The first cohort of fifty Xplorer Prize winners was awarded after four months of rigorous analysis. Two of those fifty Xplorer Prize winners were Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) Professor Jiang Xingyu (Department of Biomedical Engineering) and Associate Professor Liu Weishu (Materials Science and Engineering). Both young scientists stood out from over one thousand applicants for their cutting-edge interdisciplinary research, in energy & environmental protection respectively. They were the only winners in Shenzhen.
Dr. Liu Weishu is an Associate Professor of the Materials Science and Engineering Department at SUSTech. He received his Ph. D. from Beijing University of Science and Technology and has studied thermoelectric materials, electrode interfaces, thermoelectric devices & systems at Washington University, Boston College, Houston University and Sheetak Company. Liu Weishu has published 84 academic papers in PNAS, Energy Environ. Sci., AEM, AFM, Nano Energy, Acta Mater, and other prestigious academic journals. He has been cited more than five thousand times across his papers, with an H index of 36. Liu Weishi has applied for 21 patents, of which 12 are in China, three are in the United States, and one is a global patent.
He has also assisted in the compilation of two English monographs and several ministerial-level research projects. In 2012, Liu Weishi won the “Beijing Science and Technology Progress” Award. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Thermoelectric Materials and Applications Branch of the Chinese Society for Materials Research, the Board of Directors of the Shenzhen Society of Micro-nanotechnology, and the Advisory Committee of Nanotechnology, a magazine of British Physical Society.
The Xplorer Prize is a non-governmental and public interest award for young scientists and technicians aged 45 and below who are working full-time on the Chinese mainland.
The Xplorer Prize was created by Ma Huateng, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Tencent and founder of the Tencent Foundation, and Professor Rao Yi of Peking University in cooperation with well-known scientists such as SUSTech President Chen Shiyi. The Tencent Foundation provided the initial funding for the award.
Xplorer Prize announcement address: https://xplorerprize.org/gonggao.html