Ran Yang M.S. ’06, Ph.D. ’08
Inventor, Director & Co-founder of Mentoring for Careers in Physics, Teaching Professor of Physics
Degrees:
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Ran Yang is a physics teaching professor for the Engineering Physics and Applied Design (EPAD) track and the inventor of a new AI-enriched medical device designed to save lives. While the project was in its early stages, W&M's Entrepreneurship Hub helped show how the laryngoscope — the instrument used for endotracheal intubation — has great potential for commercialization. “As a physicist-engineer, I have no idea about how the business world works. The Entrepreneurship [Hub] is being really helpful. They told me: If you really want to save lives, then you have to bring the product to market," she says. Ran led a team of students who helped engineer and design the device and she continues to lead other projects in artificial intelligence and healthcare.
Ran is also the director and co-founder of MCP, the Mentoring for Careers in Physics program, providing mentorship for female students seeking careers in physics and engineering. Seeing the need for role models to guide students through the rigorous academic program and into a STEM career, Ran presented MCP to the physics faculty and immediately garnered support. In the program's first year, they matched 25 students with 1:1 mentorship. In the program's third year, she advanced MCP through W&M’s Vision 2026 Faculty Innovator initiative and hopes to take the program to other departments and schools across the university.
