【In-depth investigation·Exploring the strategy of strengthening the country with talents in the new era·Three questions about basic research talents①】
Editor's note
Major scientific breakthroughs are often conceived in basic scientific research, which provides a source of living water for original innovation.
To consolidate the cornerstone of building a world power in science and technology, it is essential to cultivate first-class basic research talents.
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized at the Central Talent Work Conference that it is necessary to follow the path of self-cultivation of talents. Colleges and universities, especially "double first-rate" universities, must play their role as the main force in cultivating basic research talents, plan the training of basic disciplines in an all-round way, and build a batch of foundations. Disciplinary training base to cultivate high-level compound talents.
To implement the spirit of the important instructions of the general secretary, we must answer and solve some key issues in cultivating basic research talents.
Today, we launched the second series of "Three Questions about Basic Research Talents", focusing on the three most important and prominent links in the training of basic research talents—selection and cultivation, assessment and incentives, achievement output and transformation, and continued in-depth discussions .
This summer, Wu Jingtai, a perfect candidate for the Hainan College Entrance Examination, was admitted to Weiyang Academy through the Tsinghua University Strong Foundation Program. His majors are basic mathematics and microelectronics science and engineering.
Wu Jingtai said: "At present, the country urgently needs talents in the chip direction. To apply for the strong base plan, we hope that we can make our own contributions to the country in the future."
National development and social progress require more talents like Wu Jingtai who are willing to devote themselves to basic scientific research.
Colleges and universities are the frontiers of basic scientific research, as well as the main institutions for selecting and cultivating basic scientific research talents.
"Qian Xuesen's question" is still in my ears. How can we achieve a breakthrough in talent training?
How many hurdles need to be cleared for the "right people" to fall in love with basic scientific research?
1 Initial selection of talents, with interest and love as the boat
"I have been curious about the vast universe since I was a child, and hope that one day I can turn science fiction into reality."
"I hope that in the future, the rocket I participated in the design will fly into space, so that the stars can witness the miracle that belongs to our generation."
A special class meeting is being held in classroom B609, the main building of the second campus of Harbin Institute of Technology. A pair of eager eyes projected the students' original intention to join the kindness class.
The kindness class, "to serve as the great good for the great rejuvenation mission of the Chinese nation, and to inspire the great righteousness of taking the responsibility of pursuing excellence."
According to Xie Weihua, the executive head of the first kindness class, the kindness class relies on the national "Basic Discipline Top Student Training Program 2.0" mechanics top student training base, jointly initiated by Du Shanyi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and Han Jicai, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
"When Academician Du Shanyi was studying, he entered the scientific research hall under the leadership of the head of the department, Qian Xuesen. Therefore, Academician Du regarded answering the question of Qian Xuesen as an inescapable responsibility." Xie Weihua said.
"My dream is to become the chief engineer of aerospace." Yu Mingye, a freshman of the kindness class this year, has a clear goal. "You can meet many academicians and masters in the kindness class, and you can enter the research group as soon as possible, walk into the laboratory, and feel the scientific research environment. "
After the beginning of the semester, the kindness class will conduct a second selection for all students of science and engineering majors in the school.
In order to choose the most suitable interview from a large number of outstanding students, the teachers have done a lot of meticulous work, taking the strong foundation plan and the students of Yingcai College as the main body, taking into account the students' specialties, competition awards, college entrance examination results and other factors to select More than 40 students entered the interview.
During the interview, 17 experts, professors and judges were in charge and strictly checked.
How can I stand out in an interview?
Yu Mingye's feeling is: to clearly describe his scientific research dreams and stage goals, and demonstrate the effect of his knowledge and skills in achieving the goals.
When completing the freshman year project, Yu Mingye learned how to use some industrial software. He believes that this can help him adapt to the learning and research of the kindness class more quickly.
