Yang Yunqing ’23
Chemistry, SPST
Brief introduction
High school: Dalian No.1 Middle School, Liaoning Province
Further study:
Pursue a Ph.D. degree in the Department of Materials, University of Oxford, with funding from EPSRC DTP, a UK Government Scholarship for doctoral students.
Academic performance:
· ShanghaiTech President’s Award
· Participated in the “3+1” international exchange program with Harvard University
· Ranked First in chemistry major during the first three years
· Graduate Excellence Award of Shanghai
· Graduate Excellence Award of ShanghaiTech
Hobbies and interests:
Reading, traveling, skating, swimming
Preface
Hard work pays off. As this phase of university life comes to an end and I look back, it was the efforts, persistence, and choices I made that shaped me. I feel honored by the opportunity for learning and doing research at ShanghaiTech, but it was also a process full of hard work and sweat. Let us remember, fellow students, that we are young and vigorous, and I believe we will succeed in moving forward.
ShanghaiTech met by chance
It was an ordinary afternoon in high school, when I was searching for college information on WeChat, when the admission poster of ShanghaiTech just came into sight. After a careful reading, I was attracted by the university’s education mission and research power, and I couldn’t wait to know more about it. Coincidentally, it was just before the registration deadline of ShanghaiTech’s Summer Camp, a campus open event for prospective third-year high school students, so I prepared and submitted the application materials without hesitation. After receiving the confirmation, I headed for Shanghai at once.
My first time at ShanghaiTech
During the Summer Camp, I toured the campus and experienced high quality summer courses designed for high school students. I felt that I loved ShanghaiTech even more. Moreover, ShanghaiTech promises to satisfy every admitted student with their first choice of major, and this was a big lure for me. I like chemistry very much and I wished to study chemistry at the university. After the College Entrance Exam, I chose ShanghaiTech with Chemistry as the first major choice, and was successfully admitted.
Learning is the process of asking, deducing and thinking
I still remember my first class in learning Advanced Mathematics. It was quite different from the mathematics I learned in high school. Even though I previewed the course materials before class, sat in the front rows to listen carefully in case I couldn’t hear the professor, and had much ambition, the difficulty of the course was much beyond my imagination. For some time, I failed to keep up with the course and was very depressed. “You should ask questions if you don’t understand, and try to think about the mechanism behind,” my classmates suggested. With this encouragement, I started to ask questions of the professor and TAs, read other mathematics textbooks to think in other ways, and divide up and deduce the formulars to understand the mechanism behind. This worked, and I gradually caught up with the course. My quiz scores improved every time. During my first-year study, I also applied this learning method to other courses, and finally achieved satisfying scores.
My first attempt in scientific research
In the summer vacation of my first year, I joined Associate Professor Yang Xiaoyu’s research group in SPST, a group whose focus is on organic chemistry. This was the first time for me to do real scientific research and was an extremely precious experience. At that time, I had not taken a formal organic chemistry course, so had little knowledge, but I got by reading a basic textbook of organic chemistry and taking an online open course. So everything was new to me in the group. Under the careful instructions of Prof. Yang and the groupmates, I quickly learned the operation of laboratory instruments and the methods of separating and purifying samples. After achieving good results in synthesizing raw materials for the reactions of organic chemistry, Prof. Yang assigned me a difficult task in synthesizing chiral phosphonic acid catalysts, which are very important in asymmetric catalysis. Of course, I also succeeded in this. “The lab operation tasks assigned to me really expanded my theoretical and practical knowledge of organic chemistry.”
When I finally took the organic chemistry course in my sophomore year, I obviously felt the advantage of participating in lab research in advance. Most of the experiments and operation methods in the course are the ones I have been exposed to in Prof. Yang’s group, so I could complete the experiment quickly and accurately. The summer research experience was like a course preview for me, and it built me a solid foundation of confidence and knowledge in organic chemistry.
