Quick Facts
Biography
Professor Xiang Zhang JP (Chinese: 張翔; pinyin: Zhāng Xiáng; born December 1963 in Nanjing) is a Chinese-American physicist born and current Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Hong Kong. He was the inaugural Ernest S. Kuh Endowed Chaired Professor at University of California, Berkeley in the United States and the Director of the National Science Foundation Nano-scale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC) and also a Faculty Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
He received his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley (1996), M.S. from University of Minnesota (1991), and B.S. (1985) and M.S. (1988) from Nanjing University. From 1996 to 1999 he was Assistant Professor at Pennsylvania State University and from 1999 to 2004 Associate Professor and then Professor at University of California, Los Angeles before joining UC Berkeley.Zhang is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America (OSA), American Association for the Advancement of Science and The International Society for Optical Engineering.
He has published more than 180 papers.His research interests include nanotechnology, materials science, biotechnology and photonics.
On 15 December 2017, the University of Hong Kong appointed Zhang to the posts of President and Vice-Chancellor. It was the first time a candidate born and educated to undergraduate degree level in mainland China had been so appointed. He assumed office on 17 July 2018.
Academic Awards
- 1997 NSF CAREER Award
- 1998 SME Dell K. Allen Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award
- 1999 ONR Young Investigator Award
- 2004 Distinguished Lecturer of University of Texas in Austin
- 2004 bis 2009 Chancellor’s Professorship, UC Berkeley
- 2005 Distinguished Lecturer, SEMETECH
- 2006 R&D Magazine: Top 25 the Most Innovative Products of 2006
- 2007 Discover Magazine: "Top 100 Science Stories"
- 2008 Time Magazine: "Top Ten Scientific Discoveries of the Year" and 50 Best Inventions of the Year"
- 2009 Rohsenow Lecturer, MIT
- 2016 Max Born Award
- 2016 Julius Springer Award for Applied Physics
- 2017 A. C. Eringen Medal
Honours
- 1 July 2019: Justice of the Peace