Zhai Wanming, Chair Professor, Dean of Faculty of Transportation Engineering and Chairman of Academic Committee of Southwest Jiaotong University, was elected as an international member of National Academy of Engineering 2021 for his contributions to the design and operation of high-speed rail transportation networks on February 9, 2021, EST of United States of America. A total of 129 engineering and technological elites were accorded the highest professional honor throughout the world, including 106 American natives and 23 internationals from China, Germany, France, Britain, Japan, Canada, etc.

Zhai Wanming was admitted to Southwest Jiaotong University in 1981 and completed his undergraduate and postgraduate studies for master and Ph. D. degrees at the University. He has been engaged in teaching and researches at SWJTU ever since then in the field of rail transit, and was elected academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2011. He is the fourth alumni academician of National Academy of Engineering after Mao Yisheng (Class of 1916 and elected in 1982), Lin Tongyan (Class of 1931 and elected in 1967) and Lin Tonghua (Class of 1933 and elected in 1996). As outstanding academic leaders in their respective fields, they carry on the excellent tradition of the University’s talent cultivation and technological innovation in engineering and are internationally acclaimed for their achievements in the development of China’s transportation discipline and railway transit industry.

Professor Zhai also serves as Leader of the Discipline of Transportation Engineering and Dean of Faculty of Transportation Engineering at Southwest Jiaotong University. His NAE membership will exert far-reaching and profound influence on SWJTU’s efforts in its development into a world famous “Double First Class” university.