At the University of Science and Technology of China, a great number of international scholars are making their contributions to advancing research and teaching.

Jingxiang Low, a postdoctoral researcher from Malaysia, is one of them.

"I have obtained a solid background in scientific research during my life in China," Low said.

After finishing his bachelor's study in Malaysia, Low obtained his master's and PhD degrees at the Wuhan University of Technology and then worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the USTC.

At the USTC, he published more than 10 Science Citation Index papers within two years.

Faiz Rasul, a USTC doctoral candidate, recently published a thesis as the leading author in the journal Nature Communications, signifying a remarkable research achievement.

K. Kohse-Hoinghaus

As a visiting professor at USTC from Germany, Katharina Kohse-Hoinghaus was elected a foreign academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in November 2021.

She has conducted nearly 20 years of cooperation with the USTC.

In 2016, she won the Chinese Government Friendship Award, the highest honor the country bestows on foreigners for their contributions to China's development.

Kohse-Hoinghaus also won the CAS International Science and Technology Cooperation Award in 2015 as well as CAS President's International Fellowship Initiative award in 2020 as a highly-qualified international scientist.

M. W. Sherk

A teacher who has been teaching in China for some years, Canada-native Murray Wayne Sherk is now working at the English Language Practice Center of the USTC.In 2009, he won the Huangshan Friendship Award, which was established in 1995 as the highest honor for foreign experts working in Anhui province.

He obtained his PhD degree in computer science at the University of Toronto in 1989 and first taught at the USTC in 1991.

On Jan 18, 2020, while Sherk and his wife were attending a conference in Bangkok, Thailand, they received a call from a USTC staff member, briefing them on the COVID-19 situation in China, asking them to take good care of themselves in Thailand, and assuring them that foreign experts can come back to work and live in Hefei.

Though family members and friends in Canada and the United States advised them to return to North America from Thailand, they returned to Hefei, bringing medical supplies bought abroad and donating them to the USTC.

After settling down, he began to prepare for online teaching for some 280 students in seven classes.

Sherk said: "The USTC has some of the best students in China, and it is my honor to teach them. For a great country like China, education represents the future."

Z. J. Smith

Zachary J. Smith, from the US, has been a professor at the USTC School of Engineering Science since 2015. He was awarded the Hefei Friendship Award in 2020 for his remarkable contribution to the city of Hefei.

After graduating from the University of Rochester and completing his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Davis, he came to Hefei in 2015 to help establish his laboratory.

Smith said he could not forget his experiences of teaching children in the Dabie Mountains in the west of Anhui province. On Oct 23, 2020, Smith and his wife joined the Foreign Experts Science Classroom organized by the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs. They went to Liufan Primary School in Yuexi county in Anhui, addressing the kids on the "scientific basis of imaging".

The children were extremely lively, and they raised more than 100 questions. One asked: "How can I join your laboratory?"

Smith replied: "You should start to work hard from now on, and when you get a little older, you can apply for the USTC."

He said that in the vast rural regions, many kids still need emotional and intellectual care. Poverty alleviation through knowledge of science and technology is a wonderful way to address those needs.

Professor Katharina Kohse-Hoinghaus is elected a CAS academician in 2021. CHINA DAILY

Murray Wayne Sherk gives a lecture on culture related to English language at the USTC. CHINA DAILY

China Daily Global / 2022-03 / 07 /Page014

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