Meet the team

Read on to find out about Elsevier's in-house materials science team. For information on individual journals, including editors and editorial boards, visit the journals page. For additional contact information, including marketing and advertising, visit the contacts page.

Yan Sun - Publishing Director, Materials Science

Yan is the Publishing Director of Elsevier’s Materials Science journals. She has overall responsibility for the growing portfolio of subscription/hybrid and Open Access journals in the field of materials science and related areas, and for leading and engaging a global team of Publishing staff across multiple locations in China, UK and Europe. Yan has over 10 years’ experience in STM publishing industry and has taken various positions including Publisher of Environmental Sciences, Health and Medical Sciences, Senior Manager of Publishing Content Department, as well as Executive Publisher of Energy & Applied Energy portfolio. Yan graduated from School of Environment, Tsinghua University, China, and also hosts an MSc from EU Erasmus program jointly issued by four universities from UK, Sweden, Poland and The Netherlands.

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Marlene Silva, PhD – Publisher, Metals & Engineering

Marlene is a Publisher in Elsevier’s Materials Science group since 2016, focusing on journals related to Metals & Engineering. She has a PhD in Particle Physics and has worked as a scientist in Radiotherapy research in the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam. While working for the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research and Elsevier she discovered her passion for developing  science outreach methods for the 21^st century.

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Daniel Staemmler, PhD – Executive Publisher Materials Engineering

Daniel Staemmler works in Elsevier’s Berlin office in Germany managing a portfolio of materials engineering journals, which includes the Acta Materialia journals, a number of other well-established materials engineering journals and HardwareX.  After finishing his Ph.D. researching cognitive styles and interactive online learning environments at the University of Hamburg, Daniel moved to San Francisco. He worked for Shanti's L.I.F.E. Institute (Learning Immune Function Enhancement) as their Manager of Research and Internet Services. On returning to Germany, Daniel worked for Bertelsmann at their educational start-up scoyo, an online learning platform for school children. Followed by positions at the German Institute of Continuing Education for Technologists and Analysts in Medicine (DIW-MTA e.V.) and Quadriga University of Applied Sciences, before joining Elsevier in 2015.

Yu Xia - Senior Publisher, Polymer Sciences

Yu is managing the portfolio of polymer journals including: Progress in Polymer Sciences, Polymer, European Polymer Journal, etc. She joined Elsevier in 2016 to reshape the strategy of a portfolio of interdisciplinary journals in Environmental Science. She consistently managed to significantly increase the impact, but also the volume of her journals, as well as launching new titles, including Gold Open access ones.

Yu has a wealth of professional experience and academic qualifications; she holds a PhD in Environmental Science from the University of Basel (Switzerland), and a Master and Bachelor in Physics from Heidelberg University (Germany) and Fudan University (China), respectively. Before joining Elsevier, Yu worked as Science Officer at the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).  

Lauren Ashby - Executive Publisher, Materials

Lauren is an Executive Publisher in the Materials team, with a range of responsibilities within the group including oversight of MaterialsToday.com.  Lauren joined the Materials team in April 2021 after previously working in Elsevier’s Social Science division, where she led on the launch of a number of open access titles tailored for the Social Science community, with a specific focus on educational research.  Prior to working for Elsevier, Lauren began her career at SAGE Publications.  Lauren studied Modern & Medieval Languages (French and Spanish) at the University of Cambridge, including a year spent at Paris Sorbonne IV, before completing an MA in the History of Art (with a focus on contemporary Chinese practice) at the University of Edinburgh.  Outside of work, Lauren volunteers as a tutor with the Access Project, an organisation focused on supporting educational attainment for under-privileged students.  She lives in London.

Jia Wang, PhD – Senior Acquisition Editor, Materials Today Family

Jia Wang joined the Materials Science team as full-time Senior Acquisition Editor in January 2021, based in Shenzhen office. Jia obtained her doctoral degree in Materials Chemistry from the Technical University of Vienna, focusing on new photocatalysts and energy storage materials. Jia’s role is to support Chinese researchers in materials science excel globally. Key importance and prime goal is the acquisition of high impact content for the journals while working with editors identifying opportunities. Meanwhile, she will support to liaise and increase networking activities with top researchers in the field of materials science in China. For the moment, she focuses on Materials Today and several MT-titled journals.

Rachel Garland - Senior Publisher Materials Science, Global STM Journals (STMJ)

Rachel joined Elsevier in 2005 with a background in online journal’s publishing she joined the Health & Medical Sciences group, working initially in the Editorial office, then moving to journal management as a Publisher within the Respiratory portfolio. Later moving into the Oncology portfolio with additional titles within Geriatrics and Nursing. She later moved into Haematology with additional Nanomedicine and Anaesthesia journals. During her time on the portfolio she has launched 3 new Gold Open Access and worked on society journal acquisitions.

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Kayla Dos Santos - Publisher, Energy Materials

Kayla Dos Santos is the Publisher responsible for the energy materials journals portfolio including Materials Today Energy, Energy Storage Materials, and Nano Energy. She also manages Progress in Materials Science, Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science, Materials Letters and Materials Letters: X, Diamond and Related Materials, and Materials Today Physics. Prior to joining the Materials Science journals team in 2022, she served as an Acquisitions Editor in the reference books division at Elsevier for 6 years, looking after the Electronic, Magnetic and Optical Materials Science books portfolio. She began her career in publishing 11 years ago as an Editorial Assistant at the health science textbook publisher Jones & Bartlett Learning. At Jones & Bartlett she served as an Associate Acquisitions Editor responsible for commissioning content for physical therapy, exercise science and other related disciplines.

Camila Miorelli - Publishing Support Manager, Materials 

Camila is a Publishing Support Manager in the Materials Science portfolio since 2021. Her role includes supporting Publishers by gathering data and reporting, maintaining relations with editors, and logistical coordination for various publishing tasks. She lives in Amsterdam, NL and has a master’s in Museology and bachelor’s in Art History, but has recently pivoted to the publishing industry. Camila has training in web development and will be assisting with future development initiatives for MaterialsToday.com.