Two NCU Professors Selected as Academicians

    On November 22, as China's two elite science and technology institutes, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) announced their list of new academicians for 2023. Professor Zhou Chuangbing was selected as an academician of the Civil, Hydraulic and Architecture Engineering Division of the CAE. Professor Xiong Rengen was selected as an academician of the Chemistry Division of the CAS. The selection of the two professors as academicians marks a new breakthrough in the development of the leading talent team of NCU. To date, there are 5 academicians in NCU.

Being selected as an academician of the CAE

Zhou Chuangbing

  Zhou Chuangbing, male, born in 1962 in Qidong, Jiangsu Province, a Bachelor’s degree graduated from East China Institute of Water Conservancy (now Hohai University) in 1984, majoring in hydrogeology and engineering geology, a Master’s degree graduated from Hohai University in 1987, majoring in geotechnical engineering, and a Doctoral degree graduated from Wuhan University of Hydraulic and Electrical Engineering (now Wuhan University) in 1995, majoring in hydraulic structure engineering. Before 2013, Zhou worked in Wuhan University and then served as a faculty member at Nanchang University, where he is currently the director of the Ministry of Education Engineering Research Center for Basin Carbon Neutrality, the vice president of the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics & Engineering (CSRME), as well as the director of the Special Committee on Reservoirs and Dams of the Chinese National Committee on Large Dams (CHINCOLD).

  Prof. Zhou has long been engaged in the study of hydraulic rock mechanics and reservoir and dam safety. Zhou is the discipline leader in this field, the recipient of National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, and the chief scientist of the national “973” project. Over the past 30 years, he has created the “one theory and two technologies” on the safety issue of reservoirs and dams induced by seepage and deformation, namely the coupling analysis theory of hydraulic rock mass seepage and deformation, the fine simulation and multi-level control technology on the seepage of reservoirs and dams, as well as the three-dimensional reinforcement and collaborative control technology of high slope in dam areas. Zhou’s achievements have been successfully applied in large-scale water conservancy and hydropower projects, including the Baihetan Hydropower Station, Jinping Hydropower Station, Xiluodu Hydropower Station and Three Gorges Water Conservancy Hub Project. Zhou’s technologies have been promoted and applied in 80% of China’s ultra-high dams over 200m tall. Zhou has won 2 second prizes of National Science and Technology Progress Award (both ranked first), 5 special and first prizes of Provincial and Ministerial Science and Technology Award. What’s more, Zhou has won 24 national invention patents and 14 software copyrights, participated in the compilation of 2 national standards and 4 achievements have been included in national standard, industry standard and design manual, as well as published more than 300 academic papers, making outstanding contributions to the stable control of the seepage of reservoirs and dams and the deformation of high slopes, and promoting the safety and disaster prevention and reduction capacity in China’s engineering project of reservoirs and dams to a new stage.

Being selected as an academician of the CAS

Xiong Rengen

Xiong Rengen, born in 1961 in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Nanchang University (formerly Jiangxi University) in 1982. He is a professor at the Order Matter Science Research Center in NCU. In 2002, Xiong received the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars. And in 2004, Xiong was appointed as a Distinguished Professor of the Major Programs for Nurturing and Attracting Talent of the Ministry of Education. What’s more, Xiong won the second prize of the China’s State Natural Science Award twice (ranked first and second respectively), first prize of the National Science Award of the Ministry of Education three times (ranked first twice and second once). Besides, Xiong has been invited to serve as an article editor for PNAS (USA) and an editorial board member for journals such as National Science Review (Natl. Sci. Rev.).

Professor Xiong Rengen has been engaged in the study of inorganic coordination chemistry for a long time and is a pioneer in molecular ferroelectric materials internationally. He focuses on the design, synthesis and functional study of molecular ferroelectric compounds, yielding systematic and innovative fruits and founding Ferroelectrochemistry, which designs molecular ferroelectrics from a chemical point of view and guides its chemical design. Ferroelectrochemistry includes some universal design strategies such as quasi-spherical theory, introducing homochirality, and H/F substitution. With this approach, Xiong has accurately synthesized numerous new molecular ferroelectrics, especially discovered many high-performance molecular ferroelectrics with their performance comparable to inorganic ceramic ferroelectrics. Moreover, this method has been successfully verified and widely applied by peers at home and abroad. Last but not least, his achievements have driven and promoted China’s scientific research on molecular ferroelectricity, leading the international research and development of molecular ferroelectricity.

As the corresponding author, Professor Xiong Rengen has published more than 110 papers in mainstream journals such as Science (5 articles), PNAS (USA, 1 article), J. Am. Chem. Soc. (52 articles), Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. (22 articles), Phys. Rev. Lett. (5 articles), Natl. Sci. Rev. (2 articles), Adv. Mater. (14 articles), Nat. Commun. (6 articles), Acc. Chem. Res. (1 article), Chem. Rev. (1 article) and Chem. Soc. Rev. (5 articles). His papers have been cited more than 22,000 times with an H-index of 92. His representative achievements about the creation of molecular ferroelectrics have been reviewed multiple times by Science, and selected as one of the ten major scientific and technological progress of China’s colleges and universities in 2018, as well as the Selected Outstanding Achievements of National Natural Science Foundation of China (Ⅴ).