{{Short description|Chinese-American engineer (born 1963)}} {{redirect|Zhang Xiang|the footballer|Zhang Xiang (footballer)}} {{family name hatnote|Zhang|lang=Chinese}} {{Western name order|Zhang Xiang}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Xiang Zhang | image = File:Xiang_Zhang_2018.jpg | caption = Zhang in 2018 | office = 16th President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong | chancellor = Carrie Lam<br>John Lee Ka-chiu | term_start = July 2018 | term_end = | predecessor = Peter Mathieson | successor = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1963|12}} | birth_place = Nanjing, Jiangsu, China | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|df=yes|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) --> | death_place = | occupation = Academic administrator | profession = Materials scientist, optical engineer, physicist | citizenship = | module = {{Infobox scientist | embed=yes | fields = materials physics, metamaterials and nano-photonics | workplaces = {{plainlist| * Pennsylvania State University * University of California, Los Angeles * University of California, Berkeley * University of Hong Kong }} | thesis_title = Pulsed laser micro-processing of advanced electronic materials and related transport issues | thesis_url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/304264629/ | thesis_year = 1996 | doctoral_advisor = Costas Grigoropoulos | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = }} | influences = | influenced = | signature = <!--(filename only)--> | spouse = | education = {{plainlist | Nanjing University (BS, MS)<br />University of Minnesota (MS)<br />University of California, Berkeley (PhD) }} | native_name = {{no bold|张翔}} | honorific_suffix = JP }} {{Infobox Chinese | order = st | s = 张翔 | t = 張翔 | p = Zhāng Xiáng }} '''Zhang''' '''Xiang''' {{post-nominals|country=HKG|JP}} ({{lang-zh|s=张翔|p=Zhāng Xiáng}}; born December 1963) is a Chinese-American mechanical engineer, currently serving as the 16th president and vice-chancellor of the University of Hong Kong since July 2018.
Zhang was the inaugural Ernest S. Kuh Endowed Chaired Professor at the University of California, Berkeley in the United States, the director of the National Science Foundation Nano-scale Science and Engineering Center, the director of materials science division, and a senior faculty scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://me.berkeley.edu/people/xiang-zhang/ |title=Professor Xiang Zhang (Brief Biography)|access-date=June 1, 2021}}</ref>
== Education == Zhang received a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science from Nanjing University, as well as a Master of Science from the University of Minnesota. He received a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley in 1996.<ref>{{Cite web |title=President's Office |url=https://presidentoffice.hku.hk/ |access-date=2023-02-18 |website=presidentoffice.hku.hk |archive-date=2023-02-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208093758/https://presidentoffice.hku.hk/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
== Career == From 1996 to 1999, he was assistant professor at the Pennsylvania State University and from 1999 to 2004, associate professor and then full professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, before joining the University of California, Berkeley. Zhang is an elected member of the United States National Academy of Engineering and of Academia Sinica, a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America (OSA), American Association for the Advancement of Science and The International Society for Optical Engineering.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://xlab.me.berkeley.edu/ |title=Prof. Xiang Zhang's Laboratory at UC Berkeley|access-date=3 July 2011}}</ref>
Zhang published more than 390 journal papers. His research focuses on materials physics, metamaterials and nano-photonics.
On 15 December 2017, The University of Hong Kong 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.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Hong Kong Free Press|date=13 December 2017|title=HKU announces recommendation of Chinese-American scholar Zhang Xiang as school's next vice-chancellor|url=https://www.hongkongfp.com/2017/12/13/hku-announces-recommendation-chinese-american-scholar-zhang-xiang-schools-next-vice-chancellor/|last=Cheung|first=Karen|access-date=13 December 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Hong Kong Free Press|date=16 December 2017|title=University of Hong Kong appoints Chinese-American scholar Zhang Xiang as vice-chancellor|url=https://www.hongkongfp.com/2017/12/16/university-hong-kong-appoints-chinese-american-scholar-zhang-xiang-vice-chancellor/|last=Cheung|first=Karen|access-date=17 December 2017}}</ref> He assumed office in July 2018.<ref>{{cite web|date=17 July 2018|title=The 16th President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong Professor Xiang Zhang assumes office|url=https://hku.hk/press/press-releases/detail/18130.html|access-date=17 July 2018|archive-date=18 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180718234629/https://hku.hk/press/press-releases/detail/18130.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== Events == 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://hongkongfp.com/2019/07/14/hku-head-zhang-xiang-promises-dialogue-students-criticism-statement-legco-storming/|title=HKU head Zhang Xiang promises dialogue with students after criticism over statement on LegCo storming|first=Holmes|last=Chan|work=Hong Kong Free Press|date=14 July 2019|access-date=6 May 2021}}</ref> In April 2021, the Hong Kong University Students' Union criticized Zhang, and said that he was promoting national security education as a "political task" and was "destroying the autonomy of institutions."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://hk.on.cc/hk/bkn/cnt/news/20210419/bkn-20210419114020494-0419_00822_001.html |title=官媒指港大學生會抹黑一國兩制 成員「玩火必自焚」 |date=19 April 2021 |website=Oriental Daily News |access-date=27 May 2025 |language=zh}}</ref>
In October 2023, Zhang was accused by whistleblowers of potential misconduct, including the purchase of a HK$2 million (US$255,370) BMW vehicle without going through an open tender.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tse |first=Hans |title=University of Hong Kong's ruling body axes meeting on school head's misconduct allegations - Hong Kong Free Press HKFP |url=https://hongkongfp.com/2023/10/04/university-of-hong-kongs-ruling-body-axes-meeting-on-school-heads-misconduct-allegations/ |access-date=2023-10-04 |website=hongkongfp.com |date=4 October 2023 |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-10-04 |title=Exclusive: University of Hong Kong council pushes back against head over bombshell claims |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/3236808/tensions-deepen-university-hong-kong-president-slams-handling-bombshell-claims-against-him |access-date=2023-10-04 |website=South China Morning Post |language=en}}</ref>
==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: "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 * 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<ref>{{cite news |title=Persons appointed under Section 3(1)(b) of the Justices of the Peace Ordinance (Cap. 510) |url=https://www.info.gov.hk/cml/eng/miscell/index3k.htm |access-date=2019-08-22 |archive-date=2020-06-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614104321/https://www.info.gov.hk/cml/eng/miscell/index3k.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}} {{authority control}}
{{Ninth Council of the China Law Society}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, Xiang}} Category:1963 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century American engineers Category:21st-century American physicists Category:American materials scientists Category:Chinese emigrants to the United States Category:Chinese materials scientists Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Category:Nanjing University alumni Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society Category:Foreign members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Category:Members of Academia Sinica Category:Optical engineers Category:Pennsylvania State University faculty Category:Scientists from Nanjing Category:UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni Category:University of California, Los Angeles faculty Category:University of Minnesota alumni Category:Vice-chancellors of the University of Hong Kong Category:Metamaterials scientists