Weiran Yang, Distinguished professor of Nanchang University. She got her BS from University of Science and Technology of China in 2004, and got her PhD from the Pennsylvania State University in 2010, and subsequently worked for the  Pennsylvania State University, Cornell University, and Dow Chemical company. She joined Nanchang University in 2016. Weiran Yang has her expertise in catalytic conversion of biomass to chemicals and biofuel for value added utilization. She has created a multifunctional catalyst system with HI and metal catalyzed hydrogenation that can convert a wide range of biomass derived carbohydrates and raw cellulosic biomass into value added chemicals with high selectivity.