Born in Zhejiang, China, Professor Academician YANG Yuliang received B.S. degree in 1977 and Ph.D. in 1984 from Fudan University. He worked as a post-doctor on macromolecular compound at Max Planck Institute from 1986 to 1988. In 2003 Professor Academician YANG was elected Member of Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Professor Academician YANG was a faculty member of Fudan University before he was appointed Vice President for Research in 1999. In 2006, he was appointed Director General of the Department of Degree and Postgraduate Education, Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. Professor Academician YANG serves as senior advisor to Shanghai Municipal Government. He inaugurated as President of Fudan University in January 2009.

The academic interest of Professor Academician YANG is in condensed matter physics and polymerization. He owns a dozens of domestic and international patents and serves on the boards of several academic journals including Chinese Journal of Chemistry and Science in China. Professor Academician YANG has been rewarded with many titles and awards from home and abroad, including “Cheung Kong Scholar” and “National Scientific and Technological Progress Award”. Professor Academician YANG is Principal Investigator of National “973” Project and Principal Investigator of National “863” Project.

Professor Academician YANG has made major research results in several fields. He uses the extension and establishment of a new graphic theory to depict static and viscoelastic kinetic behaviors of macromolecular chains with various topological structures and copolymerization configurations. By synchronizing the radio-frequency pulse with rotor positions, a new solid state NMR method has been developed to explore the correlations between structure, orientation and motion in macromolecular solids. He has been engaged in theoretical and experimental research on polymer physics including phase separation and pattern evolution of complex polymeric system, polyelectrolyte, polymer membrane, Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystals (PDLC) materials among the others by using the SCFT and TDGL equations. A complete stochastic Monte Carlo method for simulating the molecular weight distribution (MWD) of the products resulted from various complicated polymerization reactions and related kinetic behaviors has been developed. His research results were concluded in a book he edited titled Monte Carlo Simulations in Polymer Science in 1993. In particular, during his two consecutive terms as Principal Investigator of National “973” Project, he achieved a vital innovation in the theoretical development of the stretching flow stabilization for polymer thin films. The success does not only solve a long-standing film-rupture problem which has impeded the mass and quality production of high-speed BOPP (biaxial orientation polypropylene), but also leads to tremendous proliferation of economic benefits and favorable reverberations from the polymer material industry.

Professor Academician YANG has co-authored about 260 papers that are cited more than 1,150 times according to SCI and supervised about 30 Ph.D. candidates. He received Science and Technology Progress Award First Prize in 2003 from China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation and Science and Technology Progress Award Second Prize in 2004, Science and Technology Progress Award from Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation in 2007 and title of Outstanding Scientist Award from Qiushi Foundation in 2008.