Professor You-yuan Zhou is a Chinese Astrophysicist and is presently a professor at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), as well as vice-president of the Academic Committee of USTC.

Professor Zhou is known for his important research work on galaxies and the universe, especially on active galactic nuclei, including the determination of cosmological parameters, the large scale structure of the universe, the structure and emission mechanism of active galactic nuclei and the redshift distribution of quasars.

Educated at Peking University, he worked at the University of Science and Technology of China as the director of the Center for Astrophysics of USTC and has been a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He has received numerous honours and awards, i.e., special member of the China Center of Advanced Science and Technology (1988-1989), member of the Astronomic Academic Committee of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (1993- ), member of the Astronomy Group of the Academic Degree Committee of the State Council of China (1992-1997), Standing Board member of the Chinese Astronomic Society (1998-2002), Outstanding Research Award of the Chinese Science Conference (1978), Natural Science Award of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (1980 and 1990) and the National Education Prize (1993).