Chapter 18 A new beginning

Jiangcheng University adopts a credit system, which is divided into professional compulsory courses, professional elective courses, public compulsory courses and public elective courses. Except for the compulsory courses, it is sufficient to have enough credits for the elective courses.

Therefore, generally everyone will complete most of the courses in the first semester of the junior year. In the second semester of the junior year, there are only some elective courses with less academic pressure, during which time one can prepare well for things like postgraduate entrance exams, guaranteed admission to graduate school, civil service exams, and studying abroad.

Chen Yuanguang decided to become a freelancer when he was in his sophomore year, but under the guidance of Lin Jia, he completed all his courses in the second semester of his junior year.

Since he often goes to the School of Economics and Management, to be honest, he is more familiar with it than the School of Chemistry.

Every time he went to the School of Economics and Management to attend classes, or to visit Lin Jia, his classmates in the School of Economics and Management would look at him twice.

At times like this, Chen Yuanguang was glad that Lin Jia was not studying engineering, and his classmates were still very friendly.

And ever since he borrowed the biology laboratory and published in Nature, when he went to the School of Life Sciences to return the key, Chen Yuanguang realized what a wolf-like gaze looked like. It was even more exaggerated than robbing a beautiful classmate from the School of Civil Engineering.

First, the administrative staff in charge of the keys looked her up and down as if she were a rare treasure. Chen Yuanguang began to suspect that this married woman in her early thirties was planning something bad to him.

"Yuan Guang, please sit down first. Our dean asked you to stay for a while since you are here. He wants to talk to you. I will go and call him now."

Chen Yuanguang: "Okay, I have to thank the School of Life Sciences for their help. This time, my publication in Nature went so smoothly."

Chen Yuanguang thought he was just being polite, but he didn't expect the other party to respond, "The laboratories and environment of our college are more advanced than those of the College of Chemistry!
How about studying for a PhD in the School of Biology? The biology department at Jiangnan University is much stronger than the chemistry department. "

In 2018, Jiangnan University’s School of Life Sciences had two academicians, but the School of Chemistry had none. Later in 2021, the School of Life Sciences and the School of Chemistry each added one academician.

At present, the School of Life Sciences is indeed much stronger than the School of Chemistry. Chen Yuanguang is very clear about this. The School of Life Sciences is ahead in various resources on campus.

Of course, the strength of this resource has little to do with ordinary students.

"I haven't considered this aspect for the time being. In comparison, I am more interested in chemistry."

After Chen Yuanguang said a few perfunctory words, the other party went to the office of the Dean of the School of Life Sciences to ask for instructions, and after asking for instructions, he called Chen Yuanguang in.

Dean Shu saw Chen Yuanguang and smiled like a flower. "Hey Yuanguang, right? I've heard of you a long time ago. I see you today and you're really a handsome guy. Come and sit down with me."

Chen Yuanguang smelled the scent of the Hongmen Feast: "Thank you, Dean, it's too much. I still have a lot to learn from you."

Dean Shu poured water into the cup in front of Chen Yuanguang, and then said, "Yuanguang, I read your paper published in Nature. It is very thoughtful, and you first had a theory and then used experiments to test the theory.

This is something that many biologists cannot do, because they do not have such a strong mathematical foundation, and it is unlikely that they can sort out the logic from an abstract level, or even form this whole set of things directly through deduction.

If we are studying biology, we generally like to observe and do experiments first, and then summarize and form theories after getting the results.

However, as scientific research deepens, this model has become, to put it bluntly, that all the easy research has been done, and all the easy theories have been summarized. The remaining fruits will require a lot of effort to dig out.

Therefore, biocomputing has been mentioned as increasingly important in recent years, and our college is also increasing its investment in the field of computational biology. Moreover, we like to recruit undergraduate students from the School of Mathematics to do research in computational biology, as they have stronger logic. "

Dean Shu talked incessantly, and Chen Yuanguang secretly complained in his heart, it turned out that the prerequisite for being a leader is to be able to talk.

"Yuan Guang, I don't want to talk about anything empty. If you come to the School of Life Sciences to study for a doctorate directly, I will talk to Levitt and we will do joint training. You can actually go there to study for a doctorate, and then use the name of Jiangnan University. I will not list the first author or corresponding author of the published papers. If you can publish another article in Nature, you can graduate with a doctorate within three years. If you can't, it will be at most four years.

Including the Nature article published this time, I guarantee that I can apply for the Thousand Young Talents Program and the subsequent Yangtze River Scholars Program with two articles. If I don’t publish in Nature later, I will at least be eligible for the Thousand Talents Program and the Chutian Scholars Program.

If it's more, then the salary is negotiable. I hope to train you to become a leading talent in the field of computational biology at Jiangnan University."

Dean Shu's pie is too big, which is equivalent to the School of Life Sciences only caring about face, but in fact it is with Levitt.

Of course, it is also very beneficial for them. Just to have a closer relationship with the Nobel Prize winner and to have the paper published in Nature listed as the first unit of the School of Life Sciences of Jiangnan University is already enough of a profit.

Chen Yuanguang shook his head: "Dean, thank you for your kindness, but these are too far away from me. I will not consider such distant things for the time being."

Chen Yuanguang was well aware of the power of the academician, and he believed that what the other party promised could be achieved, but the problem was that these things had no appeal to him now.

Dean Shu said: "This is something that will produce results in three to five years. It's not far away."

Chen Yuanguang said helplessly: "Dean, the main reason is that I am not interested in biology. I still want to work on materials in the future."

Dean Shu stopped trying to persuade her: "Well, geniuses always have their own personalities. We need to give them time and space to express themselves freely. Yuan Guang, if you change your mind before graduation, you can always come to me."

Within a month after publishing the article in Nature, Chen Yuanguang faced various promises at Jiangnan University, all of which hoped that he could stay at Jiangnan University.

After firmly expressing his wishes, life gradually calmed down. Chen Yuanguang finished taking the TOEFL and GRE, and then sent an email to Mongi Bawendi. He received a reply from Bawendi on the same day.

Chen Yuanguang even wondered if Levitt had greeted Bavendi.

Bawendi arranged a time for a phone interview with him, and after talking for about two hours:
"Wright, I'm waiting for you in Boston. We talked earlier. You are a senior now, right? Do you have to write a thesis in your senior year?" Bawendi asked on the other end of the phone.

Chen Yuanguang gave himself the English name "Light", so other people just called him Light.

"Yes." said Chen Yuanguang.

Bawendi asked, "Have you started writing your graduation thesis?"

Chen Yuanguang said: "Not yet, we will start writing next semester."

Bawendi: "Ok, this is what I think. You have a solid foundation and a deep understanding of cutting-edge theories. It's just that you have some cognitive biases in some theories, which are easy to correct.

You have already published in Nature, so your academic writing skills must be no problem, so I think you can come directly to Boston and we can start working.

I can't wait to work with you. I hope you can come to MIT next semester and I can guide your graduation thesis, so you don't waste another half a year in Jiangcheng."

Chen Yuanguang thought, it’s not that my cognition is biased, but that some existing theories are wrong or need to be patched.

(End of this chapter)