Professor Lu Jian, Dean of the College of Engineering and Senior Fellow of the Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK), has been elected to the 2025 class of Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) in recognition of his outstanding contributions to scientific innovation, economic development and societal welfare. Among the 169 scholars selected this year, Professor Lu is one of only two awardees from universities in Hong Kong, China.
Professor Lu expressed his deep honour at receiving this accolade, stating, “This recognition encourages my continued pursuit of exploration and innovation in materials science. I will continue to collaborate with CityUHK’s outstanding research teams to advance related fields, and I look forward to contributing further to technology and society, both locally and globally, alongside leading inventors around the world.”
Professor Lu emphasised that the ultimate goal of scientific innovation is to deliver tangible benefits to humanity. “Our research aims to unlock new possibilities in materials science and to translate scientific discoveries into applications of real societal value,” he said “I am excited to explore new directions in materials engineering and drive innovative technologies to create real-world impacts”.
As an internationally renowned scholar in materials science, Professor Lu has been listed in the “World’s Top 2% Scientists 2025”, published by Stanford University, for six consecutive years since 2020. His research encompasses a wide range of areas, including nanomaterials, advanced materials, experimental mechanics and residual stress. His pioneering breakthroughs in enhancing the strength, ductility and functional properties of materials are widely regarded as world-leading and ground-breaking.
Professor Lu was selected by Clarivate as a Highly Cited Researcher in 2025. To date, he has published more than 650 academic papers in leading international journals, such as Nature, Science, Science Advances, Nature Communications, Nature Water, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), Advanced Materials and Materials Today with his work cited over 50,000 times. He holds more than 50 international patents in various fields, including aerospace manufacturing, energy materials, biomedical probes and devices, 3D/4D printing of ultra-high-performance metallic and ceramic materials, and engineering technologies.
Professor Lu’s achievements have earned him numerous international and national honours, including the French Knight Order of National Merit, the French Knight of the National Order of Légion d’Honneur, and the Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Award from the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He has been elected an Academician of the National Academy of Technologies of France, a Fellow of the Society for Experimental Mechanics in the US, a Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences and a Fellow of the Hong Kong Institution of Science. The research teams under his leadership earned four gold medals at the International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva in 2023 and 2024 and received an additional gold medal in 2025, bringing the total to five gold medals. These distinctions underscore the outstanding innovation and international impact of his research endeavours.
In research leadership, Professor Lu has actively promoted interdisciplinary research and international collaboration for many years and he has established a strong materials science and engineering research platform at CityUHK. He currently serves as Director of the Hong Kong Branch of the National Precious Metals Material Engineering Research Center, Director of the Centre of Advanced Structural Materials, and Senior Fellow of the Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study. He continually leads his teams to expand the depth and breadth of materials research and to drive the innovative application of advanced materials in engineering and industrial fields.
The NAI is a non-profit membership organisation founded in 2010, comprising US and international universities, and governmental and non-profit research institutes. Election as an NAI Fellow is regarded as one of the highest professional honours for academic inventors within the global research community.
