Henry T. Yang

Henry Tzu-Yow Yang (; born November 29, 1940) is an American mechanical engineer who was the 5th chancellor of the University of California, Santa Barbara from 1994 to 2025. With more than 31 years in office, he is the longest-serving chancellor in the history of the University of California system. He is currently a distinguished professor of mechanical engineering at the UC Santa Barbara College of Engineering.

Early life and education Yang was born in Chongqing, China, on November 29, 1940. He has four siblings. In 1949, his family moved from mainland China to Taiwan, where his father served in the Republic of China Air Force. His doctoral dissertation was titled A finite element formulation for stability analysis of doubly curved thinshell structures (1969). His doctoral advisor was Richard H. Gallagher.

Career Scientific research Throughout his career, Yang has conducted extensive research in the fields of mechanical, aerospace, civil, and structural engineering. He is known for his work on the finite element method for plates and shells, as well as his contributions to transonic computational aeroelasticity, including aircraft design and flutter control. His research has also addressed earthquake engineering, particularly in improving the seismic design of power plants. In addition, he has studied structural sensing and control under seismic and wind loads, and has contributed to the early investigation of meso-scale plasticity and deformation processes. His book, Finite Element Analysis, has been widely adopted as an engineering textbook in many American universities and has been translated into Chinese and Japanese.

Purdue University Regarded as an expert in aerospace structures, structural dynamics, transonic aeroelasticity, wind and earthquake structural engineering, intelligent manufacturing systems, and finite elements, He first joined the faculty as an assistant professor in 1969, before being elevated to the head of the Purdue University School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, which he served for five years from 1980 to 1984. Yang was named the dean of the Purdue University College of Engineering on July 1, 1984, a post he served for 10 years until his departure for UC Santa Barbara in 1994. In addition, he received the university-level Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award from Purdue University 12 times.

UC Santa Barbara After a seven-month search of over 150 applicants, Yang was named the fifth chancellor of the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) in March 1994. He began to serve as the university's chancellor on June 23, 1994.

Yang was reported to have personally invited and recruited many researchers he believed possessed long-term scientific potential, promising them sufficient funding, new research facilities, and research teams, to improve UCSB's academic research capabilities and influence. Within the first 12 years of Yang's chancellorship, five UCSB scholars personally invited and recruited by Yang to the university faculty won Nobel Prizes between 1998 and 2004. In 1997, Yang flew to New Jersey and persuaded David Gross to join the UCSB faculty, agreeing to meet all four of Gross's conditions for his physics research; Gross later received the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics. Yang spent five years to recruit the well-known cognitive neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga to UCSB, with promises in funding and research facilities.

Yang has guided 57 Ph.D. and 23 M.S. recipients. In addition to his role as chancellor, he is also a professor of mechanical engineering at UC Santa Barbara. He continues to teach an undergraduate engineering course each year. He currently supervises three Ph.D. students with support from National Science Foundation grants. He is also a co-principal investigator for the Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) program of the University of California.

On August 14, 2024, Yang announced that he would step down as the university's chancellor at the end of the 2024–2025 academic year, while continuing to serve as a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the UC Santa Barbara College of Engineering. With more than 31 years in office, Yang is the longest-serving chancellor in the history of the University of California.

Yang currently serves on the President's Committee for the National Medal of Science, being appointed originally by George W. Bush in 2009 and again by Barack Obama in 2011. He was named as chairman of the board for the Thirty Meter Telescope project in 2007 and still holds the position. He also currently serves on the board of directors of The Kavli Foundation.

Awards and honors Yang was elected as a member of multiple learned societies, including:

Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics since 1985 Academician of the Academia Sinica of Taiwan since 1992 Fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education since 1993

Yang received honorary doctorates from multiple universities worldwide, including:

Purdue University (1996) Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (2002) National Taiwan University (2004) City University of Hong Kong (2005) Chinese University of Hong Kong (2008) West Virginia University (2011) Hong Kong Polytechnic University (2011)

Yang received multiple awards and honors from academic societies, most notably including:

Centennial Medal (1993) from the American Society for Engineering Education Structures, Structural Dynamics, & Materials Award (2008) from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Arthur M. Bueche Award (2016) from the National Academy of Engineering

Personal life Henry Yang married Dilling Yang. Maria Chiu-Yee Yang, their daughter, serves as a professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Henry Yang's brother, Ralph Tzu-Bow Yang, was a professor emeritus at the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan College of Engineering.