In addition to the summer research, another course also gave me a new vision of chemistry. The course entitled “Introduction to Energy Science and Technology” focuses on the discussion of innovation in energy science worldwide, sustainability of the environment and energy, and other related contents. I was inspired by the course and started to think that exploring clean energy and materials should be an important task of my research. As a result, I contacted Associate Professor Ning Zhijun to join his group on the research of optoelectronic materials and devices. As a new member of Prof. Ning’s group, I was honored to participate in the first academic innovation competition organized by SPST, and won the second prize with the project of exploring and preparing a perovskite X-ray detector. Through the competition, I not only deepened my understanding of the field, but also improved my oral ability in communication and presentation. This competition strengthened my confidence in exploring science as well.
Overseas study broadened my horizons
Studying at a world’s top university like Harvard or Oxford was always my dream. After entering ShanghaiTech, in my third year, the university’s undergraduate exchange program with Harvard made my dream come true. When I learned about this program, I decided to have a try, and I was lucky enough to receive an offer. In Spring 2022, I went to Harvard for a one-semester exchange.
After arriving at Harvard, I found the ways of teaching and doing scientific research are similar to those at ShanghaiTech, with no obvious gaps between what I learned at ShanghaiTech and the content of courses I would learn at Harvard, so I kept up with the course easily. In the lab course where students needed to independently conduct experiments, my two research experiences at ShanghaiTech gave me an advantage in the lab operations over other students who did not have such experiences. The most fortunate thing at Harvard was that I was assigned to the group under Professor George Whitesides, a well-known figure in the field of materials, to conduct a research study exploring the influence of the magnetic field on the tunneling process of electrons in the single molecular layer containing paramagnetic substances. This was the first time for me to independently complete the entire scientific research process, from reading papers, conducting experiments, analyzing data, to writing my article in accordance with the format of the American Chemical Society. During the whole period, I kept exchanging ideas with my partners, postdocs and Prof. Whitesides, repeatedly deducing and verifying the data, and polishing my article. I also made several presentations and exhibited my poster. It was this project that enabled me to conduct the complete process of independent research. I began to think about the role that chemistry plays as a basic discipline in the materials which bring direct benefits to people, and I felt that I could even do some further research in the discipline of materials. This inspired me to apply for a graduate position in materials.
Conducted the research in Prof. Whitesides’s group
In addition to Prof. Whitesides’s research group, I also contacted Professor Roy Gordon, who is an expert in solar battery, asking to join his group to continue my work in solar cells started at ShanghaiTech. In the group, I discussed the science with another senior groupmate and tried different ways to achieve a higher efficiency of solar cells. At the same time, I also benefited a lot from the various lectures and symposia I attended.
Exhibited my research poster
During the period of exchange study at Harvard, I successfully finished my learning and research exploration tasks, immersed in two interdisciplinary research groups, and broadened my horizons. I really appreciate the opportunity and support offered by ShanghaiTech’s international exchange programs.
A farewell meal with other exchange students
Hard work pays off
After returning to ShanghaiTech, I continued my graduate research project in Prof. Ning Zhijun’s group on the subject of chiral perovskite materials, and also took over some unfinished work from a senior groupmate who has already graduated. In Prof. Ning’s group, I was allowed to conduct experiments independently like a graduate student and report to the professor regularly, so as to improve my abilities in sample testing, data analysis, diagram drawing and other aspects. Finally, after suffering through numerous revisions to the article, adjustments to the diagrams, and answering the editor’s questions, I published my first academic paper in Nano Letters, a renowned journal in the field of nanomaterials, as the co-first author! At the same time, I received the Ph.D. Program offer from the Department of Materials, University of Oxford, and this was a huge joy to me after a long process of application and waiting. Soon after, another surprising news for me was that I had successfully won the funding from EPSRC DTP, a UK Government Scholarship for doctoral students! It was the icing on the cake. During the process of graduate applications, I didn’t submit many applications, but stuck to my own goal and worked hard for it.
Write at the end
ShanghaiTech has already nurtured six classes of outstanding students, who are successful in their own fields. During my undergraduate study, I enjoyed the first-class facilities, excellent teaching, and resourceful opportunities to gain industrial and social experience. I am grateful to the professors, and my beloved family members. It was your support that encouraged me to pursue and achieve my goal. I will continue to deepen my research in chemistry and materials in the future, so as to discover and solve problems in these fields.