Award-winning chemist Zhang Wei leaves US to join China’s Great Bay University

On his return to China, Zhang says he looks forward to cultivating talent ‘who truly understand science, technology and industrial needs’3-MIN READ3-MIN12ListenPublished: 8:00pm, 15 Jul 2026Zhang Wei, former chairman of the chemistry department at the University of Colorado Boulder, has returned to China to join Great Bay University (GBU) as a full-time faculty member.Zhang, who will be the deputy dean and chair professor of GBU’s physical sciences school, attended a hiring ceremony at the university’s Songshan Lake campus in Dongguan, in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong on July 2.He was presented with the appointment letter by GBU president Tian Gang, who is also a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.08:30Why are more Chinese scientists leaving the US to return to China?“Professor Zhang has long been engaged in scientific research and discipline construction at overseas high-level research universities,” Tian said at the ceremony.