UM to confer honorary doctorates on two distinguished scholars

The University of Macau (UM) will hold the Ceremony for the Conferment of Honorary and Higher Degrees 2025 on 30 November (Sunday) at 4:00pm, during which honorary doctorates will be conferred on Ze Zhang, a leading scholar in crystal structure in materials science, and Thomas J. Sargent, Nobel laureate in Economic Sciences, in recognition of their outstanding achievements and significant contributions to society. Doctoral and master’s degrees will also be awarded on this occasion.

Prof Ze Zhang will receive a Doctor of Science honoris causa. He was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2001 and is currently a professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Zhejiang University. He also serves as a chief scientist of the National Basic Research Program of China. Prof Zhang has received numerous prestigious national science and technology awards, including the first prize of the National Natural Science Award, the Science and Technology Award from the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation, and the China Young Scientist Award. He has published over 350 papers in international academic journals, including Nature and Science. Prof Zhang’s pioneering research focuses on microstructure and its influence on physical properties. His work has significantly advanced the development of materials science and greatly influenced the understanding of nanostructure behaviour and its practical applications.

Prof Thomas J. Sargent will receive a Doctor of Business Administration honoris causa. Recipient of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, Prof Thomas J. Sargent is widely recognised as a pioneer of the ‘rational expectations revolution’ and a leading figure in contemporary economics. He currently serves as the William R. Berkley Professor of Economics and Business at New York University and as the honorary director of the Sargent Institute of Quantitative Economics and Finance at Peking University. Prof Sargent’s expertise lies in macroeconomics, monetary economics, and time series econometrics. His groundbreaking research has made outstanding contributions to economics and has been widely applied in both policymaking and academic research. Through his numerous influential publications, he has significantly advanced the understanding of economic behaviour and played a crucial role in the development of the field.

The ceremony for the conferment of higher degrees will also take place. This year, more than 2,240 students will graduate from the doctoral, master’s, and postgraduate diploma programmes across UM’s Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Faculty of Business Administration, Faculty of Education, Faculty of Health Sciences, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Science and Technology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Applied Physics and Materials Engineering, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, Institute of Collaborative Innovation, and Institute of Microelectronics.

To read the news on UM’s official website, please visit the following link:
https://www.um.edu.mo/news-and-press-releases/press-release/detail/62643/