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 strives to spark interest in science through her science communication work. Currently, she is a script writer and editor at TED-Ed, where she works on animated videos about science. She is also a fact-checker for the popular science YouTube channel SciShow. Her writing has appeared in MIT News.
Rachel is currently an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at Olin College of Engineering. She has a PhD in electrical engineering, a master's degree in electrical engineering, and a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and theater arts, all from MIT.