UBC Okanagan (UBCO) School of Engineering Professor Dr. Zheng Liu has been recognized with a significant international honour that reflects his extraordinary impact in research, industry engagement and leadership in the field.
A Career-Defining Honour from SPIE
Dr. Liu is a recipient of the Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) Lifetime Achievement Award from SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics. The award recognizes sustained excellence, leadership, and transformative contributions to smart structures and non-destructive evaluation over the course of a distinguished career. It is one of the field’s most prestigious distinctions.
The award was presented in March at the SPIE Smart Structures + NDE Conference in Vancouver—an especially fitting setting to honour Dr. Liu’s long-standing influence on both the research community and the next generation of engineers in Canada.
“I am deeply honored to receive this recognition from SPIE,” said Dr. Liu. “This award reflects the collective efforts of the many talented students, colleagues, and industry partners I’ve worked with over the years. As the field evolves from traditional inspection to AI-driven digital twins, I hope this recognition inspires the next generation of engineers to advance safer, more reliable non-destructive evaluation systems.”
“This is a truly career-defining moment,” said UBCO School of Engineering Director Dr. Will Hughes. On behalf of the School of Engineering, congratulations to Dr. Zheng Liu on this well-deserved lifetime achievement award which recognizes not just the volume of his contributions, but their lasting impact. We are incredibly proud to count Zheng as a colleague and a leader in our School. His work has shaped the field, strengthened our research culture and inspired countless students and colleagues along the way.”
Strengthening Global Industry Partnerships
Complementing this lifetime recognition, Dr. Liu has also been selected to participate in the 2026 Boeing Visiting Professor Program, a highly competitive initiative that brings together leading academics from around the world to collaborate directly with industry.
Through the program, Dr. Liu will spend time in Seattle engaging with Boeing executives, technical leaders, and research teams, including a focused learning pathway with Boeing’s Visualization and Visual Analytics in Engineering group. The experience will support knowledge exchange, deepen industry-academic collaboration, and open new pathways for applied research and innovation.
This appointment reflects Dr. Liu’s international standing and the relevance of his expertise to real-world engineering challenges, while also strengthening UBC Okanagan’s connections within the global aerospace and advanced manufacturing ecosystem.
“The Boeing Visiting Professor Program is an exceptional opportunity to bridge academic research with real-world industrial challenges,” said Dr. Liu. “Working with Boeing’s Visualization and Visual Analytics teams aligns perfectly with my research in digital twins and intelligent inspection systems. I look forward to fostering collaborations that create lasting impact for both UBC Okanagan and Boeing’s innovation efforts.”