Phillip Yu

Phillip Yu is the executive director of Master's programs for Engineering and Public Policy (EPP) and Engineering & Technology Innovation Management (ETIM), and an associate teaching professor for ETIM.

Yu was formerly employed at PPG Industries Inc., in Pittsburgh, serving in multiple roles over his 30-year career. As the director for corporate science and technology initiatives and operations, he led the global analytical labs, secured government funding, was responsible for workforce development, and managed innovation, technology strategy, new product development, and external partnerships. His teams' achievements have included impactful new product sales, grants from government agencies, and a variety of cost savings initiatives. Over the span of his career his teams commercialized optical switching devices for eyewear, Trivex® lens material, select HiGard® optical coatings, OLED emitting materials, and energy management coatings. He is named in eight patents and has authored 10 professional publications. His contributions have also included strategic roadmapping, technology scouting methodologies, sustainable external funding strategies, a scalable digital strategy for the R&D function, unification of the global analytical labs, establishing university partnerships, open innovation strategies, and procurement approaches for raw material cost savings.

Yu served on industrial advisory boards for universities to assist in presenting the challenges and opportunities of macrotrends to faculty and staff. He also participated on various panels for the Department of Energy (DoE) Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE) and national labs, reviewing how new material technologies can address energy challenges for the nation. He has also served as a peer reviewer for the DoE EERE Building Technologies Office and the National Science Foundation Accelerating Innovative Research Program, working to accelerate promising breakthrough technologies to commercialization.