"Through the student's self-description during the interview, we can see his interest in the future professional direction, degree of love, and desire to learn. We also pay attention to the student's attitude towards setbacks. If the student only gets high scores by brushing the questions, he will solve it. The actual ability for challenging problems may not be enough." Xie Weihua said. On the contrary, some students not only have outstanding academic performance, but also learned the C language, made model aircraft, participated in extracurricular competitions, etc. before going to university. Such students do something. Strong ability, strong learning ability, and passion for learning, will be considered.
In addition to students with outstanding talents, there are some students who have strong overall strength and study hard and hard. Although they are not top-notch in all aspects, they have no obvious shortcomings. They will be paid more attention in the selection of charity classes.
After strict assessment, 22 students finally won out of more than 300 undergraduate freshmen and entered the charity class.
With such outstanding talents, can basic research keep their hearts?
Xie Weihua believes that although the disciplines of the kindness class are not as popular as artificial intelligence and computer majors, it provides three majors to choose from in composite materials and engineering, engineering mechanics, and aircraft design and engineering. , Aerospace science and technology are first-class disciplines in the country, and they are all urgently needed for the development of the country. For students who truly have scientific research ideals, they are irreplaceable.
The kindness class offers special courses such as "Aerospace Science and Technology Innovation Challenge Research" and "Engineering Science Methodology"; more than 100 tutors are provided to provide students with scientific research direction guidance, independent selection of funds, expert training, and practical training; 50 or 60 academic sessions Cutting-edge reports open up a broader scientific research horizon for students...
Rich courses and cross-disciplinary knowledge made Yu Mingye aware of the importance of knowledge management.
He has set out to sort out and classify the knowledge he usually learns. "When I get to the upper grades, the amount of knowledge is getting bigger and bigger. Knowledge management can help me plan my study as much as possible."
2 Respect the characteristics of the discipline and take the development of personality as the path
At the end of June this year, at the awarding ceremony of the 2021 student honor certificate of the "Tsinghua Academy Talent Training Pilot Program" (referred to as the "School Program"), Bu Chenjing, a student from the math class of the 2017 Academy Program, spoke as a student representative: "Thank you for this project. It shaped me in all aspects and laid a solid foundation for me to continue to run on the road of mathematics."
When students with dreams enter the university threshold, how can the school provide a stage for them to realize their dreams?
In 2009, Tsinghua University launched a school program to explore the cultivation of top-notch innovative talents in basic subjects such as mathematics, science, chemistry, biology, computer and mechanics, aiming to inspire outstanding students with the most academic interest and potential to devote themselves to basic research.
At present, the school plans to have a total of 8 subjects including Mathematics Class, Ye Qisun Physics Class, Chemistry Class, Life Science Class, Computer Science Experimental Class, Qian Xuesen Mechanics Class, Artificial Intelligence Class, World Literature and Culture Experimental Class, Philosophy Class, and Quantum Information Class There are more than 700 students in 10 classes.
“Cultivating future masters with current masters is one of the characteristics of the school class. The school fully respects the academic philosophy and style of the chief professor. Masters such as Qiu Chengtong, Yao Qizhi, Zhu Bangfen, and Zheng Quanshui lead the design of various classes and take the lead in optimizing the curriculum system. , Set up professional courses, and fully communicate with students. Each chief professor has invested heavily in the school class and taught each other.” Su Peng, director of the Management Center of Tsinghua University College, witnessed the training process of the school class, she said, "School class Select students with academic ideals and research potential to enter the class, fully respect the characteristics of the subject and the personality of teachers and students, create a good academic atmosphere, and help students discover their academic interests."
For example, the physics class adopts a small-class seminar class, and each student is fully expressed; the "Ye Qisun Academic Salon" is an independent academic exchange activity carried out by students, and active learning, active exploration, and active discussion have become a common practice.
As Zhu Bangfen, the chief professor of Ye Qisun's physics class, said: "Outstanding talents are not taught in the classroom, but to create a good environment to make it easier for gifted children to "emerge"."
According to the relevant person in charge of the school, after 12 years of reform and innovation, the school plans to respond to "Qian Xuesen’s question" as a "leader", nurturing a group of top-notch students in basic disciplines dedicated to climbing the peak of science, and radiating to lead the school with talent training experience .
