Editor's note:

On the afternoon of April 14, as Tsinghua University approaches the 115th anniversary of its founding, To Lam, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and president of Vietnam, visited Tsinghua and attended the China – Vietnam Forum on Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation, jointly organized by Tsinghua University and Vietnam National University, Hanoi, where he delivered a policy speech. Yin Li, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, and Qiu Yong, secretary of the CPC Tsinghua University Committee, attended the forum and delivered remarks. Ren Youqun, vice minister of education, Hoang Minh Son, Vietnam’s acting minister of education and training, and Bui The Duy, president of Vietnam National University, Hanoi, delivered keynote speeches on the development of higher education and educational cooperation between the two countries. Chen Zhou, vice minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, and He Wei, Chinese ambassador to Vietnam, also attended the forum. The forum was chaired by Yang Bin, vice chancellor of Tsinghua University Council.

On the morning of April 13, as Tsinghua University approaches its 115th anniversary, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited the University and delivered a speech at the “Distinguished Global Scholars Lecture”.

A centennial commemoration and symposium on discipline development for the Department of Economics at Tsinghua University was held on Aril 11 at the School of Economics and Management (SEM). Li Luming, president of Tsinghua University, and Yang Bin, vice chancellor of the University Council, attended the event.

In 1926, Tsinghua University established its first 17 departments, including the Department of Economics. Over the past 100 years, Tsinghua’s economic scholars have devoted themselves to the Chinese nation, through its ups and downs and gradual evolution. The Department of Economics has consistently sought pathways to national salvation and public well-being in times of crisis, explored strategies for national strength and shared prosperity during the era of reform and opening up. With determination and dynamism, it is advancing toward world-class excellence while upholding fundamental principles and fostering innovation to propel the development of economics research in China.

The cerebral cortex underlies the brain’s highest cognitive functions. Its extraordinary structural and functional complexity depends on both the total number of neurons and the diversity of neuronal cell types. The human cerebral cortex contains approximately 16 billion neurons, broadly classified into glutamatergic excitatory neurons and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)–ergic inhibitory neurons. Beyond this basic division, hundreds of neuronal subtypes have been identified based on differences in morphology, connectivity, electrophysiological properties, and gene expression.

Lord Nicholas Stern, Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and the Global School of Sustainability at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), visited Tsinghua University from March 23 to 24 and was appointed Honorary Professor of the University. President Li Luming and Jiang Peixue, Vice Chair of the University Council, led separate meetings with Lord Stern.

In practical energy utilization, a large amount of dispersed low-grade heat energy has long been difficult to recover effectively, while resources such as water vapor generated during heat exchange are often not fully utilized. How to achieve the synergistic conversion of heat energy and water resources under complex interface conditions is an important issue in current energy harvesting research.

2026 Tsinghua University

On March 23, Tsinghua University held a ceremony for the conferment of Tsinghua University Chair Professorship to Professor Seeram Ramakrishna, officially welcoming the internationally renowned materials scientist to join Tsinghua University as a full-time faculty member. Qiu Yong, secretary of the CPC Tsinghua University Committee, Li Luming, president of Tsinghua University, attended the ceremony, which was presided over by Vice President Wang Hongwei.

On March 25, Tsinghua University hosted the 5th Latin American and Caribbean Ambassadors’ Dialogue, centering on the theme of China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) and its economic transition.

Peripheral neuroma remains a worldwide medical challenge, often leading to persistent mechanical allodynia. Currently, there is a lack of ideal clinical treatments. Although nerve conduit technology has shown potential in treating residual neuromas, the recurrence of neuromas remains prominent due to the inability to continuously and effectively inhibit pathological vascular regeneration in the nerve stump. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop more precise and efficient intervention strategies.

On March 6, Professor Drew Shindell, Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Nicholas Professor of Earth Sciences at Duke University, and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Panel of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), was appointed Honorary Professor of Tsinghua University and delivered the 266th lecture of the Global Vision Lecture Series. Yang Bin, Vice Chancellor of Tsinghua University Council, attended the event and presented the honorary professor appointment letter. The ceremony was hosted by He Kebin, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Dean of the Institute for Carbon Neutrality, and Professor in the School of Environment at Tsinghua University, and was attended by over 150 faculty members and students from the School of Environment and other institutions.

2026 Poverty Alleviation Challenge Program

Editor's Note:

Recently, a research team led by Professor Bing Zhu from the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Institute for Circular Economy at Tsinghua University made significant progress in quantifying China's rubber socioeconomic metabolism. For the first time, the research systematically quantifies the material flows and stocks of rubber across its full lifecycle in China from 1978 to 2022, providing a scientific model and foundational data for understanding the country's rubber metabolism and promoting sustainable consumption and production of rubber materials.

Tsinghua University's Storage Research Group from the Department of Computer Science and Technology has been honored with the Distinguished Artifact Award at the 24th USENIX Conference on File and Storage Technologies (FAST 2026). The accolade recognizes their pioneering paper, "GPU Checkpoint/Restore Made Fast and Lightweight," which introduces a novel scheme to enhance GPU efficiency in modern computing environments.

Editor’s Note:

The Mechano‑X Workshop 2026, held from January 5 to 7 at Tsinghua University Southeast Asia Center (Tsinghua SEA), Bali, Indonesia, brought together distinguished scholars from around the world for three days of invited lectures, poster presentations, and interactive discussions. The workshop enabled intensive knowledge exchange at the frontiers of mechanics, materials science, biology, and their intersections. Participants shared their research, insights, and ideas on Mechano‑X, highlighting how mechanics provides an important and inspiring framework for understanding, proactive design, and the rational regulation of complex material and biological systems across diverse disciplines.

On January 3, the Tenth Triennial International Congress of Chinese Mathematicians (ICCM), themed “New Frontiers: Mathematics for Transforming Science and Humanity”, kicked off in Shanghai.