News.hust.edu.cn - On November 2, the 1st Xplorer Prize Awards Ceremony took place in Beijing. 50 prizewinners gathered with domestic and foreign scientists to witness this glorious moment. Each winner will be granted 3 million yuan by Tencent Foundation in each of the coming five years.

Prof. Gao Liang of the School of Mechanical Science and Engineering (HUST) won the "Xplorer Prize"-Intelligent Manufacturing for his research on "Digital Design Based on Topological Optimization".The prize was granted to Gao to recognize his achievements in digital design based on topological optimization and encourage him to continue using isogeometric topological optimization technology to explore and accomplish the integration of CAD and CAE with topological optimization.

The "Xplorer Prize", launched by Mr. Pony Ma and other 14 distinguished scientists in China on Tecent’s 20^th anniversary in 2018, is a public award specially set for the young scholars under age 45. The winners are expected to be researchers in the fields of fundamental research oredge-cutting technology innovation and, should be full-time employees in China.

According to the "Xplorer Prize" Management Committee, the 2019 1st "Xplorer Prize" received valid application materials from 1,335 applicants. Through primary screening, preliminary examination, review and final defense, 50 applicants were selected as winners. The proportion of winners to applicants is 1:25.

To fully ensure the authority and impartiality of the prize, under the principle that scientists have the final say, the organizer invited over 350 experts in various fields to participate in the nomination, recommendation and review of applicants for the 2019 "Xplorer Prize", including over 100 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering.