In October 2025, the Student Track of the 2025 China Youth Science and Technology Innovation “Open Bidding for Selecting the Best Candidates” Challenge Match—co-hosted by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, the China Association for Science and Technology, the Ministry of Education, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the All-China Students’ Federation—was held in Changping District, Beijing. A total of 240 works from 112 universities participated, involving more than 500 participants. Following eligibility review, preliminary evaluation, and the final challenge round, 13 Challenge Champions, 32 Special Prizes, 47 First Prizes, 52 Second Prizes, 60 Third Prizes, and 19 Merit Prizes were awarded.

Guided by Yao Yonggang, an ICARE Chinese supervisor from the School of Materials Science and Engineering, ICARE students Zhao Jiale and Liao Xuan completed the work “Lignin-Derived High-Performance Hard Carbon Based on Joule Heating and Machine Learning,” winning a National Third Prize.
The research team integrated two major technical approaches—“precision carbonization via transient Joule heating” and “full-process AI optimization”—to efficiently convert industrial lignin into high-performance hard carbon. This achievement contributed to their recognition with the National Third-Class Award for the project “Key Technology R&D and Industrial Application of High-Value Comprehensive Utilization of Industrial Lignin.”