Distinguished Scholars

Since The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) opened its doors in October 1991^※, more than three decades of development have built up an internationally distinguished faculty across science, engineering, business and management. This article surveys the academic backgrounds of successive Vice-Chancellors and Presidents, scholars elected to national academies while at or formerly at the University, and representative Chair Professors.

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# 1. Presidents and Their Academic Achievements

# 1.1 Chia-Wei Woo — Founding President (1991–2001)

Chia-Wei Woo^※ (吴家玮, 1937–2025) was the founding President of HKUST. Appointed President of San Francisco State University in 1983, he was the first Chinese-American to lead a university in the United States^※; in September 1988 he was named HKUST's founding President and drove the opening forward from the original 1994 target to October 1991^※. Working with some 400 founding professors, he built the University from nothing within three years, serving from 1991 to 2001. He passed away in San Francisco on 2 March 2025, aged 87. His life, the founding of the University, his "create, don't copy" philosophy of governance, and his ties to Shenzhen–Hong Kong collaboration are covered in the dedicated article Founding President Chia-Wei Woo (1937–2025) — The Man Who Built HKUST "Three Years Early"^※.

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# 1.2 Paul Ching-Wu Chu — Second President (2001–2009) · Pioneer of High-Temperature Superconductivity

Paul Ching-Wu Chu^※ (朱经武), born 2 December 1941^※ in Changsha, Hunan, is a Taiwanese-American physicist specialising in superconductors, magnetism and dielectric materials.

The high-temperature superconductivity breakthrough: in 1987^※, Chu and Maw-Kuen Wu announced the discovery of superconductivity above 77 K^※ in yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO), crossing the liquid-nitrogen boiling point threshold and electrifying the international physics community — that year's physics society meeting was dubbed "the Woodstock of physics."

Honours: Chu received the 1988 U.S. National Medal of Science^※, the 1988 American Physical Society Comstock Prize^※, the 1994 Bernd T. Matthias Prize^※ and the 2001 John Fritz Medal^※. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences^※, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences^※ and a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences^※.

During his tenure as HKUST's second President from 2001 to 2009^※, he continued to strengthen the University's research standing and international profile.

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# 1.3 Tony F. Chan — Third President (2009–2018) · Applied Mathematician

Tony Fan-Cheong Chan^※ (陈繁昌, b. 1952) is a Hong Kong mathematician with a PhD in computer science from Stanford University. He previously served as chair of UCLA's mathematics department and dean of its physical sciences division, and as assistant director for mathematical and physical sciences at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). He was HKUST's third President from September 2009 to August 2018^※, steering the University through the 3-3-4 academic structure reform and lifting it into the global top 30 of the QS rankings. In 2014 he was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering^※. After stepping down in 2018 he served as the third President of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia until 2024. His nine-year term — the curriculum reform, fundraising achievements, internationalisation strategy and the circumstances of his departure — is the subject of the dedicated article Tony Chan's Nine Years (2009–2018) — The Third President and His Subsequent Path to KAUST^※.

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# 1.4 Wei Shyy — Fourth President (2018–2022) · Aerospace Scholar

Wei Shyy^※ (史维), born 1955^※ in Hsinchu, Taiwan, took his bachelor's degree at National Tsing Hua University and earned his master's and doctoral degrees in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan in 1982^※.

Shyy taught for many years at the University of Michigan, where he chaired the aerospace engineering department^※ for five years (2005–2010) and held the Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson Collegiate Professorship. His research spans future space launch vehicles, bio-inspired flight and computational aerospace science, and he has led numerous multi-institution projects funded by U.S. government agencies and industry. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)^※ and of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)^※, and has authored six books on flight vehicles, thermal science and biomechanics.

Awards: the 2003 AIAA Pendray Aerospace Literature Award^※, the 2005 ASME Heat Transfer Memorial Award^※, the 2009 Engineers Council Outstanding Educator Award^※ and the 2024 Meir Hanin International Aerospace Prize^※. He served as HKUST's fourth President from September 2018 to October 2022^※.

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# 1.5 Nancy Y. IP — Fifth President (2022–present) · Neuroscientist

Nancy Y. IP^※ (叶玉如) is a neuroscientist and the first woman to lead a publicly funded university in Hong Kong.

Education: She completed her undergraduate degree at Simmons College in the United States, majoring in chemistry and biology, received her PhD in pharmacology from Harvard Medical School in 1983^※, and then worked as a senior scientist at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in New York.

