Prof. Yaohe Zhou，born in May 1927, is the renowned scientist on physical metallurgy and doctoral tutor. He obtained his bachelor's degree from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Tsinghua University in 1950 and Ph.D. degree from the Department of Metallurgy at Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys in Soviet Union in 1957, and then entered the Northwestern Polytechnical University as a teacher. He was elected as the Chairman of China Foundry Association(CFA) in 1988, the academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1991 and the President of Executive Committee of International Committee of Foundry Technical Associations (CIATF) in 1997.
As the academic leader of the State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing and the honorary chairman of CFA, Pro.Zhou has made great achievements in the solidification theory and foundry fields, winning a National Science and Technology Progress Award and a Invention Award by the State, 15 awards by Ministries, and publishing more than 300 academic papers at home and abroad. Among 39 doctorial students and 27 master students supervised by him, 6 has got the German Humboldt research fund, 8 has been awarded national, provincial or ministerial advanced individuals. He himself has been granted National Excellent Teaching Achievement Award for his innovative teaching method, and entitled the honors such as National Model Worker, National Outstanding Communist Party Member. In 1991, he was awarded the Aviation Golden Prize - the highest award in aviation industry, listing one of the ten experts who has such a honor. At the same year, he was elected as one of ten outstanding scientists who had made significant contributions to the country in the past 55 years and won the Science and Technology Progress Award.