Professor Michael Wang appointed Head of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

The Faculty of Engineering at Monash University is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Michael Yu Wang as Head of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, commencing in February 2022.

Professor Wang is an esteemed global leader in robotics and topology optimisation. He is the founding director of the Cheng Kar-Shun Robotics Institute, the Director of HKUST-Bright Dream Robotics Joint Research Institute, and a Chair Professor of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering and Electronic & Computer Engineering at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).

He has also served on the engineering faculty at the University of Maryland (1990-2000), the Chinese University of Hong Kong (1999-2014), and the National University of Singapore (2014-2015), where he taught undergraduate and postgraduate classes on engineering design, additive manufacturing and advanced robotics.

Professor Wang has held distinguished visiting scholar positions worldwide. He was a visiting scholar at Stanford University, A*STAR OAP Fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, Guest Professor at Xian Jiaotong University and Shanghai Jiaotong University, Chang Jiang Chair Professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology and a Distinguished Visiting Scholar of the University of Technology Sydney.

His research focuses on robotics, automation, multifunctional structure design and additive manufacturing. He has published over 300 technical research papers in these areas and his work is heavily cited.

Professor Wang served as the Editor-in-Chief (2016-2021) of IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, and as Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, the ASME Journal of Manufacturing Science and the Engineering and Assembly Automation Journal.

He was the Conference Chair of the 5th ASME Design for Manufacturing Conference in 2000, the Conference Chair (in 2006 & 2020) and the Program Chair (in 2005) of the IEEE Conference on Automation Science and Engineering, the Program Chair of the IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (2008), and the General Co-Chair of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (2011).

Professor Wang was also awarded the Distinguished Young Investigator Award from the Natural Science Foundation of China (2002) and the China State Natural Science Prize (Class II) from the Ministry of Science & Technology of China in 2012. He was named Chang Jiang (Cheung Kong) Scholar by the Ministry of Education (China) and Li Ka Shing Foundation (Hong Kong) in 2005, and Distinguished Overseas Scholar by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2008. He received the Research Excellence Award of CUHK (2008) and ASME Design Automation Award in 2013. He is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the IEEE.

Professor Wang obtained his Bachelor of Science degree from Xian Jiaotong University in China, his Master of Science degree from Pennsylvania State University, and his doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University.

“I am very happy to be appointed the new Head of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Monash University,” said Professor Wang. “It is a pleasure to join the Monash academic community and I look forward to working with my new colleagues and supporting the exciting range of high impact research and educational endeavours in the department.”

Dean of Engineering, Professor Elizabeth Croft says that the new appointment marks an exciting new phase for the department and wider faculty. “We are delighted to welcome Professor Wang to Monash Engineering,” she said. “He is a highly-respected scholar with a distinguished international record of excellence in research and leadership. Professor Wang’s appointment will strengthen and accelerate the success of our initiatives across the faculty in robotics, mechatronics, design, and advanced manufacturing.”