For the colleges established for the strong foundation plan, the teaching committees of the colleges take the lead in formulating student training programs and curriculum systems.
The college is student-centered, appoints the most suitable teachers to teach related general education courses and professional core courses, and explores a full-coverage tutor system, according to the ratio of 1:5 to arrange tutors. There are currently 439 teachers from the whole school serving as college tutors.
Today, the school plan is being upgraded from version 1.0 to version 2.0. Tsinghua is trying to train undergraduates and extend the accumulated experience to a wider range including the strong foundation plan academy system.
As the first student of Weiyang College, Yu Shihao, a 2020 undergraduate of Tsinghua University, knows that he shoulders the mission of "breaking the wall" for the country in the high-tech field.
Although he is an "out-and-out man in science and engineering", he has taken many general courses of interest, such as "Chinese Historical Geography", "French", and "Political Science Foundation"... The pressure on his studies has increased, but he Think it's worth it.
"We will begin to write the history of Wei Young." Under the guidance of this sense of mission, Yu Shihao hopes to "find his own position, realize his value, and work hard to make the environment better."
3 Interdisciplinary training, seeking compound innovative talents
Bao Yuqiao, a senior student of the School of Integrated Circuits, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, has been recommended to study for a master's degree this year. He has a clear understanding of his major: "The undergraduate study mainly focuses on professional knowledge such as integrated circuits and microelectronics. At this stage, we must open our horizons and focus on the interdisciplinary and integration of multiple disciplines in order to complete the design of the entire integrated circuit."
Entering the postgraduate stage, Bao Yuqiao will have more choices.
In order to better cultivate top basic research talents, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics has carried out interdisciplinary collaborative training in five key disciplines of the school since 2013. Students participating in collaborative training can choose a sub-discipline in addition to the main subject. The assistant tutor guides the students together.
Starting in 2021, the school will open the scope of collaborative training to all disciplines in the school.
This year, a total of 96 graduate students participated in the interdisciplinary collaborative training project.
"Interdisciplinary or interdisciplinary is an important direction of scientific and technological innovation, and it is also the easiest way to produce scientific and technological achievements. We are consciously cultivating high-level talents with a'complex knowledge structure, integrated innovation ability, and large-scale engineering perspective'. Some of the students have taken up positions in national key fields, and some have continued to train interdisciplinary talents in universities." Said Zheng Xiangming, deputy dean of the Graduate School of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Starting in 2020, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics will further promote the implementation of the "Pilot Plan" for the cultivation of top-notch innovative talents for graduate students.
The school selects students who are interested in deepening the industry from the junior doctoral students, and provides broad space and more resources for student development by setting up "interdisciplinary and cross-industry mentor team joint guidance" and "interdisciplinary innovation fund projects".
Guo Jiachen, a doctoral student majoring in vehicle application engineering at the Civil Aviation College, is a beneficiary of the pilotage program.
He and his classmates from 3 different faculties freely form a team, and are completing the project of "Key Issues of Aeroengine Combustion and Flow Field and Its Monitoring and Evaluation Technology".
Among them, Guo Jiachen focused on the sensor research of engine troubleshooting, and the other three students were concerned with engine combustion, flow field and evaluation.
At the beginning of enrollment, Guo Jiachen had the consideration of acquiring knowledge across disciplines.
Participating in the pilotage program and teaming up with students from other faculties and departments to study together has achieved a good complement of knowledge. The research points of the four individuals can be clearly and effectively "linked" and implemented.
What makes Guo Jiachen even more happy is that through the training of interdisciplinary projects, he has found several innovative research points worthy of long-term research.
"I want to continue doing research after graduation. Finding these points is very meaningful for future scientific research."
Zheng Xiangming stated that Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics is gradually building a full-process, all-round, and three-dimensional postgraduate training quality assurance system of "standard traction, institutional guarantees, and multiple supervision", strengthening process management and academic assessment, and establishing a phased streamline mechanism for postgraduate training. Lays a foundation for ensuring the quality of interdisciplinary talent training.
(Reporter Yang Sa)