Professor Fengzhou Fang was awarded a Prestigious Honorary Doctorate

On December 17^th 2024, UCD Professor Fengzhou Fang, the Founding President of the International Academy of Engineering and Technology (AET), was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. This prestigious honour recognizes his many ground-breaking contributions, particularly the identification and proposal of the Three Paradigms of Manufacturing Advancement in 2012. This seminal work outlines an inherent law of manufacturing evolution and presents the conclusion that atomic and close-to-atomic scale manufacturing (ACSM) is inevitable as a transformative phase governed by quantum theory. ACSM represents a paradigm shift in manufacturing, enabling innovation and addressing critical challenges in various fields such as precision engineering, materials science, nanomedicine, quantum technology, energy and sustainability. It also paves the way for new frontiers in fundamental science and technology. These achievements have also led Professor Fang to the Albert M. Sargent Progress Award conferred by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), the Lifetime Achievements Award conferred by the International Society for Nanomanufacturing (ISNM) and the Lifetime Achievements Award conferred by the CJUMP Academy, respectively.

Professor Fang, an internationally recognized expert in nanomanufacturing and precision engineering, has accomplished remarkable achievements, particularly in ultra-precision machining and freeform optics. His pioneering discoveries, including the extrusion-dominated nano-machining mechanism and the atomic-scale cutting mechanism via dislocation, have refined and supplemented the classic theory of shearing mechanism at the nanometric and atomic scales. These insights have a profound impact on the development of a systematic cutting theory on both brittle and ductile materials. Furthermore, his contributions to the design, manufacturing, and measurement of freeform optics have earned widespread acclaim from academia and industry, as evidenced by the successful completion of a large number of industrial projects that have benefitted and advanced industrial practice.

In 2016, Professor Fang established the UCD Centre of Micro/Nano Manufacturing Technology at the University College Dublin (MNMT-Dublin). This was followed by his success in developing the Laboratory of Micro/Nano Manufacturing Technology (MNMT) at Tianjin University into a leading research centre recognized worldwide from 2005 onwards. Under his leadership, MNMT-Dublin has become another leading centre in advanced manufacturing research. To date, over 40 years of academic career, he has supervised over a hundred graduates and young researchers, who have now contributed to academia and industry worldwide. In addition to his cutting-edge research, in 2006, Professor Fang also initiated the nanoMan series of conferences, which has developed into one of the most well-known conferences in the field of manufacturing.

These collective efforts have significantly advanced Ireland’s position in the field of advanced manufacturing and brought the country to the front foot in the unique area of ultra-precision technologies.