The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) has announced the awardees of 2020 Excellent Young Scientists Fund. Among the 25 selected scholars, three professors from the University of Macau (UM) were successfully received the fund, two of them are from FST. This is the second time that UM has become the university in Macau with the most selected projects. The National Natural Science Foundation’s Excellent Young Scientists Fund was first opened to young scholars from eight universities in Hong Kong and Macau since 2019. NSFC received many applications for the fund. It also shows the support of Central Government for the development of science and technology innovation of Hong Kong and Macau. It is expected to help to cultivate more outstanding scientific talents for the country in the near future.
The two awardees from FST are Associate Professor Zhou Wanhuan and Assistant Professor Cai Yongqing. The projects cover the field of civil engineering and materials informatics. Professor Zhou’s research on “geotechnical engineering disaster prevention” includes analytical solutions for soil consolidation, multiscale analysis of interface shearing behavior between soil and structure, and probabilistic analysis in geotechnical engineering. Professor Cai’s “High-throughput Materials Informatics” involves the adoption of high-throughput simulation for the design of new catalyst materials for hydrogen evolution reaction and optimized interfaces. Through examining the modulation of the composition and the interface and their effects on the physical and chemical properties of materials, multi-dimensional data base of materials informatics will be built for a data-driven exploration of materials. Each selected scholar will receive RMB 1.3 million (approximately MOP 1.5 million) funding to conduct research in Macau for 3 years.
The Excellent Young Scientists Fund shows not only the support of central government of local scientific development, but also creates more opportunities for Macao’s young scientists, so that they can achieve greater achievements in the cutting-edge research, and become the technological power of the country.
國家自然科學基金近日公布了2020年度的”優秀青年科學基金項目(港澳)” 的評審結果，在港澳區25個名額中，澳門大學共有三名教授入選，其中兩位來自科技學院。連續第二年成為澳門院校中囊括最多獲選項目的大學。國家自然科學基金”優秀青年科學基金項目”自2019年首次開放給香港及澳門八間大學的年輕學者申請都獲得了踴躍的響應，同時也反映國家對港澳科技創新發展的支持，期望不久將來能協助國家培育更多優秀科研人才。
是次入選的兩名科技學院教授為副教授周萬歡和助理教授蔡永青，項目涵蓋土木工程及材料信息範疇。周教授以”岩土工程災害防治”為題進行研究，包括解決土壤固結，土與結構間的界面剪切的多面分析以及岩土工程中的概率分析。蔡教授則以”高通量材料信息学”為題，運用高通量模型來設計用於析氫反應和優化界面的新型催化劑材料。通過考察成分和界面的調製及其對材料的物理和化學性質的影響，將建立材料信息學的多維數據庫，以數據驅動的方式探索材料。每位獲選學者可獲130萬元人民幣（約150 萬澳門元）資助金額，在澳門進行研究，資助期限3 年。
本次項目資助體現國家給予澳門科研發展的期望及支持外，也為本澳年輕科學家創造更多機會，讓他們能在世界前沿科技及基礎研究上爭取更亮麗的佳績，為建設科技強國貢獻力量。
The two awardees from FST are Associate Professor
Zhou Wanhuan and Assistant Professor Cai Yongqing
入選的兩名科技學院教授為
副教授周萬歡和助理教授蔡永青