On November 21, the Chinese Academy of Engineering announced the list of newly elected academicians for 2025. Prof. Youjun Zhang from the Institute of Vegetables and Flowers of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences has been elected as one of the academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Prof. Youjun Zhang was born in Anxiang, Hunan Province, in 1968. After obtaining his Ph.D. from China Agricultural University in 1996, he joined the Institute of Vegetables and Flowers of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. From 1999 to 2001, he conducted postdoctoral research at Kyoto University in Japan. He was appointed as a professor in 2005. Since 2014, he has served successively as Director of the Department of Plant Protection, Deputy Director, and Director of the Institute of Vegetables and Flowers.

Prof. Youjun Zhang has long been engaged in research on the prevention and control technologies of major vegetable pests, making systematic and innovative contributions to the management of major vegetable pests. He was first reveal the biological characteristics, occurrence patterns, and disaster mechanisms of the "super pest" Bemisia tabaci, and developed an integrated pest management system. His research on "Study and Integrated Management of the Major Invasive Pest, Bemisia tabaci" received the Second Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award in 2008 (as the first recipient). He tackled the persistent issue of "toxic leeks" caused by Bradysia odoriphaga, developing a groundbreaking "solarization and high-temperature mulching" technology for its control. The "Innovation and Application of Green Control Technologies for Major Vegetable Pest, Bradysia odoriphaga" earned him the Second Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award in 2019 (as the first recipient). He also deciphered the genetic regulatory mechanisms of insecticide resistance in Plutella xylostella, providing new targets for resistance management. The sustainable control technology system he developed for open-field vegetable pests, primarily targeting P. xylostella, effectively reduced pesticide use by over 50%, earning him the Second Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award in 2009 and 2015 (as the second and fifth recipient, respectively).

He has published more than 200 SCI papers in journals such as Cell, PNAS, Nature Communications, and Science Advances, etc. as corresponding author, with an H-index of 58. He has been recognized as a Highly Cited Chinese Researcher for five consecutive years. His research findings have been selected as China's Top 10 Scientific Advances, China's Top 10 Agricultural Scientific Advances, and the Impact Award of the International Society for Invertebrate Pathology.

He has received numerous honors, including the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, the National Fund for Innovative Research Groups, the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress, the National Award for Innovation and Dedication, and the Chinese Agricultural Talent Award. He also holds several positions, including Vice Chairman of the Chinese Society for Horticultural Science, Vice Chairman of the Chinese Society of Plant Protection, Director of the Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Horticultural Crops under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Editor-in-Chief of Horticultural Plant Journal and Acta Horticulturae Sinica, and Associate Editor of Entomologia Generalis and Pest Management Science.