In memory of Prof. Hui-Hui Dai

Abstract

This special issue of Mathematics and Mechanics of Solids is dedicated to the memory of Professor Hui-Hui Dai who passed away on 5 January 2021 in Hong Kong. Hui-Hui was born on 24 March 1964 in Anhui Province, China. He grew up in Ming Guang, a small town in Jia Shan County, where he attended Ming Guang Primary School and Ming Guang No 1 High School. He was the top scorer in the county in the national university entrance examination at the young age of 16. The years around 1980 were an exciting period in which China had just opened up to the outside world, and universities had an electric atmosphere about science and knowledge after reopening following a 10-year close-down. Hui-Hui must have really enjoyed his studies like his peers. He obtained his BSc from the Department of Mechanics, Zhejiang University, in 1984 and entered Dalian University of Science and Technology in 1984 as an MSc student. Two years into his MSc study, he was awarded a competitive KC Wong Scholarship to study in the United Kingdom. Supervised by Professor Alan Jeffrey in the Department of Engineering Mathematics, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, he obtained his PhD in 1990. After spending just over a year in the University of Western Ontario as a postdoctoral research fellow, he spent another 3 years in the University of Manitoba. He went there as postdoctoral research fellow and was later offered a tenure-tracked position as an Assistant Professor. He moved to the