Joining HKUST: She joined HKUST in 1993^※, serving as head of the biochemistry department, dean of science and Vice-President for Research and Development before becoming the fifth President in October 2022^※. She also holds the Morningside Professorship in Life Science.

Research: Her work focuses on neurotrophic factors, neural development, and the pathological mechanisms and drug development of Alzheimer's disease. Her research output comprises more than 330 papers^※, over 45,200 citations^※ and 70 patents^※. She also directs the State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience and the Hong Kong Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases.

Academy memberships:

Major awards: the 2004 L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award^※, multiple State Natural Science Awards, and recognition by Nature^※ as one of China's "ten science stars."

External roles: member of the leadership council of the Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative, member of the Chief Executive's Advisory Committee of the Hong Kong SAR, and chair of the Greater Bay Area Academician Alliance.

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# 2. Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (including those elected while at HKUST)

# 2.1 Mingjie Zhang

Mingjie Zhang^※ (张明杰) is a Chair Professor in HKUST's Division of Life Science (Kerry Holdings Professorship) and a Senior Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study. His research addresses the structural and biochemical basis of synaptic signal transduction complexes, neuronal polarity development and the phase separation mechanisms of synaptic proteins^※.

In 2011^※ he was elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in the same year as two other HKUST professors. His findings carry significant implications for understanding the mechanisms of neurological disorders such as stroke and hereditary deaf-blindness syndromes.

# 2.2 Tongyi Zhang

Tongyi Zhang^※ (张统一) is a former Chair Professor in HKUST's Department of Mechanical Engineering, specialising in hydrogen embrittlement, multi-field coupled fracture of materials and micro/nano-mechanics. He was elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2011^※.

# 2.3 Ping Cheng

Ping Cheng^※ (郑平) is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, with expertise in heat transfer in porous media, radiative heat transfer and microscale heat transfer. In 2011^※ he was elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in the same cohort as Zhang Mingjie and Zhang Tongyi.

# 2.4 Jian-shu Li — Chair Professor of Mathematics

Jian-shu Li^※ (励建书) is a Chair Professor in the Department of Mathematics at HKUST and concurrently dean of the Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics at Zhejiang University. His research concerns infinite-dimensional representations of Lie groups and automorphic forms — a core area of pure mathematics linking symmetry and number theory. He was elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Mathematical and Physical Sciences Division) in recognition of his outstanding achievements, becoming the first Hong Kong scholar admitted to that division^※. According to the University's own account, by the time of Li's election in 2013, HKUST counted six members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in total^※. Mathematics may not be the most conspicuous discipline, but it anchors HKUST's School of Science; Li's full academic profile appears in Notable Professors and Academic Leaders^※.

# 2.5 Yike Guo — Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering · Provost

Yike Guo^※ (郭毅可) is currently Provost of HKUST and a Chair Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering. He has long worked on data science, artificial intelligence and big-data analytics platforms, and previously taught at Imperial College London, where he founded its Data Science Institute. Elected a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2025^※, he is the latest addition to HKUST's roster of Academy of Engineering members. As Provost he oversees the University's teaching affairs and has been a key driver in reshaping curricula and research priorities in the era of generative AI.

# 2.6 Tianshou Zhao — Electrochemical Energy Storage

Tianshou Zhao^※ (赵天寿) is a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, working on electrochemical energy storage and fuel-cell technologies, with particular strength in long-duration storage routes such as flow batteries — an area of mounting industrial significance as renewable energy scales up and grids need to smooth fluctuations. Elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences for his contributions in this field^※, he is one of the University's newer academicians in energy engineering.

# 2.7 A Cross-Cutting Observation

Set these newer academicians alongside Zhang Mingjie, Zhang Tongyi and Ping Cheng, and a pattern emerges: the disciplinary spread of HKUST's Chinese Academy of Sciences members has moved well beyond the early concentration in materials and mechanics to encompass mathematics (Li Jian-shu), computer science (Guo Yike) and energy engineering (Zhao Tianshou). Beyond the Chinese academies, HKUST faculty are also strongly represented in international fellowships such as ACM and IEEE; see Chapter 5.

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# 3. Members of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering

# 3.1 Kam-Biu Luk — Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences

Kam-Biu Luk^※ (陆锦标) holds a Chair Professorship in the Department of Physics (the IAS Paul C W Chu Professorship) and directs the Center for Fundamental Physics (joined 2021).

His signature research is the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment^※, which he initiated and co-led from 2003. In 2012^※ the experiment achieved the first precise measurement of the neutrino mixing angle θ13, a milestone for particle physics.

