On November 22nd, the list of newly elected members for the year 2023 was announced by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE). Zhang Shuichang, an alumnus who graduated in 1979 majoring in Petroleum Geology and Exploration, was elected as a member of the Division of Earth Sciences in CAS. Tang Juxing, an alumnus who graduated in 1980 majoring in Mineral Geology and Exploration, a part-time professor, and a research fellow, was elected as a member of the Division of Energy and Mining Engineering in CAE.
Zhang Shuichang, male, born in 1961, is a professor, doctoral supervisor, and chief expert at the Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development (RIPED). He has long been committed to the fundamental theoretical research and application of marine deep hydrocarbon systems, exploring the age and depth limits of hydrocarbon generation.
Zhang studied at Chengdu Institute of Geology (CDIG, now CDUT) majoring in Petroleum Geology from 1979 to 1983. Since 1986, he has been working at RIPED. He currently serves as the director of the Key Laboratory of Petroleum Geochemistry in China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the head of the Organic Geochemistry Group of the Professional Committee on Petroleum Geology in China Petroleum Society, the president of Asian-African Association of Petroleum Geochemists, and the deputy director of the Gas Geochemistry Professional Committee of the Chinese Society for Mineralogy, Petrology, and Geochemistry.
Since the “Eighth Five-Year Plan,” Zhang has led and completed various national scientific and technological projects, including the Program 973, National Science and Technology Major Projects, and National Key Research and Development Programs of China. His research has achieved systematic and original results in understanding the control of organic matter enrichment by lithospheric processes, the formation of marine hydrocarbons, and the control of ultra-deep natural gas generation and distribution under high-temperature and organic-inorganic conditions. He has addressed key issues related to the material foundation and effectiveness of hydrocarbon accumulation in deep marine settings, innovatively developing cross-disciplinary research directions in the evolution of Earth systems and the formation of hydrocarbon systems.
Zhang’s discoveries include the elevation of atmospheric oxygen levels in the mid-Proterozoic to 4-8% of present levels, pushing back the appearance of eukaryotic algae (kerogen) from previously thought 600 million years ago to 1.4 billion years ago. He also found the earliest sedimentary records controlled by Earth’s orbital forces, governing climate change and the development of organic-rich shale. The precise orbital parameters provided have been used to constrain the evolution of the Earth-Moon system. Furthermore, he discovered ancient oil reservoir cracking and water-rock-hydrocarbon interactions in deeply buried high-temperature environments, crucial mechanisms for the large-scale generation and efficient accumulation of deep and ultra-deep natural gas.
His research findings have led to a reevaluation of the Earth’s early environment and hydrocarbon resource potential, contributing to significant discoveries in ancient marine hydrocarbon exploration and expanding oil and gas exploration to deep and ultra-deep levels. His work directly supports the implementation of the 10,000-meter Deep Oil and Gas Scientific Exploration Project.
Furthermore, Zhang has published over 200 SCI-indexed papers, with more than 15,000 citations in SCI and CSCD. He has been consecutively listed in the Elsevier Highly Cited Chinese Researchers, the annual influence list of the top 2% of global scientists, and the lifetime achievement influence list from 2020 to 2022. He has won one second prize of the National Natural Science Award, nine special prizes and first prizes of Technology Progress Award at the provincial level, the 2018 Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation Award for Scientific and Technological Progress, and the Outstanding Achievement Award in the second session of CNPC. He enjoys the Special Government Allowance from the State Council.
Tang Juxing, born in 1964, is a member of the Communist Party of China, a research fellow, and a doctoral supervisor specializing in mineral resources and geological exploration. His primary focus is on regional mineral resource assessment and exploration for bulk metal deposits.
In 1984, Tang completed his undergraduate studies in the Department of Mineral Resources at CDIG (now CDUT) and remained at the university as a faculty member. He earned his master’s degree from CDIG (now CDUT) in 1990 and obtained his doctoral degree from CDUT in 2003. Throughout his career, he held various positions at CDUT, including Deputy Secretary (supervisor) of the General Branch of the Resource and Economics Department and Deputy Director (supervisor). In 2002, Tang took on the role of Executive Deputy Secretary and Deputy Dean of the School of Earth Sciences at Chengdu University of Technology. From 2004 to 2006, he conducted research as a postdoctoral fellow at the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences (CAGS). In March 2007, he joined the Institute of Mineral Resources (IMR) at the CAGS.
Currently, Tang holds several key positions, including Chief Scientist of the Urgent Staple Mineral Investigation Project of the China Geological Survey, Chief Scientist of the Key Laboratory of Metallogenic Processes and Resource Assessment at IMR of CAGS, Chief Scientist of the Key Research and Development Program under the Ministry of Natural Resources, Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Science and Technology’s Research and Development Plan Project, and Chief Scientist for copper ore exploration in the New Round National Action of Strategic Breakthrough in Mineral Exploration (one of the 102 Major Projects in the “Fourteenth Five-Year Plan”).
Tang has received numerous awards and honors, such as the Technology Progress Award (Special Prize), the State Council’s Special Allowance, recognition as a “Young and Middle-aged Expert with Outstanding Contributions” by the government, the National “May 1st Labor Medal,” recognition as an Outstanding Communist Party Member of the Central State Organs, the National Innovation Forefront Award, and recognition as an Outstanding Communist Party Member at the national level.
Since the 1990s, as a research fellow, Tang has dedicated decades of hard work to exploration efforts in the high-altitude and frigid regions of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. His outstanding contributions to the exploration of China’s staple mineral resources and the stable development of socio-economics in border regions vividly embody the enterprising spirit of CDUT, “Do not fall behind anyone, and strive to be the first.” His research addresses critical scientific and engineering questions related to the formation of large copper deposits in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, guiding his research team through numerous challenges in the pursuit of groundbreaking scientific advancements.
For more than thirty years, with his footprints covering all over the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, Tang has persevered in the wild, high-altitude regions of Xizang, establishing in-depth industry-academia-research collaboration models with major national mining enterprises and geological exploration teams. His systematic achievements and significant breakthroughs in theoretical and exploration methods for key mineral resources, such as copper and gold, have led to the discovery and comprehensive evaluation of multiple super-large to large copper-gold deposits. This has not only reshaped the distribution pattern of copper resources in China but also ensured the stable supply of copper resources for the construction of copper mining resource bases in the country.
Congratulations to Zhang Shuichang and Tang Juxing on their election as members respectively of the CAS and the CAE.
