The Department of Physics and Astronomy is pleased to announce that Adjunct Professor Jin Zhao has received the Mathematical Physics XPLORER Award in Beijing, China. Dr. Zhao leads a research program as a Professor of Physics at the University of Science and Technology of China, which evolved from research as a former postdoc of Dr. Petek.

The "Science Exploration Award" (XPLORER) was established in 2018. It is a public welfare award funded by the New Cornerstone Science Foundation and led by scientists. It is currently one of the highest-funded young scientific and technological talent awards in China.

The award supports young scientific and technological workers working full-time in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao, and encourages them to explore the "unexplored areas" of science without distraction. The award is open to ten areas of basic science and cutting-edge technology, with no more than 50 recipients selected annually. Zhao was the only woman among 5 awardees in the Mathematics and Physics field. Each award is for a total of RMB 3 million (about $419,410 USD) over five years from the Tencent Foundation, with full discretionary spending.