Donglei "Emma" Fan is an associate professor of Mechanical Engineering of the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin and the principal investigator in its Nanomaterials Innovation Lab. In 2014, her team built a nanomotor that was significantly smaller, faster, and longer running than any previously designed. The techniques that they developed have been referred to as a "breakthrough technology". The achievement was noted as a highlight of 2014 in Science Year by Year (2017). Early life and education Fan attended Nanjing University (NJU) as part of an honor program for gifted youth, the Department of Intensive Instruction, as an early admitted student, waived the National College Entrance Exam and awarded the Freshman Merit Scholarship. She received her bachelor's degree in chemistry from NJU in 1999. She then attended Johns Hopkins University (JHU), from which she received two master's degrees, in materials science and engineering (2003) and in electrical engineering (2005). She went on to receive her Doctor of Philosophy degree in materials science and engineering from JHU in 2007. She was a postdoctoral fellow at JHU from 2007 to 2009. Career In 2010, Fan joined The University of Texas at Austin as an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. She is the principal investigator in its Nanomaterial Innovation Lab. In 2012, Fan received the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award. In 2013, Fan was one of sixty engineers from Europe and the United States who were invited to participate in the EU-US Frontier of Engineering Symposium in France, supported by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). In 2014, Fan was selected to participate in the Arab-American Frontiers of Science, Engineering, and Medicine Symposium, organized by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). In 2016, Fan was promoted to associate professor with tenure. In 2017, Fan received a Robert & Jane Mitchell Endowed Faculty Fellowship in Engineering. Donglei Fan is on the editorial board of the Scientific Reports. Research Donglei Fan studies nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS), in particular the design, assembly and control of rotary NEMS or nanomotors. She and her coworkers have identified fundamental interactions at the nanoscale level and developed novel mechanisms for manipulating nanoscale components to create and control nanomotors. The techniques developed have been described as a "breakthrough technology". While at Johns Hopkins University, she helped to develop a technique for moving and positioning nanosctructures using alternating and constant electric fields.