Yuanzhi Tang is the Georgia Power professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is the founding director of the Center for Critical Mineral Solutions and serves as an initiative lead on sustainable resources at the Strategic Energy Institute as well as the associate director for interdisciplinary research at the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems. 

Tang received her bachelor’s degrees in geology and economics from Peking University, Ph.D. in geosciences from Stony Brook University, and completed her postdoctoral research in environmental chemistry at Harvard University. She has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, holds three patents, and serves as co-editor in chief of Chemical Geology. She has held multiple professional leadership roles, including chair of the American Chemical Society Geochemistry Division. 

Her research and leadership integrate earth, environmental, biological, materials, and sustainability sciences and innovations to advance secure, circular, and sustainable energy systems. At Georgia Tech, she leads interdisciplinary and multi-institutional collaborations with universities, national labs, industry, and state agencies to drive regional resource innovation and economic development. Her leadership emphasizes ecosystem building, workforce development, and translating research into tangible societal and economic impacts.