Winners of the Xplorer Prize pose for a group photo during the online award ceremony for 2021 and 2022. [Photo/WeChat account of Optics Valley of China]

The Xplorer Prize Award Ceremony for 2021 and 2022 was recently held online. Chen Rong and Tao Bo, professors at the School of Mechanical Science and Engineering of the Huazhong University of Science and Technology, were awarded the prizes for 2021 and 2022, respectively.

The prize was established in 2018 by 14 renowned scientists such as Yang Chen-Ning and Shi Yigong as well as Ma Huateng, founder of the Tencent Foundation, and carries out assessments in 10 scientific and technological fields.

Over the past four years, the prize has sponsored 200 young scientists, each of whom will receive a bonus of 3 million yuan ($431,400). The nomination, recommendations, and assessment procedures of candidates this year involved the participation of more than 900 academicians from all over the world, as well as presidents from over 30 famous universities.

The School of Mechanical Science and Engineering of the Huazhong University of Science and Technology has so far registered four Xplorer Prize winners, all of whom are in fact working on the same floor of the teaching building.

The school, founded in 1952, has seven degree programs and more than 240 teaching faculty, including eight academicians.