On October 31th, the winners of the 2022 Alibaba DAMO Academy Young Fellow award were announced. Prof. Yao Yonggang of the School of Materials Science and Engineering won the award for his work on the development of a precise and controllable electrothermal transient high-temperature synthesis technology, which is expected to promote efficient, low-carbon and clean materials manufacturing and chemical production, and he is the first young scholar from the University to be selected for this award.

Winners of the 2022 Alibaba DAMO Academy Young Fellow

The 2022 DAMO Academy Young Fellow started its evaluation process on July 25 and received nearly 500 valid submissions from over 700 outstanding young scholars aged 35 and below, covering 135 universities and research institutes across China, of which nearly three are post-90s and the youngest is only 27 years old. Nearly 200 academicians, 19 university presidents and two Nobel laureates from around the world have recommended candidates for this award. This year is also the first time that the award has included the basic science research fields of mathematics and physics, astronomy and geology, chemistry and materials, and life science and medicine in the award category. A total of 15 young scholars from Tsinghua University, Peking University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Fudan University and University of Science and Technology of China were awarded.

Prof. Yao Yonggang

Prof. Yao Yonggang received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Xi'an Jiaotong University in 2010 and 2013, and his Ph.D. degree from the University of Maryland in 2018. After graduation, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow and assistant researcher at the University of Maryland, and returned to China to join the School of Materials and Engineering of HUST in October 2020. He has long been engaged in ultra-high temperature transient synthesis and manufacturing technology, especially the development of new energy materials and low carbon rapid manufacturing technology. His achievements have been published in Science, Nature, Nat. Nano., Nat. Cata., Sci. Adv. and other journals, with 44 papers published as first, co- or corresponding author, and his papers have been cited more than 10,000 times in total. He has been listed in the "World's Top 2% Scientists by Stanford" and "Highly Cited Scientists" and has been given the "2020 R&D 100 Award" and the "2022 Metals Young Investigator Award".

The Alibaba Damo Academy Young Fellow is an unofficial, non-profit public service award established by Alibaba Group in 2018, organized by Alibaba DAMO Academy and supported by the Alibaba Foundation, for young Chinese scholars who have made a key contribution to the advancement of science and technology. It aims to identify and support outstanding young scholars in China who are fully engaged in scientific research in academic and research institutions and have the potential to achieve outstanding results in the future and become the backbone of scientific research in China. In the past four years, the award has supported nearly 40 outstanding young scholars and has been recognized by universities and research institutes in China, as well as the Young Talent Support Project organized by the Chinese Association for Science and Technology.