“I’m here today to have face-to-face exchanges and discussions with you, not to give a speech or report. Please relax and don’t be nervous,” said Tongji President CHEN Jie. On the evening of November 26, President CHEN Jie went to Student Building 4 of the Siping Road Campus as a student community mentor and talked with twelve students from the College of New Students and eight master students and doctoral students from the School of Aerospace Engineering and Applied Mechanics face-to-face about young students’ growth and mission. Assistant President LIU Run and heads from the Department of Education and Research and the School of Aerospace Engineering and Applied Mechanics attended the session.
President CHEN communicating with the students
"I want to switch to a major I like, but I am worried about having insufficient grade points. How should I deal with it? Should I go abroad or take a postgraduate entrance examination? How to plan for the four-year college life? How to determine the direction of scientific research after entering the graduate stage? Artificial intelligence has brought tremendous changes to all walks of life, how do we respond?" were just a few of the questions raised by the students. At the beginning of the session, students opened their hearts either by sharing their feelings of study and life when they first entered the University or by expressing their confusion frankly about scientific research, following with them asking President CHEN to address their doubts and give them direction.
President CHEN listened carefully to the students and wrote their questions in his notebook. In response to the "stress" mentioned by several freshmen, CHEN Jie said that from high school to university, students' learning methods and lifestyles have undergone great changes. In the past, students were faced with a single strong pressure of the college entrance examination, but the pressure comes from multiple aspects now and comprehensive pressure is a new test for students' life. CHEN claimed that students should face some of the difficulties they encounter appropriately, which are normal and must be experienced in their life.
Regarding the question of changing majors, CHEN said that students do not have to dwell too much on their majors and should not be kidnapped by interests. Tongji University's undergraduate education focuses on cultivating social pillars and professional elites with a solid foundation and broad focus. The saying: “Every trade has its master” makes much sense, and every major has its path to success.
How to balance study, life, and research? CHEN answered that it depends on students’ value orientation. "If you have a good and noble pursuit of value, want to master skills, and become a skilled professional for society through years of university study, you will devote your main energy consciously to learning and scientific research," CHEN said. Taking himself and his team as an example, CHEN also talked about the allocation of working hours: dividing the work of a day into four units: morning, noon, afternoon, and evening, and working at least six or even six and a half days a week.
In response to the common concern from graduate students about how to cultivate scientific research ability and produce high level research results, CHEN said that when students enter the postgraduate stage they must learn to do research, lay a solid theoretical foundation, be good at capturing the future direction of research, and conduct innovative research. He hoped that students will be curious, dare to challenge academic authority, and take the initiative to carry out interdisciplinary research.
Doing scientific research will not always be smooth, and failures will be inevitable. How to keep a positive attitude? CHEN said that students should always be optimistic about their scientific research. Even when a study fails temporarily, it is a success in another sense which proves this road is not impassable but is only a detour. He hoped that students can bolster their self-confidence, start from me, be down-to-earth, strive to achieve breakthroughs in core technologies, and make their due contributions to the realization of China's scientific and technological self-reliance.
During the exchanges, CHEN also combined his own experience with Tongji’s school development to express his opinions on topics such as the importance of basic research, the combination of artificial intelligence and application fields, science and technology serving the country, and international cooperation to guide students. He was kind, eloquent, and earnest, and the students relaxed and listened attentively. The session lasted about two hours.
The Group Photo of the Session
Graduate student ZHAO Yiqiao from the School of Aerospace Engineering and Applied Mechanics said that President CHEN has sent warm care and encouragement to the students, and he has answered their quandaries about scientific research. ZHAO felt that he had benefited a lot and, he will set high standards for himself in his future studies, devote himself more actively to the aerospace scientific research, and strive to make contributions to the aerospace power."
As a major innovative measure to promote the comprehensive reform pilot work of Three-Full Education, Tongji has implemented the Community Mentor Workstation construction fully in the undergraduate community since October 2019, aiming to extend disciplines, first classrooms, professional teachers, and other education resources to the student community, and to create an all-round, three-dimensional, and immersive educational space for students. Since the implementation of the Community Mentor System for one year, 472 community mentors, including school leaders, functional department heads, and well-known professors and scholars, have entered the student community and organized thematic activities such as community lectures, academic sessions, growth consultations, and teacher-student dialogues, which have been well received and highly praised by young students.
Written by AI Jiao
Photographed by ZHOU You
Videoed by SONG Yuxing
Source: https://news.tongji.edu.cn/info/1002/75868.htm
