Yang Wei is a Chinese

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 engineering

Engineering

Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

 scientist

Scientist

A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...

 and current President

President

A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...

 of Zhejiang University

Zhejiang University

Zhejiang University , sometimes referred to as Zheda, is a national university in China. Founded in 1897, Zhejiang University is one of China's oldest institutions of higher education...

.

Biography

Yang was born in Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

 in Feb 1954. Yang's father is chemical engineer Yang Guanghua

Yang Guanghua

Yang Guanghua, or Guang-Hwa Yang , was a notable Chinese educator and chemical engineer. Yang was former President of China University of Petroleum, and a pioneer of China's oil industry.-Biography:...

. Yang studied at the Department of Material and Heat Engineering of Northwestern Polytechnical University

Northwestern Polytechnical University

Northwestern Polytechnical University is a University located in 127#, Youyi West Road, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.-History:...

, and graduated in 1976. In 1981, Yang received M.Eng from the Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University

Tsinghua University

Tsinghua University , colloquially known in Chinese as Qinghua, is a university in Beijing, China. The school is one of the nine universities of the C9 League. It was established in 1911 under the name "Tsinghua Xuetang" or "Tsinghua College" and was renamed the "Tsinghua School" one year later...

. Yang obtained PhD

PHD

PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 from Brown University

Brown University

Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

 in USA in 1984.

December 1989, Yang was promoted to professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

ship at Tsinghua University. From 1997 to 2004, he was the head of the Department of Engineering Mechanics at Tsinghua University. In August 2004, Yang became the executive vice-dean of the School of Aerospace, Tsinghua University. In August 2006, Yang was appointed to be the President of Zhejiang University.

Yang is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences

Chinese Academy of Sciences

The Chinese Academy of Sciences , formerly known as Academia Sinica, is the national academy for the natural sciences of the People's Republic of China. It is an institution of the State Council of China. It is headquartered in Beijing, with institutes all over the People's Republic of China...

, and member of the Third World Academy of Sciences

Third World Academy of Sciences

TWAS, until 2004 named Third World Academy of Sciences and now TWAS, the academy of sciences for the developing world, is a merit-based science academy uniting 1,000 scientists in some 70 countries. Its principal aim is to promote scientific capacity and excellence for sustainable development in...

.

In May 2009, Yang started his acting president position of APRU

Association of Pacific Rim Universities

The Association of Pacific Rim Universities , formed in 1997, is a consortium of leading research universities in the Pacific Rim. APRU aims to foster education, research and enterprise thereby contributing to the economic, scientific and cultural advancement in the Pacific Rim...

.

Yang is a world pioneer in the research fields of fracture mechanics, meso-/micro- mechanics, mechatronic reliability and has published a series books based on his research. Two of his books, "Mesoplasticity and its applications" and "Mechatronic reliability : electric failures, mechanical-electrical coupling, domain switching, mass-flow instabilities " were published by Springer.