Hesheng Wang, Dean of Shanghai Jiao Tong University Global College (SJTUGC, abbreviated as GC hereafter) and Tang Junyuan Chair Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, has been named a recipient of the eighth Science Exploration Award, according to the 2026 award announcement released on August 24.
The Science Exploration Award is a philanthropic award funded by the New Cornerstone Science Foundation and selected through a scientist-led process. It is one of the highest-valued programs in China supporting young scientific and technological talent. The award focuses on basic science and cutting-edge technologies and supports outstanding young scientists working full-time in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macao. Eligible candidates are male scientists aged 45 or younger and female scientists aged 48 or younger.
As of 2026, the award has supported 397 outstanding young scientists across fields spanning basic science and cutting-edge technologies.
Personal Introduction
Hesheng Wang is Tang Junyuan Chair Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Dean of Shanghai Jiao Tong University Global College. His research focuses on intelligent robotics and embodied intelligence. He has led projects funded by the National Key R&D Program of China and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), among others. In recent years, Professor Wang has made a series of original contributions to robot visual servoing, embodied navigation, and manipulation. He has published more than 100 papers as a corresponding author in leading journals, including IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (TPAMI), IEEE Transactions on Robotics (TRO), and the International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR). Professor Wang serves as Editor-in-Chief of Robot Learning and chaired IROS 2025, one of the leading international conferences in robotics. He has also received honors including the Baosteel Outstanding Teacher Award. In recognition of his outstanding contributions to advanced manufacturing, Professor Wang was named a recipient of the eighth Science Exploration Award.
