engineering

Xiang Zhang

Xiang Zhang is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Xiang Zhang rather than just read about it. In short: Zhang Xiang (Chinese: 张翔; pinyin: 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.

Key takeaways

Xiang Zhang belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Xiang Zhang to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Xiang Zhang from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Zhang Xiang (Chinese: 张翔; pinyin: 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.

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.

Research results Research mainly focuses on nanoscience and technology, materials physics, photonics and biotechnology. He developed the world's first "metalens" and demonstrated the imaging effect that broke through the diffraction limit of light for the first time. He also invented "plasmon lithography technology" and promoted the development of nanoscale manufacturing.

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. 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. He assumed office in July 2018.

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. 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." 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.

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

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Xiang Zhang

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Xiang Zhang claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Xiang Zhang before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Xiang Zhang ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Xiang Zhang

In research: Xiang Zhang appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Xiang Zhang in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Xiang Zhang is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1963 births, 21st-century American engineers, 21st-century American physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Xiang Zhang outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Xiang Zhang in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Xiang Zhang means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Xiang Zhang out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Xiang Zhang in simple terms?

Why does Xiang Zhang matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Xiang Zhang?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Xiang Zhang.