Professor Zhu Jia, of College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, won the 2018 Tan Kah Kee Young Scientists Award of Technology along with five other scientists who were awarded at the ceremony held in Beijing on May 30.
Another six research projects won the Tan Kah Kee Science Award.
The Tan Kah Kee Science Award and Young Scientists Award were set up by the Tan Kah Kee Science Award Foundation and are organized by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The foundation issues six awards, namely, the award of math, the award of chemistry, the award of life sciences, the award of earth science, the award of information technology, and the award of technology.
The award ceremony is held once every two years and each award is presented to only one project. There could be no awardee if no project meets the standard.
Professor Zhu Jia
Professor Zhu Jia won the award of technology for his research on the nano-micro structure based efficient solar photothermal conversion.
Among various forms of energy, solar energy as a form of renewable energy is a research hotspot and a frontier field of study. Nano-micro structure manifests optical, thermal and electric properties that are different from traditional materials, providing a new perspective for the use and transformation of solar energy.
Over a long time, Professor Zhu and his team have conducted research in such areas as the nano-micro structure, efficient photothermal conversion, and solar desalination and have published their research findings in Nature Photonics, Science Advances, PNAS, Advanced Materials and other well-known international journals.
These research findings have been reported by many academic journals including Science, Nature and MIT Technology Review, and within China, Reference News and China Science Daily.
Professor Zhu has been invited to make presentations at many international conferences and seminars and at many top universities.
Professor Zhu graduated from Nanjing University in 2003 with a bachelor’s in physics and later graduated from Stanford University with a master’s and doctor’s in electronic engineering before he conducted postdoc research in areas of new energy and environment at UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
In September 2013, he answered the call of China to bring in a thousand high level young talents and returned to Nanjing University. His team has made major breakthroughs in the area of nano-micro structure study, efficient photothermal conversion and solar desalination.
In 2016, Professor Zhu was awarded the title of Jiangsu Young Talent in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the title of the global figure in scientific innovation by theJournal of MIT Technology Review, with him being one of the only two awardees from the Chinese Mainland, and the Dupont Young Professor Award, with him being the only Chinese awardee that year.
Moreover, he is also dedicated to teaching young talents. His student Zong Linqi published a paper as the first author on Nano Letters and then received offers from Stanford University, Chicago University, Yale University and California Institute of Technology as a Ph.D. candidate; Stanford even offered full scholarship.
A student team under him has received a special award in the Challenge Cup National Competition of Science and Technology Products by College Students and won a silver medal in the 18th National Science Association Scientists Competition for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
