The 2026 World’s Top 2% Scientists list was recently officially released. The list is jointly published by Professor John P. A. Ioannidis’s team at Stanford University and Elsevier and serves as an important reference for assessing researchers’ academic impact. Among the selected scholars, Professor Zhao Yong of NEU at Qinhuangdao ranked among China’s top 10 in optics, highlighting his exceptional leadership in the field. Professors Wang Qi and Zhang Yanan of NEU’s School of Information Science and Engineering, both core team members, were also named to the list. This talent-cluster effect—where leading scholars set the direction and core faculty advance the work—reflects not only the team’s deep academic foundations but also the university’s remarkable success in building high-caliber research teams. The outstanding performance of multiple faculty members on this list has injected strong momentum into the university’s continued exploration of the frontiers of optics, and it will further promote the high‑quality and sustainable development of the university’s optical engineering discipline.

The NEU’s Qinhuangdao branch will further strengthen optical engineering as a distinctive discipline, enhance its capacity for original innovation, accelerate breakthroughs in key optoelectronic sensing technologies and the translation of research outcomes, and continuously expand the discipline’s influence.