Young Scientist Jingyuan Xu from KIT Awarded Leopoldina Prize
With the Leopoldina Prize for Young Scientists 2023, the National Academy of Sciences is honoring Leopoldina Dr. Jingyuan Xu, who researches novel heating and cooling technologies for the energy transition at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). The young engineer can currently claim two other notable awards: the Hector RCD Award and acceptance into the Global Young Academy, an exclusive association of international young scientists.
Jingyuan Xu has been working at the Institute of Microstructure Technology (IMT) at KIT since 2021. There she initially conducted research as a Humboldt Research Fellow and KIT Young Investigator Group Preparation Program Fellow. Since 2024, she has headed the CZS Nexus research group “Emission-free and environmentally friendly heating and cooling technologies” (ZEco Thermal Lab), funded by the Carl Zeiss Foundation, for which she has raised 1.5 million euros. In the IMT’s ZEco Thermal Lab, she and her eight-person team are dedicated to developing high-performance, CO₂-neutral heating and cooling technologies.
Refrigerant-free cooling processes for the energy transition
The focus of Xu’s own research is on novel, solid-state cooling processes that utilize shape memory alloys. In such elastocaloric systems, temperature changes are caused by mechanical force. In contrast to conventional cooling using vapor compression, no environmentally harmful gaseous refrigerants are used. Cooling based on elastocaloric materials is also considered low-maintenance, efficient and – from micro-cooling of electronic components to air conditioning – a future option for many areas of application.
“Elastocaloric cooling systems will take their place as an environmentally and climate-friendly alternative in the globally growing refrigeration technology market,” says award winner Jingyuan Xu. “Real innovation arises precisely at the interfaces between the fields of science on the one hand and technology on the other. I would like to contribute to this .” At the Leopoldina spring reception in Halle (Saale) on March 18, 2024, Xu will receive the 5,000 euro prize and present her research in a lecture.
More awards for Jingyuan Xu
Two other notable awards have recently been presented to Xu: In February this year, the Hector Fellow Academy (HFA) announced that the young power engineering engineer would be honored with the Hector Research Career Development Award. The funding award is endowed with 25,000 euros and also includes funds for a doctoral position, among other things. It is awarded annually to three particularly promising researchers on their way to a professorship.
It was also announced in February that the Chinese researcher would be a member of the Global Young Academy (GYA) for five years starting in May this year. The academy, founded in Berlin in 2010, has set itself the goal of promoting dialogue and collaboration among young scientists around the world. The number of members is limited to 200; Selection criteria are scientific excellence and social commitment.
Excellent young scientist with international roots
Jingyuan Xu began her academic career in the central Chinese metropolis of Wuhan, studying energy engineering at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology. She received her doctorate with distinction in 2018 from the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. From 2018 to 2021, Xu worked as a research assistant at the British universities of Cambridge and London (Imperial College).
Despite her young career, Xu has already received several awards, including the Sadi Carnot Award from the International Institute of Refrigeration (2023), the George T. Mulholland Memorial Award from the Cryogenic Society of America (2021), the Imperial College London Department Award from the Imperial College London (2021) and the Humboldt Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2021).