On October 31, 2018, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Academician Yang Wei was invited to Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech). He was asked to be the 191st guest lecturer of the SUSTech Lecture Series. The Lynn Library Lecture Hall was full of faculty members and students who heard Yang’s lecture on “Xmechanics – The Endless Frontier.” SUSTech President Chen Shiyi was the host of the lecture.

Yang Wei is also a member of the Academy of Developing Countries, a member of TWAS, a foreign fellow of the American Academy of Engineering, and the Chair of the Chinese Society of Mechanics. His research foci include fracture mechanics, micro-nano mechanics, aerospace structure, and Xmechanics. He has served on the IUTAM Executive Committee and Chairman of the Micro-Nano Mechanics Working Committee. Yang is also the Director of the Academic Committee of Tsinghua University, Director of the Office of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council, President of Zhejiang University, and Director of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. He has won the Koiter and Calvin Rice Awards from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and the Eric Reissner Award from the International Conference on Computational & Experimental Engineering and Sciences (ICCES).

Today’s research on mechanics, from physical science to life sciences to social sciences, is playing an important role in driving the subject forward. Yang Wei first talked about the development of the national talent pipeline and introduced new advances initiated by cross-mechanics in this discipline. He introduced the crossover mechanics from the four intersections of the medium, hierarchy, rigid-flexion, and wisdom. He went into detail on all four areas, so those in attendance could get a more fulsome understanding of this academic discipline.

Yang Wei took numerous questions at the end of the lecture from the enthusiastic faculty members and students on the scene.