the Xbox One S, the Xbox One X, and the Microsoft HoloLens 2.
Rachel is currently working on her PhD in electrical engineering at MIT. She holds a master's degree in electrical engineering and a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and theater arts.