雅美之途
教育，人文，社会
圣路易斯华盛顿大学讲座教授杨兰，最近刚刚当选美国AAAS院士, 杨兰为中科大校友。这是美国最为古老的科学与艺术学院，可以追溯到100多年前爱迪生的创办功劳，为与美国NAS, NAM和工程学院并列的美国四大科学院。AAAS更加独特，因为里面也有人文学者，例如今年华大的有位当选教授就是研究美国少数族裔语言的，诺贝尔奖得主David Baltimore 的华裔太太Alice Huang曾经当过AAAS的主席。
杨兰是科大少年班的，堪称女性物理神童，所以她的所有records都比别人超前。好几位华大医学院与她同时当选的教授和主任，都接近了退休的年龄。杨兰在Caltech得博士，只做了两年的博士后就到华大任教，很短时间就爬到华大讲座教授的位置，这对于晋升慢的华大确实是了不起的成就。别怪我跟踪了她太多的学术轨迹，因为我有在报告中介招她的重任。
我们华大曾经面对Caltech挖人时失去华科大校友汪立宏（Lihong Wang) 教授，据说Caltech为他办了一个研究所。Frank Yin跟我说，我们竞争不过Caltech, 只希望Lihong好。但是我们能够从Caltech吸引到杨兰教授也算幸运，衷心祝贺她。这次当选也可以看出华大之重心所在，七位当选教授中四位在医学院，包括刚与Milbrandt创立公司的DiAntonio，他们俩已经是千万富翁了。
对于那些Science杂志的常年读者，我们都熟悉Science就是AAAS的会刊。更有意义的是现任Science杂志主编为华大前教务长Holden Thorp，他也是Caltech博士，前段时间连发数篇社论炮轰川普总统。
现在的美国，在各行各业都有像杨兰这样从中国大陆出来的杰出人士，这样会为后来的年轻人起到榜样的作用，美国仍然是一个充满机会的地方。我们刚来时连接机的人都沒有，从上海来的学生当时单独抵达圣路易斯机场，为了去华大他试着找Bus, 坐出租车他又觉得太贵，圣市机场哪里有公共汽车？他看见有老板来接我，便通过求情混上了车。
下面是华大媒体对杨兰教授的介绍：
Lan Yang
Yang is the Edwin H. & Florence G. Skinner Professor in the Preston M. Green Department of Electrical & Systems Engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering. AAAS is honoring her for groundbreaking contributions to the fields of photonics, particularly her pioneering experimental studies on non-Heritian photonics, optical sensing and light-matter interactions in optical resonators.
Many of the high-tech devices we use in our day-to-day lives are electronic devices — they rely on the movement of electrons to transmit information. Photonic devices, however, use photons, or light, instead. Yang’s research focuses on silicon-chip-based, ultra-high-quality micro-resonators and their applications for sensing, lasing, nonlinear optics, environmental monitoring, biomedical research and communication.
In her research, she tailors chemical compositions and nanostructures to achieve advanced micro/nano photonic devices with desired properties, such as an all-optical analog of an electronic diode that allows current flow in one direction.
In 2018, her lab was the first to successfully record environmental data using a wireless photonic sensor resonator with a whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) architecture. In 2020, she was listed as a highly-cited researcher by Clarivate Web of Science. Her research could have impacts in the creation of biomedical devices, electronics and biohazard detection devices, among others.
Yang is a fellow of APS, IEEE and is editor-in-chief of Photonics Research, a journal published by The Optical Society, of which she is also a fellow. She joined Washington University in 2007. In 2010, she earned a National Science Foundation CAREER Award and, in 2011, she was honored by President Barack Obama with a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). The award is the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers.
“The mission statement of AAAS truly echoes with me,” Yang said. “‘Advance science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all people.’
“This is also my lifelong motto that gives me the passion and motivation to work hard on science and technology, the career I chose many years ago, hoping one day what I have done could benefit and help the world.”
