Illinois Tech Engineering Professor Qing-Chang Zhong Elected as AAAS Fellow

CHICAGO—Illinois Tech Max McGraw Endowed Chair of Energy and Power Engineering and Management Qing-Chang Zhong has been elected as a 2025 fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for the impact that he has made to academia and industry in advancing autonomous, sustainable, and democratized power systems.

Zhong is being recognized for inventing the synchronized-and-democratized (SYNDEM) architecture by merging synchronization principles in natural sciences and democracy concepts in social sciences and for pioneering virtual synchronous machines (VSM) technologies to revolutionize power systems. 

“I am deeply honored to be elected a fellow of AAAS,” Zhong says. “This recognition affirms the multidisciplinary vision of merging synchronization principles in natural sciences with the concepts of democracy from social sciences to rethink how power systems operate, and of advancing virtual synchronous machines as a foundational pathway toward grid reliability, energy equity, and energy freedom.”

Zhong established the first engineering paradigm for power systems by integrating synchronization principles with the concepts of democracy, effectively bridging natural and social sciences in an integrated engineering framework. Together, the SYNDEM architecture and its enabling VSM established a unified architectural and technological foundation for next-generation resilient power systems through autonomous coordination that emerges directly from local interactions governed by physical laws of synchronization. In contrast to conventional approaches based on communication and centralized control, SYNDEM enables coordination to emerge inherently.

These contributions have reshaped how future power systems are conceived, structured, and operated to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving energy landscape.

One of the world’s largest general scientific societies and the publisher of the journal Science, AAAS has elected fellows since 1874, and AAAS fellows are a distinguished cadre of scientists, engineers, and innovators who are recognized for achievements across disciplines. 

Photo: Qing-Chang Zhong

Illinois Institute of Technology

Based in the global metropolis of Chicago, Illinois Tech was born to liberate the power of collective difference to advance technology and innovation for all. It is the only tech-focused university in the city, and it stands at the crossroads of exploration and invention, advancing the future of Chicago and the world. It offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering, computing, architecture, business, design, science and human sciences, and law. Illinois Tech students are guaranteed access to hands-on experiences, personalized mentorship, and job readiness through the university's one-of-a-kind Elevate program. Its graduates lead the state and much of the nation in economic prosperity. Its faculty and alumni built the Chicago skyline. And every day in the city's living lab, Illinois Tech fuels breakthroughs that change lives. Visit iit.edu.

Armour College of Engineering

Armour College of Engineering has been educating world-class engineers since the university’s founding in 1890. As future engineers who will innovate in the twenty-first century, Armour students learn the principles of the profession and work in an interdisciplinary environment that emphasizes hands-on learning, teamwork, and leadership, all through the lens of our four engineering themes—water, health, energy, and security—that highlight issues vital today and in the future. Armour is home to five departments and nine ABET-accredited undergraduate majors, which provide a wide breadth of exciting programs from which to choose. Illinois Tech alumni have advanced to careers as presidents of companies and professors at major universities—and have become members of the National Academy of Engineering, the highest distinction in the field.

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