The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) announced the list of newly elected members of the academy on April 17. Zhang Yaqin, a 78th grade alumnus of University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), was listed among them and became an academician of the Department of Mathematics, Physics, and Engineering.

Image of ZHANG Yaqin from the Internet.

At the early age of 12, ZHANG Yaqin was admitted to the School of the Gifted Young of University of Science and Technology of China in 1978. He graduated in electronic engineering with a master degree 7 years later. To pursue his academic career, he came to George Washington University for a doctorate degree. After that, he further studied at the School of Business Administration at Harvard. In 1997, the 31-year-old ZHANG Yaqin was awarded the IEEE Fellow title and became the youngest scientist to receive this honor in the 100-year history of the association.  

From 1999 to 2014, ZHANG Yaqin served as the vice president of Microsoft and chairman of Microsoft Asia-Pacific R&D group. After working at Microsoft for 16 years, ZHANG Yaqin joined Baidu as a president in September 2014. In November 2017, He was elected as the only foreign academician of Australian National Academy of Engineering. He became the committee member of World Economic Forum “Board of Stewards, Shaping the Future of Mobility” in May 2018.

The AAAS is one of the oldest academician institutions in the United States and one of the highest honorary groups. It is also the academic center for independent policy research. Since its foundation, the AAAS membership has more than 4000 academicians, including more than 250 Nobel Prize winners and more than 60 Pulitzer Prize winners.

As of April 2019, eight alumni of USTC were elected as academicians of the National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Sciences and American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

(Written by Marhaba, edited by SHI Xiao, USTC News Center)