HIT Media (Text: Wang Chenyang, Bao Yuequan)
The 12th European Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring (EWSHM) was held in Toulouse from July 7 to 10. Professor Bao Yuequan, a member of the research team led by Academician Li Hui at Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), received the 2026 Person of the Year Award presented by the international journal Structural Health Monitoring(SHM).
The award is presented by SHM and a series of leading international conferences in the field, including the International Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring (IWSHM) and the European Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring (EWSHM).
It recognizes scholars who have made outstanding contributions to structural health monitoring worldwide, honoring achievements in theory, analysis, engineering applications, and education, with particular emphasis placed on significant recent contributions. Only one or two recipients are selected each year from all over the world.
Professor Bao received the award in recognition of his pioneering contributions to mechanics-enhanced machine learning theories and methods for structural health diagnosis, their engineering applications, and his outstanding leadership in organizing international competitions and major academic events in the field.
The certificate of the 2026 SHM Person of the Year Award. [Photo/hit.edu.cn]
Professor Bao is a faculty member at HIT’s School of Civil Engineering and a nationally recognized scholar. His research focuses on data science and engineering for structural health monitoring.
He has led 15 nationally funded research projects, including key projects supported by the Joint Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and projects under the National Key R&D Program of China.
Professor Bao has published 75 SCI-indexed journal papers, including six ESI Highly Cited Papers. His research has been applied in more than 30 major engineering projects, including the Humen Bridge.
His honors include the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award (fifth contributor), the first prize of the Heilongjiang Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award (first contributor), and the first prize of the Science and Technology Award of the Chinese Society for Vibration Engineering (first contributor).
In both 2024 and 2025, he was named to Stanford University’s World’s Top Two Percent Scientists List in the career-long impact category.
Professor Bao serves as a board member of the International Society for Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure (ISHMII). He is also the executive editor of Intelligent Computing for Engineering, and one of the co-initiators of the International Competition on Structural Health Monitoring (IC-SHM).
Professor Bao Yuequan. [Photo/hit.edu.cn]
Edited by: Shang Yankai
Reviewed by: Song Ling, Li Shoubin, Yang Wenyu