Associate Vice President (Education Innovation)

Prof. Yang Chai received his Bachelor’s degree from Nanjing University, his Master’s degree from Peking University, and his PhD degree from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He completed his postdoctoral training at Stanford University and University of Illinois Urbana－Champaign.

He joined the Department of Physics and Materials (formerly the Department of Applied Physics) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) in 2012. Currently, he is a Chair Professor of Semiconductor Physics, Director of Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence of Things (RIAIoT), Director of University Research Facility in Materials Characterization and Device Fabrication (UMF), Chair of Semiconductor Nanotechnology Alliance (SNA), Vice President of the Physical Society of Hong Kong, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Distinguished Lecturer, and Associate Editor of ACS Nano.

Previously, he has served as Chair of the IEEE Electron Devices Society (EDS) Hong Kong Chapter, Chair of the IEEE EDS Nanotechnology Committee, Technical Committee Member of the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), the General Chair of the IEEE Electron Devices Technology and Manufacturing (EDTM) Conference, and the General Chair of International Symposium on Emerging Memory and Computing (ISMC).

Prof. Chai has been elected as an IEEE Fellow, Optica Fellow, Institute of Physics (IOP) Fellow, Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association (AAIA) Fellow, International Association of Advanced Materials (IAAM) Fellow, and is a recipient of the Croucher Senior Research Fellowship, “Prize for Scientific and Technological Innovation - Youth Innovation Award” by the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation Science and Technology Award, the National Science Fund of China (NSFC) for Distinguished Young Scholars, BOCHK Science and Technology Innovation Prize in the category of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Research Grants Council (RGC) Early Career Award, Young Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Sciences, PolyU President’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Research and Scholarly Activities, Nano Research Young Innovators (NR45) Award, and Falling Walls Science Breakthroughs Award 2024: Winner in Engineering & Technology category for “Breaking the Wall of Efficient Sensory AI Systems”.

As a corresponding author, he has published over 100 papers in prestigious journals and conference proceedings, including Nature, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Electronics, and IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM). His work has been cited over 33,700 times. He is recognised as a Clarivate™ Highly Cited Researcher and ranked among Stanford University’s Top 2% Most-Cited Scientists. His research achievements have been recognised as one of the Top 10 Hong Kong Innovative Technology News 2022 and Chip 2023 Top Ten Advances Award in China Chip Science. His work has also been highlighted in Nature and IEEE Spectrum. He developed in-sensor computing paradigm, which is highlighted in US Semiconductor Research Corporation’s Decadal Plan.

He has successfully secured a Research, Academic and Industry Sectors One-plus Scheme (RAISe+) project on High-Speed 3D Stacked AI Vision Sensors, NSFC Distinguished Young Scholar project on Neuromorphic Computing, NSFC/RGC Collaborative Research Scheme (CRS), NSFC/RGC Joint Research Scheme (JRS) Project, Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) Key Project, Shenzhen Key Project, Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) Project, and 12 General Research Fund (GRF)/Early Career Scheme (ECS) projects. He has secured and managed two industry-funded research grants, one of which is from China Electronics Technology Group Corporation Limited.