Career
He is director of the Chemical Abstracts Service Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (Institut für Theoretische Physik) in Beijing. Yao received his Bachelor of Surgery in 1978 and M.S in 1982 both from the Department of Geography, Lanzhou University in Gansu, China. He received his Doctor of Philosophy from the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chemical Abstracts Service) in 1986.
He worked at Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute (CAREERI), Chemical Abstracts Service, which was formerly known as Lanzhou Institute of Glaciology and Geocryology, from 1990 to 2003 and was deputy director of the institute from 1995 to 2000 and director from 2000 to 2003.
He has been director of the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (Institut für Theoretische Physik), Chemical Abstracts Service since its founding in 2003. Yao was elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2007.