{"id":37063,"date":"2026-03-18T02:24:59","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T18:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=37063"},"modified":"2026-03-18T02:24:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T18:24:59","slug":"prominent-chinese-scientists-leave-us-after-decades-to-join-tsinghua-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=37063","title":{"rendered":"Prominent Chinese scientists leave US after decades to join Tsinghua University"},"content":{"rendered":"


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In this story, VnExpress International <\/em>highlights several leading researchers who have made the move.<\/p>\n

According to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, around 20,000 ethnic Chinese scientists left the U.S. between 2010 and 2021. At least 85 rising and established scientists working in the U.S. joined Chinese research institutions full-time in 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n

The Chinese government has for years sought ways to attract global scientific talent, including thousands of researchers who left the country to pursue advanced degrees in the U.S. As the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump pushes to slash research budgets and steps up scrutiny of foreign talent, that effort is receiving a boost.<\/p>\n

Chinese universities see changes in the U.S. as “a gift from Trump” that could help them recruit more high-caliber talent, Yu Xie, a sociology professor at Princeton University, told CNN <\/em>in a 2025 interview.<\/p>\n

Tsinghua, ranked first in the 2025 Times Higher Education Asia University rankings, has been among the beneficiaries of the wave of Chinese scientists returning home, attracting several high-profile researchers in recent years.<\/p>\n

One of them is Liu Jun, a Harvard professor who joined Tsinghua in 2025. Speaking at the university\u2019s welcome ceremony, Liu said his decision was driven by “a love for education and scientific research, as well as a sense of patriotism,” according to the South China Morning Post.<\/em><\/p>\n

Here are three of the best-known scientists who have recently returned to China to join Tsinghua.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"Physicist<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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Physicist Gao Huajian. Photo courtesy of Tsinghua University<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Physicist Gao Huajian<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gao joined Tsinghua as a full-time chair professor in January 2024 after decades working overseas.<\/p>\n

He previously held tenured professorships at Stanford University and Brown University in the U.S., served as a distinguished professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and was director of the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research in Stuttgart, Germany.<\/p>\n

Born in Chengdu in 1963, Gao earned a bachelor\u2019s degree from Xian Jiaotong University at age 19 before pursuing graduate studies in the U.S. He obtained a PhD in engineering science from Harvard in 1988.<\/p>\n

During his time at Stanford and Brown, Gao trained many Chinese students who later returned to China and became leading researchers.<\/p>\n

His research spans materials science, nanotechnology and bioengineering, focusing on how materials, structures and biological systems deform and fail at both micro and macro scales.<\/p>\n

Gao has received numerous honors, including the 2012 Rodney Hill Prize in Solid Mechanics, the 2021 Timoshenko Medal in Applied Mechanics and the 2023 American Society of Mechanical Engineers Medal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"Chip<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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Chip engineer Su Fei. Photo courtesy of Tsinghua University<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Chip engineer Su Fei<\/strong><\/p>\n

Su joined Tsinghua as a full-time professor in September 2024 after nearly two decades at the U.S. chip giant Intel.<\/p>\n

He also helped shape global standards in chip design, guided research at U.S. universities to address practical engineering challenges and received multiple industry honors for his work.<\/p>\n

A senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Su said he was “profoundly motivated” by opportunities to bridge the gap between academia and industry.<\/p>\n

Su earned bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees from Tsinghua before completing a PhD in electrical and computer engineering at Duke University, U.S., in 2006.<\/p>\n

He joined Intel the same year and worked on improving reliability, security and performance of advanced microprocessors used in devices ranging from smartphones to data centers.<\/p>\n

Su also contributed to the development of several IEEE standards and mentored multiple university\u2013industry research projects through the Semiconductor Research Corporation.<\/p>\n

In 2021 the consortium honored him with the Mahboob Khan Outstanding Industry Liaison Award for his leadership in research collaboration and student mentoring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"Liu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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Liu Jun (L) receives the appointment certificate from Tsinghua University President Li Luming. Photo courtesy of the university<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Statistician Liu Jun<\/strong><\/p>\n

In August 2025, Liu, one of the world\u2019s leading statisticians and a longtime professor at Harvard, confirmed his return<\/a> to China to join Tsinghua as chair professor in its Department of Statistics and Data Science.<\/p>\n

Liu spent nearly three decades at Harvard after earning his PhD in statistics from the University of Chicago in 1991. He also previously held faculty positions at Stanford before returning to Harvard in 2000 as a tenured professor.<\/p>\n

He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of several professional organizations, including the American Statistical Association and the International Statistical Institute.<\/p>\n

Liu\u2019s research has made major contributions to Bayesian inference, computational biology and bioinformatics.<\/p>\n

Over his career he has supervised more than 40 PhD students and 30 postdoctoral researchers, many of whom now work at leading universities or companies including Google, Microsoft and major financial institutions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n