Major awards: the 2014 Panofsky Prize in Experimental Particle Physics^※ (shared), the 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics^※ (shared with the four neutrino-oscillation experiment teams), the 2019 Future Science Prize in Physical Science^※, and the 2023 High Energy and Particle Physics Prize of the European Physical Society^※. He is also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences^※ and of the Academy of Sciences of Hong Kong^※.

In 2026^※ he was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the HKUST scholar to receive the honour that year.

# 3.2 Kei-May Lau — Member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering

Kei-May Lau^※ (廖桂美) is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering and founder of the Photonics Technology Center (2000). She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of Minnesota and her doctorate at Rice University^※. She joined HKUST as a visiting professor in 1998^※ and became a full-time faculty member in 2000^※.

Her principal research concerns integrating III-V semiconductor photonics and electronics on silicon substrates, including micro-LED displays and augmented/virtual reality applications. In 2024^※ she was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE), that year's only^※ newly elected scholar from Hong Kong, cited "for contributions to silicon-based III-V semiconductor photonics and electronics."

She is also an IEEE Fellow^※, a fellow of Optica^※ and a fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences^※.

# 3.3 Tony F. Chan — Member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (see Chapter 1)

Tony F. Chan^※ was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering in 2014^※, during his presidency.

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# 4. Chair Professors and Notable Scientists

# 4.1 Ching W. Tang — Father of the OLED

Ching W. Tang^※ (唐景荣; commonly romanised in mainland Chinese sources as 邓青云, b. 1947, Yuen Long, Hong Kong) is a Bank of East Asia Professor at HKUST's Institute for Advanced Study (IAS). In 1987 he invented the double-layer OLED device at Kodak's research laboratories. He was the first ethnic-Chinese winner of the Wolf Prize in Chemistry (2011)^※ and the first ethnic-Chinese winner of the Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology (2019), joining HKUST in 2013. His 31-year research career at Kodak, the technical details of his OLED breakthrough and his honours over the years are covered in the dedicated article Ching W. Tang — "Father of the OLED," First Chinese Winner of the Kyoto Prize, and His Laboratory at HKUST^※.

# 4.2 Khaled Ben Letaief — Wireless Communications Scholar

Khaled Ben Letaief^※ (贝雷特尔) has been at HKUST since 1993^※, holds the New Bright Professorship in the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, and has served as dean of engineering and as president of the IEEE Communications Society.

His research spans wireless communications, including orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and cooperative communications — core technologies of 4G cellular systems and advanced wireless networks^※. He has published over 630 journal and conference papers^※ and holds 15 patents (including 11 U.S. patents)^※. In 2021^※ he was elected as an International Member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering.

# 4.3 Mingjie Zhang — Synaptic Biology (also see Chapter 2, §2.1)

Zhang Mingjie's research on phase separation of synaptic proteins has introduced a new paradigm to neuroscience. His discovery that postsynaptic density proteins can self-assemble into highly condensed signalling networks^※ holds potential significance for early diagnosis of and intervention in psychiatric disorders.

# 4.4 Zexiang Li — Robotics and Entrepreneurship Mentor

Zexiang Li^※ (李泽湘) holds the Colin Lam Ko Yin Chair Professorship in Engineering. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of California, Berkeley (PhD in mathematics and electrical engineering), and previously worked at MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and New York University's robotics and manufacturing laboratory.

At HKUST's Automation Technology Center he led students and colleagues in co-founding companies including Googol Technology, DJI and ePropulsion^※. In 2019^※, together with alumnus Frank Wang, he received the IEEE Robotics and Automation Award, cited "for contributions to the advancement, innovation and entrepreneurship of civil unmanned aerial vehicles, aerial imaging and robotics engineering." In 2020^※ he was named one of 40 model innovators and entrepreneurs marking the 40th anniversary of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone.

# 4.5 Jiaya Jia — Computer Vision and AI

Jiaya Jia^※ (贾佳亚) is a Chair Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and currently also dean of the Von Neumann Institute^※. He entered Fudan University's computer science department as an undergraduate in 1996 and earned his PhD in 2004. He previously served on the faculty of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

His research specialises in computer vision, artificial intelligence and computational photography. Over the past two decades he has published more than 200 top-tier papers^※, amassing over 100,000 citations^※ and an H-index above 120^※. He has been named by Stanford University to its list of the world's top 2% most-cited scientists for several consecutive years. In 2019^※ he founded SmartMore, applying AI and vision technology to intelligent manufacturing. In 2025^※ he was elected an ACM Fellow.

