Recently, the "2023 Shanghai Women's Innovation Leader" list was announced, and Professor Zhao Ling from the School of Chemical Engineering at East China University of Science and Technology was selected.
Zhao Ling has led the completion of the national key research and development program "Lightweight Technology of Polymer Materials," developing innovative technologies such as efficient polymerization equipment and green preparation of polymer microcellular foaming materials. This effort has successfully achieved the industrialization of several "bottleneck" chemical new materials, promoting China's rapid development into a world leader in supercritical fluid foaming polymer technology and its industrialization.
Over the past five years, Zhao Ling has led her team to complete more than 20 projects, including the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" national key research and development program "Lightweight Technology of Polymer Materials" and major collaborative projects between industry, academia, and research institutions such as Sinopec's carbon fiber, metallocene polybutene-1, and polyolefin elastomers. They have overcome key core technologies in polymer engineering and lightweighting, developed novel high-efficiency reactors with structured flow fields, polymer devolatilization equipment, and successfully implemented industrial applications of new processes and equipment for supercritical fluid foaming polymers. These efforts have supported the industrialization of "bottleneck" chemical new materials such as carbon fibers, new polyesters and polyamides, and high-end polyolefins, leading the way in the green manufacturing and high-end applications of lightweight polymer materials. This has effectively facilitated China's rapid development into a world leader in supercritical fluid foaming polymer technology and its industrialization.
All images are sourced from East China University of Science and Technology.
Zhao Ling attaches great importance to transforming research and innovation resources into high-quality educational resources, empowering engineering talent through the integration of science and education, and the fusion of production and education. She has participated in educational reform projects, winning the Special Prize of the Shanghai Municipal Teaching Achievement Award in 2022, as well as first and second prizes in the National Teaching Achievement Awards for Higher Education (Graduate) in 2023. Despite her busy schedule, Zhao Ling devotes 48 hours each year to teaching undergraduate core courses in chemical reaction engineering at the Fengxian Campus. She has supervised the graduation of hundreds of master's and doctoral students, earning her the reputation among students as an excellent mentor and friend.
In addition to her research accomplishments, Zhao Ling has held administrative positions such as Dean of the School of Chemical Engineering and Director of the Development Planning Department at East China University of Science and Technology. Furthermore, leveraging her expertise, she actively undertakes responsibilities in discipline construction, democratic party work, and academic assistance in Xinjiang.
