Huang was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2017, a member of National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020, and a foreign member of Royal Society, London in 2023 for pioneering work on mechanics of stretchable electronics and mechanically guided, deterministic 3-D assembly.

Yonggang Huang received his BS degree in mechanics from Peking University in 1984.

He stayed at Harvard as a post-doctoral fellow (advisors: Bernard Budiansky and James R. Rice) for one year, and joined the University of Arizona as an assistant professor in 1991.

For Royal Society (London), he is a member (2023-2026) and the chair (2024-2026) of Scientific Committee 4: Engineering and Materials Science.

For International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, he is a member in the Congress Committee (2024-2028).

He was recognized by the inaugural Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Leader Award for 2023 by Research.com,[17] ranked #4 in USA and #6 worldwide in the 2023 Edition of Ranking of Best Scientists in the field of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, 2023.

Reddy Medal (2022) from the journal Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Structures; Honorary Degree in Mechanical Engineering (2023) from University of Parma, Italy (approved by Italian Ministry of University and Research); Cataldo Agostinelli e Angiola Gili Agostinelli International Prize for Mechanics [31] (2023) from the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (“Lincei” National Academy of Sciences), Italy, Hill Prize (2024)[32] from International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, and Paidoussis Medal (2024)[33] from Royal Society of Canada.

Yonggang Huang’s recognitions for undergraduate teaching and advising include the Most Supportive Junior Faculty Member from the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Arizona in 1993; On the list of “Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students” in Spring 2003, Spring and Fall 2004, Spring 2005, Fall 2006, and Spring 2007, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Engineering Council Award for Excellence in Advising from the College of Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2007; Cole-Higgins Award for Excellence in Teaching (one award for a tenured and tenure-track faculty member in engineering each year), McCormick School of Engineering, Northwestern University in 2016 and 2024; and Associated Student Government Faculty and Administrator Honor Roll, Northwestern University in 2018 and 2020.