Lu Qiangsheng
“I‘m basically in the laboratory every day, I even sometimes sleep there” says Lu Qiangsheng, undergraduate from the Department of Physics class of 2013 – during our interview – he had just finished working on an experimental from Nanjing, and is getting ready to go to France in May to continue his research. After that, he is heading to the University of Missouri in July where he will go on to do his PhD.
Interest is the greatest motivation
“My Grandfather was a physics teacher, and my mother is a chemistry teacher, he explains, so from the very beginning I was under the influence of my family’s interest for science”. He first took up the subject in junior high school and participated early on in the national science and technology innovation competitions.
He continued his studies at a Xi’an Jiaotong University affiliated high school, and was involved in every kind of competition he could – far too many to mention here. After attending the “China-US Clean Energy Competition”, Lu Qiangsheng and his classmates collected donations reaching up to 7,500 US dollars to his school, helping to start the “Jiaotong University Technology Innovation Education Fund.”
In 2013, SUSTech went to Shaanxi province for the first time to enroll students. Lu Qiangsheng learned of this and – in tune with his adventurous spirit – immediately went to sign up. “Before I went to SUSTech, my family and I felt the choice was indeed an adventurous one, but once I arrived at the university, I felt increasingly excited and in my element, often able to talk with my tutors, including top academicians personally. He?says that the most exciting aspect was the opportunity to participate in cutting-edge scientific research and independent projects with equipment worth millions of dollars from his junior year.
In October 2014, during the Fifteenth Session of the Guangdong Provincial College Students Experimental Design Competition in Zhanjiang Lingnan Teachers College, Lu Qiangsheng and his team completed the project “drip power plant design program”. They won the second prize. When asked to recall his feelings about it, Lu explained how “very interesting” the project was. “In order to figure out where the charge is generated, we designed a series of experiments, constantly changing the conditions. The process was very tough, but the fascination and anticipation are the biggest driving forces”.
“The boy who loves to ask” meets his mentor
Like most students, Lu also experienced periods of uncertainty. Fortunately for him, he was under the guidance of professional instructor Liu Chang, an associate professor of the Department of Physics of SUSTech, who could provide sound direction to the youngster. The direction Lu took in his research was high-temperature superconductivity and unusual topological phenomena in new materials, as well as the electronic properties of graphene and related materials. The main research methods are angular resolution photoelectron spectroscopy – All fields which Lu is passionately interested in. Lu praised the support he received from his mentor without holding back: “Professor Liu was always so friendly to me, no matter how many questions I asked, he always took the time and trouble to answer me with the most comprehensive answers possible”.
Under the guidance of Liu Chang, Lu Qiang Sheng got a lot of opportunities to take part in experiments. Just after finishing an experimental project in Nanjing, he is heading to France in May this year to participate in more research. “In the past I’ve also been to work in Shanghai, Italy and many other places. Liu is really great for the students, he helps us to build confidence and provides a lot of opportunities to get hands-on experience in scientific research”.
From reading literature to “growing roots” in laboratories
A quick look at Lu’s WeChat friends circle and you will find almost every dynamic and laboratory-related story. Under the guidance of Professor Liu, Lu began to read literature weekly and meet with researchers, postdoctoral students and professors on a regular basis to discuss the research results.
His way of thinking is that chance comes to those who have prepared, and he relentlessly prepared himself, reading scientific journals and taking notes Lu Qiang sound every day to read the English literature, while reading while thinking while taking notes.
It was not uncommon for Lu to work in the laboratory until 2 or 3am, “sometimes more than 20 hours a day.” Staying up late for him was not a problem though. “But sometimes after hours and hours of work you still don’t get the data you want, it can be quite frustrating”. However these difficult moments were not enough to discourage Lu. “I was using my time, other people use theirs to play mobile phone games.” Over time, Lu became increasingly familiar with the equipment he was using which helped him work more efficiently. While he was in Nanjing, Lu participated in building the world’s highest resolution angular photoelectron spectrometer.
Last summer, the United States Missouri University Department of Physics Assistant Professor Guang Guang came to SUSTech as part of an exchange program, and mentioned how impressed he was with Lu Qiangsheng’s ability to handle the debugging equipment. He later received high recommendations about Lu from his professor Liu Chang, and it didn’t take anymore to offer the youngster a place in his team in Missouri after his graduation.
When you love something so much, it can feel even more important than eating and sleeping. That is exactly how much Lu loves spending his time in the laboratory. When we asked why he put in so much energy in his experiments, he replied quite frankly: “I am now engaged in the world’s most cutting-edge work and my dream is to go as far as possible down this road, and hopefully achieve some really revolutionary results?that can change the world and lead the scientific community”. At the moment Lu is working on two papers which he hopes will be published in academic journals this year.
To Return as Professor?
Looking back at the 4 years he spent at SUSTech, Lu says he has been incredibly lucky. “SUSTech is really a great university for people like me, they have a solid teaching base with great faculty members, and fantastic research facilities, and this gives students a great platform to grow. It is a place where you will not only learn new things, but will be involved at the forefront of scientific research, and for me that is one of the most attractive things about it”.
In July 2017, Lu will go to the University of Missouri’s Department of Physics to pursue a his Ph.D. When it comes to planning for the future, he says he wants to be able to make a difference in scientific research, but eventually plans to return home. “If I can come back to the Department of Physics in SUSTech in 10 years as a professor, I think that would really be fulfilling a lifetime of luck and happiness for me”.
Lu also delivered?some advice for the younger students arriving at the university. He said that in order to really make the most of your learning here, it is important to find what they are really passionate about, and then to firmly seize the opportunities offered by SUSTech to dig deeper into your subject. Even after getting an offer from the University of Missouri, Lu wastes no time relaxing. Straight after the interview, he packed his bag, and headed straight to the laboratory.
Text: Guo Ying
Edited by: Jeremy Welburn
Photos: Qiu Yan
