Dr. Yaolin Liu has been the Chancellor of Duke Kunshan University since September 2023.
An expert in geographic information science, Liu holds the title of Changjiang Distinguished Professor at Wuhan University, the highest academic honor issued to an individual in higher education by China’s Ministry of Education, and is vice chairman of the Ministry of Education’s Steering Committee on Geography Education.
At Wuhan University, Liu served as dean of its School of Resources and Environmental Science for 17 years and most recently led two key national laboratories of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Education, respectively.
A member of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences, Liu has received major grants from organizations such as the National Natural Science Foundation, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, and State Bureau of Survey and Mapping for his research on geographic information science, cartography and land resource management.
He is a three-time winner of the National Grade II Prize of Science and Technology Progress Award, one of the top five science and technology awards established by China’s State Council. He has 40 domestic and international invention patents. Of the 400 + papers he published, more than 250 were indexed by SCI/SSCI. Stanford University listed Liu in the authoritative World’s Top 2% Scientists 2022.
His research and its applications have won him many other important awards and sponsorships, such as the Land and Resources Science and Technology Progress Award, Surveying and Mapping Science and Technology Progress Award, National Outstanding Scientific and Technological Worker, National Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Talents Project, Trans-Century Training Program by the Ministry of Education, and National Special Support Program for High-Level Talents.
In addition to being a scientist, Liu has been a devoted educator for the past 30 years, producing award-winning textbooks and courses and receiving numerous teaching excellence awards. He is a recipient of awards such as the National Outstanding Teacher Award, the Baosteel Excellent Teacher Award, the National Outstanding Textbook Award, and the National Outstanding Course Award.
Liu has extensive academic and leadership experience both in China and overseas. He spent 10 years as the vice president of the Chinese Society for Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography and a member of the State Council’s Disciplinary Review Group, and 8 years as the vice president of the International Cartographic Association. Liu’s numerous leadership roles in academia also include: Member of the Discipline Review Group of the State Council Academic Degrees Committee, Council Member of China Land Science Society; and Vice Chairman of the Chinese Society for Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography. He has worked as a visiting scholar in both Europe and the United States.
Liu received his Ph.D. from Wageningen University, the Netherlands, in 2002, and his master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the China University of Geoscience in 1988 and 1982, respectively.
