The history of the School of Optical and Electronic Information (SOEI) can be traced back to the Optical Instrument Teaching and Research Group and Laser Research Group of the Department of Mechanics 1 established by the Huazhong Institute of Technology (now the Huazhong University of Science and Technology) in 1970. The school started the professional development of laser and optoelectronics earlier in China. In the late 1990s, Professor HuangDexiu of our school wrote to the related sectors of Hubei Province and Wuhan City and offered advice and suggestions, promoting the construction of “Optics Valley of China”. He was known as the initiator of “Optics Valley of China, Wuhan”.
The school is responsible for the construction of “Optical Engineering”, the national key first-level discipline. Since 2018, it has continuously ranked first in the ranking of the best discipline of Optical Engineering in China, and continues to maintain its leading position in the country. In 2017 and 2021, the discipline of “Optical Engineering” was successively selected into the first round and the second round of Double First Class construction disciplines in the country. Huazhong University of Science and Technology plans to build a “first-class discipline group of optoelectronic information” with optical engineering as the mainstay and the proposal has been approved by the Ministry of Education.
The school actively serves the national strategy and regional economic and social development, and plays an important supporting role in the cultivation of optoelectronic information talents and the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in “Optics Valley of China, Wuhan”. After more than half a century of development, the School of Optical and Electronic Information has become a well-known domestic optoelectronic talent training cradle.
Relying on the Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, the School of Optical and Electronic Information has a number of important teaching and scientific research platforms with good research facilities, including the National Engineering Research Center for Laser Processing, the National Engineering Research Center of Next Generation Internet Access-system, the Collaborative Innovation Center for Optoelectronic Technology Supported by the Province and the Ministry, the Wuhan International Joint Laboratory for Optoelectronics, the International Joint Research Center for High Power Lasers, the International Joint Research Center for Photoelectric Conversion and Detection, the Hubei Engineering Technology Research Center for Internet of Things Access, and the Hubei Optoelectronic Testing Service Center.
The School of Optical and Electronic Information has a strong and vigorous faculty team, including 6 winners of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, 6 winners of the National Excellent Young Scientists Fund, 1 winner of the National Famous Teacher Award, 32 other national-level talents (including youths), 12 New Century Excellent Talents of the Ministry of Education, and 26 provincial-level talents, which have built a solid support for talent growth and career development.
The school has an undergraduate major of Optoelectronic Information Science and Engineering, two first-level disciplines -- Optical Engineering and Electronic Science and Technology authorized for doctoral degrees, two second-level disciplines -- Optoelectronic Information Engineering and Physical Electronics authorized for doctoral degrees, and postdoctoral mobile stations in two first-level disciplines -- Optical Engineering and Electronic Science and Technology. The undergraduate major of Optoelectronic Information Science and Engineering was selected into the National Double Ten Thousand Plan in 2019. The school has outstanding undergraduates and graduate students, with over a total of 2,500 full-time students at all levels. A group of outstanding scientists, educators, entrepreneurs and political elites have emerged among the alumni. In 2018, it was awarded the first prize of the National Teaching Achievement Award of Higher Education, and in 2019, it was awarded the title of Advanced Collective in the National Education System.