# 4.6 Tim Cheng — Design Automation · Vice-President

Tim Kwang-Ting Cheng^※ (郑光廷) is currently Vice-President for Research and Development at HKUST and holds a joint Chair Professorship in the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering and the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. His research spans electronic design automation and hardware-software co-design, extending in recent years to energy-efficient accelerator architectures for AI edge inference. In 2025^※ he was elected an ACM Fellow in the same cohort as Jiaya Jia, making him a leader in both HKUST's research governance and frontier computing. His full academic profile appears in Notable Professors and Academic Leaders^※.

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# 5. ACM Fellows 2025: Four in a Single Year

In 2025^※ four HKUST computer science scholars were elected ACM Fellows in a single year. Fewer than one per cent of ACM's global membership are elected Fellows annually; four from one university in the same year is rare among Asian institutions, and marked another major expansion of HKUST's academy roster after the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the U.S. National Academies.

With four electees in one year, HKUST's computer science discipline now fields an ACM Fellow on each of its four main lines: vision, chip design, databases and data mining. Full profiles of Ke Yi and Hui Xiong, including their research directions and roles in international academic organisations, appear in the section Notable Professors and Academic Leaders · Computer Science and ACM Fellows^※.

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# 6. Nobel and Fields Medal Laureates at the HKUST Institute for Advanced Study (IAS)

The Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) operates visiting professor and senior visiting fellow schemes that bring international academic leaders to Hong Kong for research and exchange. Theoretical physicist Chen-Ning Yang served as founding chairman of its International Advisory Board, laying the groundwork for its early scholarly prestige and global networks. The IAS membership directory^※ records a formidable network of scholars, with multiple Nobel laureates and Fields Medalists maintaining long-term or ongoing collaborations with HKUST:

The Nobel cohort has been steadily thickening: Schekman (from 2019), Levitt (from 2024) and Kornberg (from 2025) have joined as senior visiting fellows in succession, each following the same path — an honorary doctorate from HKUST first, then an IAS fellowship, with the honour and the affiliation reinforcing one another. Pissarides is the only one among them teaching full-time; his academic background is covered in Chapter 1. For the complete IAS directory, and the machinery by which honorary doctorates and honorary fellows are conferred, see Honorary Doctorates, Honorary Fellows and Visiting Professors^※.

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# 7. Frequently Asked Questions

How many Chinese Academy of Sciences members does HKUST have?

The number has grown steadily over the years. By the University's own account, HKUST counted six members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences by the time Jian-shu Li was elected in 2013^※; with Zhang Mingjie, Zhang Tongyi and Ping Cheng (all elected 2011) and Tianshou Zhao among those added since, and with the U.S. National Academies, ACM and other international fellowships continuing to expand, the roster keeps growing. Full faculty-by-faculty profiles appear in Notable Professors and Academic Leaders^※.

Is the incumbent President, Nancy IP, herself a member of any academy?

Yes. Nancy IP is a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2001), an international member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (2015), a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a fellow of the Academy of Sciences of Hong Kong. See Chapter 1, §1.5.

Do any HKUST professors hold a Nobel Prize?

No Nobel Prize has been won by a member of HKUST's own faculty, but labour economist Sir Christopher Pissarides (Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, 2010) teaches full-time as S H Ho Professor, making him the first Nobel laureate on HKUST's full-time faculty at the Institute for Advanced Study; several other Nobel laureates and Fields Medalists maintain collaborations with the University as visiting professors or senior fellows. See Chapter 6.

Who is HKUST's "father of the OLED"?

Ching W. Tang (唐景荣, 邓青云). He invented the efficient organic light-emitting diode at Kodak in 1987 and joined the HKUST Institute for Advanced Study in 2013. His biography appears in the dedicated article^※.

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# Further Reading

• Notable Professors and Academic Leaders^※ — representative professors by faculty, ACM fellows and the talent system in full
• Honorary Doctorates, Honorary Fellows and Visiting Professors^※ — complete list of Nobel, Turing and Fields laureates and the conferral machinery
• Founding President Chia-Wei Woo (1937–2025)^※ — biography of the founding President
• Tony Chan's Nine Years (2009–2018)^※ — biography of the third President
• Ching W. Tang — Father of the OLED and the Kyoto Prize^※ — dedicated profile
• Notable Alumni^※ — the entrepreneurial lineage of Li Zexiang and his students

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