Zhang to Join European Academy of Sciences and Arts
Distinguished Professor of Engineering Xin Zhang (ME, ECE, BME, MSE) has been elected a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA), a learned society of 2,000 members, including more than 30 Nobel Prize Laureates. Members are elected for outstanding achievements in science, arts and governance, and their exceptional standing in society as a result of their scientific work, publications or leadership. A pioneer in metamaterials, Zhang was elected to the academy’s technical and environmental sciences class.
“I am deeply humbled and honored to have been elected as member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts,” says Zhang. “It is a recognition of my recent research and innovation on metamaterials, from their fundamental physics and mathematical underpinnings, their design and development, through to their use in real-world applications.”
Metamaterials are materials with properties not found in nature. Zhang’s inventions include a metamaterial that improves the signal-to-noise ratio of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and thus significantly improves the performance of MRI; and a metamaterial that can curtail noise without blocking airflow, addressing long-standing noise issues in a wide range of mechanical systems, in which highly efficient air-permeable sound silencers are required.
Zhang is a Fellow of ASME, IEEE, the National Academy of Inventors, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, the American Physical Society, and the Optica. She will be officially inducted as a member of the EASA in April 2024, at the organization’s annual inauguration ceremony in Salzburg, Austria.