Professor Yu specialized in process metallurgy, obtaining BEng in 1982 and MEng in 1985 from Northeastern University, PhD in 1990 from the University of Wollongong, and DSc in 2007 from the University of New South Wales (UNSW). After two-year postdoctoral experience with CSIRO Division of Mineral and Process Engineering and about half a year with the University of Wollongong as a research fellow, he joined UNSW School of Materials Science and Engineering, being Lecturer (1992-95), Senior Lecturer (1995-97), Associate Professor (1998-00), Professor (2001-14) and Scientia Professor (2007-14). In May 2014, he joined Monash University as Professor (Vice Chancellor’s Professorial Fellow (2014-2010) then Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor (2021-)), Pro Vice-Chancellor and President of Monash-Southeast University Joint Venture. He also holds or held an honorary, concurrent or guest professorship with many other universities.

He is a world-leading scientist in particle/powder technology and process engineering, has authored/co-authored >1,200 publications (including >850 articles collected in the ISI Web of Science), organized numerous international conferences, attracted >$80M external funds mainly via various competitive grant schemes (~60 ARC DP/LP/LIEF and other national competitive grants), graduated >40 postdoc fellows and >120 PhD students, and delivered many plenary/keynote presentations at different international conferences. His work has generated a significant impact on process industries such as mineral/metallurgy/chemical/materials, and other particle-related industries such as pharmaceutical, nanotechnology, energy and environment. He is Editor-in-Chief, Handbook of Powder Science and Engineering (2014-), Executive Editor, Powder Technology (2013-), Granular Matter (2017-) and Particuology (2008-2013), while guest-editing for a number of journals and on the editorial/advisory boards of about 20 learned journals. He has developed various research institutes/centers at the national and university levels, being Inaugural Director of the UNSW Multidisciplinary Research Centre for Simulation and Modelling of Particulate Systems (2000-07), Deputy Director of ARC Centre of Excellence for Functional Nanomaterials (2008-10), Founding Director of Australia-China Joint Research Centre for Minerals, Metallurgy and Materials (2013-15) and ARC Industrial Transformation Hub for Computational Particle Technology (2016-). He has also been on the management committee or advisory board of various multidisciplinary research Centres, currently chairing the Technical Advisory Committee of Baosteel-Australian Universities Joint R&D Centre (2011-). While working in Suzhou, he has established the Specialized Research Institute for Process Modelling and Optimization, sponsored by Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute and Suzhou Industrial Park (2016-), and Monash Suzhou Research Institute, sponsored by Suzhou Industrial Park (2020-).

He is a recipient of various prestigious fellowships and awards, including ARC Queen Elizabeth II (1993-97), Australian Professorial (2005-2009) and Federation (2008-12) Fellowships, the Josef Kapitan Ironmaking Award from the Iron and Steel Society, USA (2002), Outstanding Overseas Chinese Scholar Award, China (2003), Ian Wark Medal and Lecture from Australian Academy of Science (2010), ExxonMobil Award from Australian and New Zealand Federation of Chemical Engineers (2010), NSW Scientist of the Year in engineering, mathematics and computer sciences (2010), Distinguished Visiting Fellowship Award from the Royal Academy of Engineering (2011), Top 100 Most Influential Engineers in Australia (2011), Postdoctoral Supervisor of the Year Award from UNSW (2012), Alumni Award for Research and Scholarship from University of Wollongong (2019), and Shell Thomas Baron Award in Fluid-Particle Systems from American Institute of Chemical Engineers (2019).