On the afternoon of November 18, Du Youwei, an academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, was invited to give a lecture entitled "Advances in Functional Materials" in the meeting room L215 for the teachers and students from the School of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering. The event was hosted by Zhu Guangjun, the school dean, and more than 100 students and teachers listened to the presentation.

In the lecture, academician Du Youwei began his presentation by introducing “materials” as on the three pillars of modern society, and gave a systematic explanation of the classification and development trend of materials.He pointed out that carbon materials, semiconductor materials and composite materials are the hot spots of material research today, and elaborated on composite materials.

He proposed that nano/micro-structured composites are a vital field, and the design of artificial structures can give materials new optical, electrical, magnetic and force functions to make devices with specific functions. He also cited a large number of examples of disordered and ordered nano/micro-structured materials to explain the design, development and application of composites.

In his presentation, Du Youwei gave special emphasis on the importance of innovation spirit, encouraging students to consciously cultivate their creative awareness and innovative ability, to enhance their competitiveness to face the unpredictable future challenges.