NEWS & EVENTS

Keynote Speakers

 

Fuyuan Wu (Institute of Geology and Geophysics, CAS)	Title: Lunar Sample Studies: The Chang'e Era Biography: Prof. Fuyuan Wu earned his B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from Changchun College of Geology. His research focuses on granite petrogenesis and continental dynamics. He has achieved systematic and innovative results in granite classification, regional geological processes, and mechanisms of continental crustal growth. He has organized studies of Chang'e lunar samples and the Tianwen-1 mission series, significantly advancing the establishment and development of planetary science in China. He has published over 400 papers, which have received more than 80,000 citations. He was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of America in 2012, and a Fellow of both the Geochemical Society and the European Association of Geochemistry in 2018. He received the TWAS Prize in Earth Sciences in 2011, the State Natural Science Award (Second Class) twice (in 2011 and 2019), and was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2015.
Yi-Gang Xu (Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, CAS)	Title: New findings from Chang'e-6 Samples Biography: Prof. Yi-Gang Xu is a research professor at the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (GIGCAS). After his graduation from University of Paris 7 and Postdoctoral Research at the Royal Holloway University of London, Prof. Xu joined GIGCAS in 1996 and is now the Group Leader of Deep Earth Exploration and Simulation. Prof. Xu is an expert on igneous petrology and geochemistry, and made contributions to mantle dynamics and magma genesis, in particular on the destruction of North China Craton, formation and evolution of Emeishan and Tarim large igneous provinces, nature and dynamics of the Big Mantle wedge in east Asia. Recently, Prof. Xu leads a young team at GIGCAS analyzing Chang’e-mission returned samples with focus on the genesis of young volcanism on Moon and the lunar evolution. Prof. Xu is the director of Lunar Sample Expert Committee, and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
James W. Head (Brown University)	Title: Young Volcanism on the Moon Biography: Prof. James W. Head is the Louis and Elizabeth Scherck Distinguished Professor (Research) in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Brown University. He was first employed in NASA’s Apollo Lunar Exploration Program (landing sites selection, Astronaut training, mission planning/operations, and in analyzing returned samples).  His research centers on the study of geological processes that form and modify surfaces/crusts/lithospheres of Earth and other planetary bodies, how these processes vary with time, and how such processes interact to produce their historical geological records. His research focuses on volcanism, tectonism and glaciation, with field studies on active volcanoes (Hawaii/Mount St. Helens), seafloor volcanoes (two deep-sea submersible dives), and five field seasons in Antarctica, one in the Arctic. He has been involved in over twenty NASA and international space missions, and is currently engaged in missions to Mercury, Venus, Moon and Mars. He involves his students in all international projects, missions and meetings.
William McDonough (Tohoku University/University of Maryland)	Title: Laser Ablation Sampling with Low-Power Plasma: A LA-MIP-MS Instrument for Spaceflight Biography: William F. McDonough is a research professor at Tohoku University and emeritus professor at the University of Maryland. He uses chemistry and physics to study the Earth and terrestrial planets to reveal their composition and the processes involved in their formation and evolution. His expertise includes analytical instrumentation development and applications, and neutrino geophysics, detecting and interpreting the Earth’s geoneutrino (electron antineutrino) flux. Together with his students, he has produced chemical and isotopic data that constrain geological and cosmochemical processes. Using laser ablation systems and plasma mass spectrometers for the analyses of samples, he and his team have documented the timing and processes involved in the various differentiation processes that have led to the formation of the core, mantle, and crusts of the terrestrial planets. He is excited about the prospect of future missions conducting chemical and isotopic analyses on the Moon and Mars with the instrument that he and his team are currently developing and testing at NASA.
Mahesh Anand (The Open University, UK)	Title: Volatiles on the Moon Biography: Mahesh Anand is a Professor of Planetary Science and Exploration and Director of Research at School of Physical Sciences, The Open University. Prof. Anand’s research focusses on understanding the formation/evolution of planetary bodies in the Solar System through analysis of samples from the Earth, Moon, Mars and asteroids. His recent research on Apollo samples on the topic of “Water in the Moon” has seen training and mentoring of PhD students and postdocs, many of whom have secured academic positions at prestigious universities around the world. Prof. Anand is also a member of multiple international consortia on research topics involving “Origin and evolution of volatiles in the inner Solar System”. Prof. Anand chairs the UK-node for the NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) and is the investigation-lead for light element volatiles of ESA’s PROSPECT payload to be launched on a NASA CLPS mission to the Moon in 2027.
Alexander Nemchin (Nanjing University)	Title: U-Pb isotope systems in lunar samples Biography: Prof. Alexander Nemchin graduated from St Petersburg State University in 1984 and worked at the Precambrian Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He completed his PhD at Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia, in 1996, studying Precambrian rocks of the Yilgarn Craton. He continued working at the university as a professor, investigating the geochemistry and isotope systematics of the oldest terrestrial rocks and minerals. This work led to the increasing inclusion of studies of extraterrestrial samples into his research, focusing on the chemistry and chronology of lunar and martian samples. Since June 2025, he is working as a professor at Nanjing University.
Menghua Zhu (Macau University of Science and Technology)	Title: Early Bombardments of the Moon Biography: Prof. Meng-Hua Zhu is a Professor at the Space Science Institute, State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences, Macau University of Science and Technology. Prof. Zhu obtained his PhD degree in Computer Science from Macau University of Science and Technology in 2010. Prof. Zhu’s research includes: 1) impact effects in the Solar System from observations, numerical simulations, and laboratory impact experiments; 2) late accretion history of terrestrial planets; 3) lunar and planetary remote sensing observation (x/gamma-ray, neutron, hyper-spectroscopy). As a participant scientist, Prof. Zhu fully joined the China’s Chang’E missions to the Moon and Tianwen-1 mission to Mars. Asteroid 6283 1980VX1 is named as Menghuazhu.
Yang Li (Institute of Geochemistry, CAS)	Title: Redox Processes on the Lunar Surface and Key Mineralogical Evidence Biography: Prof. Yang Li is a professor from Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is the executive deputy director of the Center for Lunar and Planetary Sciences, and an advanced worker of Guizhou Province. Prof. Li serves as a member of the Scientific Research Expert Committee for the Chang'e-7 mission, a member of the Expert Committee for Scientific Research and Application Systems of the Manned Lunar Exploration Program, and a member of the National Technical Committee for Standardization. Dedicated to the study of the formation and spatiotemporal evolution of planetary regolith, Prof. Li has made significant breakthroughs in the analysis of returned lunar samples, particularly in the field of multi-scale redox processes on the lunar surface. He has published over 70 SCI-indexed academic papers, including more than 40 as first author or corresponding author in high-impact journals such as Nature Communications (3), Science Advances (3), and Nature Astronomy (1).

We welcome lunar scientists globally to attend this International Lunar Sample Research Symposium and to celebrate the recent discoveries relating to lunar samples!