Zhang Xiang (; born December 1963 in

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

) is a Chinese-American academic administrator, material scientist, optical engineer and physicist. He is the current Vice-Chancellor and President of the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the fi ...

(HKU), where he also serves as professor. He was the inaugural Ernest S. Kuh Endowed Chaired Professor at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, the Director of the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

Nano-scale Science and Engineering Center (SINAM), the Director of Materials Science Division and also a Senior Faculty Scientist at

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), commonly referred to as the Berkeley Lab, is a United States Department of Energy National Labs, United States national laboratory that is owned by, and conducts scientific research on behalf of, t ...

. Zhang received his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, M.S. from University of Minnesota, and B.S. and M.S. from Nanjing University. From 1996 to 1999, he was assistant professor at

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

and from 1999 to 2004, Associate Professor and then full professor at

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

before joining UC Berkeley. Zhang is an elected member of the US

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy ...

and of Academia Sinica, a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a Fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

, the

Optical Society of America Optica (formerly known as The Optical Society (OSA) and before that as the Optical Society of America) is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals and organizes conference ...

(OSA),

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

and The International Society for Optical Engineering. Zhang published more than 390 journal papers. His research focuses on materials physics, metamaterials and nano-photonics. On 15 December 2017, the

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 in July 2018. On 3 July 2019, in a statement in response to the Storming of the Legislative Council Complex two days earlier, Zhang said that he had been "disheartened by the violence" and that he "would like to condemn such acts". In response to a backlash from some 2,000 HKU students, alumni and staff, he stated on 11 July that he opposed violence "by any party, and at any juncture". Zhang agreed to a request by the HKU Student Union to participate in a forum open to students, staff, alumni and the media. In April 2021, the HKU Student Union criticized Zhang, and said that he was promoting national security education as a "political task" and was "destroying the autonomy of institutions." In October 2022, Zhang tested positive for COVID-19.

Academic awards

* 1997 NSF CAREER Award * 1998 SME Dell K. Allen Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award * 1999 ONR Young Investigator Award * 2004 to 2009 Chancellor's Professorship, UC Berkeley * 2008

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...

: "Top Ten Scientific Discoveries of the Year" and 50 Best Inventions of the Year" * 2009 Rohsenow Lecturer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology *2011 Fred Kavli Distinguished Lectureship, Materials Research Society *2011 Miller Professorship, UC Berkeley *2011 Distinguished Visiting Scientist, University of Toronto *2012 William Reynolds Lecturer, Stanford University *2014 Fitzroy Medal *2015 Charles Russ Richards Memorial Award * 2016

Max Born Award The Max Born Award is given by the Optical Society (formerly the Optical Society of America) for "outstanding contributions to physical optics", and is named after Max Born. Recipients SourceThe Optical Society * 2022 Yuri Kivshar * 2021 Anne L ...

* 2016 Julius Springer Award for Applied Physics *2016 Excellence Award in Scientific Leadership * 2017 A. C. Eringen Medal *2017 George W. Pearsall Distinguished Lecturer, Duke University *2017 John R. and Donna S. Hall Engineering Lecturer, Vanderbilt University *2017 John and Virginia Towers Distinguished Lecturer, Michigan Technology University *2019 Physics World: Top 10 Breakthroughs for 2019 *2021 SPIE Mozi Award

Honours

*1 July 2019:

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, Xiang 1963 births Living people 21st-century American engineers 21st-century American physicists American materials scientists Chinese emigrants to the United States Chinese materials scientists Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Nanjing University alumni Fellows of the American Physical Society Foreign members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Members of Academia Sinica Optical engineers Pennsylvania State University faculty Scientists from Nanjing University of California, Berkeley alumni University of California, Los Angeles faculty University of Minnesota alumni Vice-Chancellors of the University of Hong Kong