On February 9, 2022, the Ministry of Education announced the list of the second batch of “National Huang Danian-style Faculty Team” in colleges and universities. The “Nanomaterial Science Teacher Team” of CNST&FUNSOM led by Prof. Shuit-Tong Lee was awarded this prestigious honor, marking another breakthrough in faculty team building of national excellence. It is also the first time Soochow University has won the prize. A total of 200 teams from across the country were selected, including 21 teams from Jiangsu Province. The head of the winning teams are leading scientists and scholars from various fields and industries.
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The award was established to honor the contributions of the renowned geophysicist Huang Danian and praise university faculty teams of the same merits. The late geophysicist scaled his field’s heights in Britain before returning to China to aid in his country’s development. In 2009, upon his motherland’s calling, Huang quit his job in the UK and returned home without hesitation. In the following seven years, Huang had spared no effort to work day and night until the last day of his life. Through Huang and his team’s efforts, China has narrowed the gap with developed countries in obtaining accurate data on deep-Earth exploration. Huang’s patriotism, professional dedication, and his faithful fulfillment of duties has made him a role model that university teachers as well as researchers look up to for inspiration.
Prof. Shuit-Tong Lee tutoring students
The CNST&FUNSOM “Nanomaterials Science Teacher Team” consists of 27 faculty members. Prof. Shuit-Tong Lee, the head of the team, member of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and fellow of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS), is a world-famous scientist in the field of materials science and engineering. In 1994, he gave up the favorable opportunities and resources in the United States, returned to his motherland and joined the City University of Hong Kong. In 2008, Prof. Lee joined Soochow University and established the Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials (FUNSOM), to preside over the construction of the “Material Science and Engineering” discipline of the university. In 2010, College of Nano Science and Technology (CNST) was set up on the basis of FUNSOM, which became the first college in China centered on the Nano Materials and Engineering major. In 2011, CNST was recognized as one of the first “National Pilot Colleges”.
Over the years, CNST&FUNSOM has been recruiting talents from all over the world as well as nurturing talents in-service.
CNST&FUNSOM has recruited:
3 winners of the National Key Talent Plan
15 winners of the National Key Youth Talent Plan
Honors & titles CNST&FUNSOM members earned during employment:
1 Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
1 Foreign Academician of the European Academy of Sciences
1 Fellow of the Chinese Chemical Society
1 Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE)
4 Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK
13 (person-times) National Key Talent Program winners
19 (person-times) National Key Young Talent Program winners
51 (person-times) Global Highly Cited Researchers (HCRs)
Wu Qingwen, Deputy Secretary of Suzhou Municipal Party Committee and Acting Mayor visited CNST&FUNSOM
to congratulate Prof. Chi Lifeng on her being elected asAcademician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
(From left to right: Jiang Yong, Chi Lifeng, Wu Qingwen, Shuit-Tong Lee)
Under the leadership of Prof. Lee, the team take the responsibility of cultivating future talents and rejuvenating the country through science and education. All faculty members teach and serve as undergraduate supervisors. The college has initiated a “three integrations” training modal (teaching-research integration, discipline integration, home-abroad integration), which won the Grand Prize of Jiangsu Province Teaching Achievement Award and the Second Prize of National Teaching Achievement Award. It has also established an Integrated Undergraduate-Master-Doctoral Program, allowing outstanding students to get a doctor’s degree in 8 years at the shortest.
CNST&FUNSOM students competing in national contests
Prof. Lee believes that true excellence lies in one’s contributions to national rejuvenation. Therefore, keeping eyes on the frontier of science and technology and with national strategic needs in our mind, the team strives to serve the country through scientific research and innovation. To date, the teacher team has achieved a number of world-leading research outcomes, which effectively promote the development of emerging industries, facilitating regional industrial output that value tens of billions of yuan.
Edited by Wu Sicong
Translated by Wang Jin