The Department of Physics at HKUST proudly announces that alumnus Dr. Yin Wang, who earned his PhD in 2018 under the supervision of Professor Penger Tong, has been awarded the 2025 John Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research by the American Physical Society. Dr. Wang, currently a Staff Research Physicist at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) — a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory managed by Princeton University, achieved a significant milestone by successfully confirming the magnetorotational instability (MRI) in a laboratory setting using liquid-metal flows. The MRI is widely believed to be the driving mechanism behind the evolution of accretion disks, which destabilize orbiting material and cause it to spiral inward toward central objects such as black holes or young stars. This groundbreaking work made by Dr. Wang and coworkers at PPPL not only validates a long-hypothesized theory but also enhances our understanding of astrophysical phenomena such as black hole accretion and star formation. Dr. Wang credits his rigorous training at HKUST for shaping his scientific approach and contributing to his research success. Congratulations to Dr. Wang for this remarkable achievement!