Ye joined the Rowland Institute at Harvard in September 2016 from the physics department of ETH Zurich. Prior to graduate studies in the mechanical detection of weak forces in scanned probe microscopy (Christian Degen, MIT and then ETH), he performed research work in mechanisctic organic catalysis (Eric Jacobsen, Harvard), structural biology of RNA (Victoria D'Souza, Harvard), the mechanism of spontaneous crystal chiral symmetry breaking (Louis Cuccia, Concordia University), and combinatorial syntheses of zwitterionic lipids (Olof Ramstrom, KTH). These various research topics are linked by a desire to understand the relationships between the properties/behavior of a system and the atomic structural details of its constituents. Since starting an independent career in 2016, Dr. Tao’s team has achieved important advances in nanotechnology, including the synthesis of the most magnetic oxide thin film (Ho2O3), demonstration of machining with atomic depth resolution, and the design of nanomechanical force sensors with properties beyond what had been possible. As the founder of Project MEER:ReflEction, Dr. Tao applies his passion in thinking deeply and mechanistically from the atomic through to the planetary scales to devise new paradigms, strategies, and technologies to help humankind gain a chance for a livable, hopefully prosperous, future beyond 2050.