In 2022, faculty members at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) won multiple domestic and international awards, demonstrating their scientific research contributions and performance on both the domestic and global academic stage.
From August 18 to 24, the 29th International Conference on Low Temperature Physics was held in Sapporo, Japan. The conference also held the 2020 Fritz London Memorial Prize presentation ceremony. Qikun XUE, President of SUSTech and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), won the Fritz London Memorial Prize, becoming the first Chinese scientist and only the second from Asia to win the award. The prize, set up in 1957, is awarded every three years to recognize scientists worldwide who have made outstanding contributions to advances in the field of Low Temperature Physics.
On October 1, Tohoku University (TU) in Japan celebrated its 115th anniversary. During its commemoration ceremony, TU announced the list of winners of awards to be presented to alumni and alumni associations. Amongst them, President Qikun XUE was announced as a recipient of the Tohoku University International Award. The award recognizes his contribution in promoting cooperation in higher education worldwide. President XUE studied and worked at the Tohoku University Institute for Materials Research, from June 1992 to March 2000. Since 2013, he has served as the President of the Chinese Alumni Association of TU.
In March, Hai-Zhou LU, Chair Professor of the Department of Physics at SUSTech, was awarded the 2021 Achievement in Asia Award (AAA Robert T. Poe Prize) by the International Organization of Chinese Physicists and Astronomers (OCPA) in recognition for his pioneering explorations on the theories of emergent quantum Hall effects. The OCPA established the Achievement in Asia Award (AAA Robert T. Poe Prize) in 1993, which is presented annually to a Chinese physicist/astronomer (or a team of Physicists/astronomers) working in Asia who has (have) made outstanding contributions in physics or astronomy.
In May, the Guangdong Society of Environmental Sciences (GDSES) announced its list of winners for the 2022 GDSES Ecology and Environmental Young Science and Technology Awards. Feng YAN, Research Associate Professor of the School of Environmental Science and Engineering at SUSTech, won the Gold Award. A total of five candidates received the Gold Award at the 2022 GDSES Ecology and Environmental Young Science and Technology Awards. The GDSES aims to acknowledge exceptional young science and technology talents who have made outstanding achievements in the field of ecology and environment.
In August, the 17th Symposium of the Study of the Earth's Deep Interior (SEDI), a Committee of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG), was held in Zurich, Switzerland. Yufeng LIN, Associate Professor of the Department of Earth and Space Sciences SUSTech, was awarded the Doornbos Memorial Prize at the conference in recognition of his important contributions in Geophysical-Astrophysical fluid dynamics. Named in honor of the famous Dutch seismologist, Durk Doornbos, the Doornbos Memorial Prize was established in 1994 to recognize outstanding contributions to scientific research of the Earth's deep interior.
In September, the 9th Exchange of New Overseas Chinese Innovation and Entrepreneurship Achievement event hosted by the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese (ACFROC) was held in Beijing. The winners of the 9th Overseas Chinese Contribution Award were commended at the ceremony. Three people from Shenzhen received the award. Among them were two scholars from SUSTech. They included Xiaofei CHEN, Chair Professor of the Department of Earth and Space Sciences and Academician of CAS, and Ke LIU, Dean of the School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE). The ACFROC established the Overseas Chinese Contribution Award in 2003. The event has been held on nine occasions, with 16 people from Shenzhen receiving the award.
On September 22, the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) announced its list of laureates of the 2022 Great Gold Medal. Lars Ivar Samuelson, Chair Professor at the SUSTech, was awarded the IVA's Great Gold Medal for his outstanding contributions to the field of nanomaterials. Founded in 1919, the IVA is the oldest engineering academy in the world. The Great Gold Medal issued by the academy is its highest honor, awarded to people who have carried out extraordinary work for social progress.
At the end of September, the prize award ceremony of the 2022 Annual Conference of the Chinese Society for Plant Biology (CSPB) was held in Fuzhou. Dr. Jiamu DU, Professor of the School of Life Sciences at SUSTech, was awarded the 2022 CSPB Outstanding Young Scientist Award. The CSPB rewards outstanding scientists and technological workers in the field of plant biology who have made important research achievements and promoted the development of plant biology in China.
In November, the Soil Science Society of China (CSSS) announced the results of its 8th CSSS Outstanding Young Scholar Award. Junjian WANG, Associate Professor of the School of Environmental Science and Engineering at SUSTech, received the award. The CSSS Outstanding Young Scholar Award aims to encourage outstanding young science and technology talents in China's soil industry, and reward them for their achievements in social and economic development and scientific and technological progress.
Also this month, the 16th General Conference of the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) for the advancement of science in developing countries was recently held in Hangzhou, China. Junguo LIU, Chair Professor of the School of Environmental Science and Engineering at SUSTech and member of the European Academy of Sciences, received the 2022 TWAS Award in Social Sciences for his contribution to policy-relevant studies on water resources, climate change mitigation, and environmental management in China and other countries. This year, there were a total of 13 recipients of the TWAS Award. It is presented to individual scientists each year in recognition of their outstanding contribution to scientific knowledge in the nine fields of Agricultural Sciences, Biology, Chemistry, Earth, Astronomy and Space Sciences, Engineering Sciences, Mathematics, Medical Sciences, Physics, and Social Sciences.
On December 7, the 2022 Future Science Prize Award Ceremony was recently held simultaneously in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shenzhen. SUSTech hosted the ceremony in Shenzhen, which was attended by representatives of the Future Science Prize Council, renowned academics, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders. The event was jointly organized by the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and SUSTech. Professor Xueming YANG, Vice President of SUSTech and Dean of the College of Science, won the Future Science Prize in physical sciences for his research and development of new-generation molecular beam techniques with high resolution and sensitivity for state-resolved reaction dynamics studies, revealing quantum resonances and geometric phase effects in chemical reactions.
Additionally, the awarding ceremony of the 16th Wuxi AppTec Life Science and Chemistry Awards was held online in December. Jing XU, Professor of the Department of Chemistry at SUSTech, received the Wuxi AppTec Life Science and Chemistry Award for his outstanding contribution in the field of total synthesis of bioactive caged natural products. The Wuxi AppTec Life Science and Chemistry Awards was established in 2007 to reward young scientific and technological talents who are engaged in research in chemistry and related fields, and who have made outstanding achievements in scientific research innovation and the development of industrial applications and high-tech industrialization.