Prof. Andrew Cooper visited the School of Chemical Engineering and Technology

On October 27, 2016, Prof. Andrew Cooper, member of the Royal Society and Director of the Material Center of the University of Liverpool, visited the School of Chemical Engineering and Technology (SCET). Prof. Wang Zhi, the party secretary of SCET, and Prof. Xia Shuqian, vice dean of SCET, met with Andrew Cooper. They welcomed the delegation and introduced the characteristics and advantages of SCET in discipline construction, education and teaching, scientific research and personnel training. Both sides hope to enhance understanding, in molecular science, new materials research and seek more cooperation opportunities in future.

During the visit, Prof. Cooper gave a wonderful presentation entitled "Step-change Functional Material Discovery" for the teachers and students. Prof. Cooper elaborated the development of porous liquid research from the aspects of computer design, robot synthesis, automatic detection and so on. At the same time, Prof. Cooper also proposed the concept of material design engine, that is, new algorithms, robotics and artificial intelligence to synthesize innovative materials. Prof. Cooper also introduced the University of Liverpool has integrated production and research characteristics of the material innovation factory work. At the end of the presentation, Prof. Cooper was asked about how to realize the synthesis of computer intelligence and the feasibility of direct synthesis of materials. Prof. Cooper won the applause from the teachers and students with humorous and professional answers.

Andrew Cooper is a Fellow of the Royal Society, Director of the Materials Center at the University of Liverpool, and Academic Director of the Materials Innovation Facility. He is a leader in materials research in the United Kingdom and he is listed by Thomson Reuters as one of the "100 Outstanding Materials Researchers in the World" and "the 100 Most Outstanding Chemists in the World". He has published more than 180 articles in academic journals, Including Science, Nature and its series. He led the establishment of joint labs with Fortune 500 companies such as Unilever, BP and Exxon, and led the University of Liverpool Materials Center and Materials Innovation Factory (MIF), he won the Royal Society Wolfson Research Award and other high academic prestige awards.