Westlake University hosted the convocation for the 380 incoming Ph.D. students of the seventh cohort on Aug. 20, marking the beginning of a new chapter in their lives.

Chair professors hand gifts to the new students

About the seventh cohort

The seventh cohort of Ph.D. students is the largest since the founding of Westlake University.

Out of the 380 newcomers whose new and excited faces filled the Auditorium, 184 hold bachelor’s degrees and 196 hold master’s degrees. A total of 189 will join the School of Life Sciences, 67 the School of Science, and 124 the School of Engineering. The ratio between men and women is 1.11:1, with 200 male students and 180 female students.

Wishes for the seventh cohort

At the convocation, faculty, alumni, Westlake family members and new students came together to celebrate a new beginning and pass on their own experiences.

President Yigong Shi called on the new students to contemplate their role and mission in the future of education in a speech. The following is a transcript of his address.

--------

Dear students,

You are about to embark on a journey. Today marks the day that you walk through the door of science and become ambitious researchers. As the leaders of the future, you will learn the tools and methods that will help mankind take on complex challenges and, hopefully, create miracles in science. In the coming years, let’s put our will into action and prepare ourselves for the future.

First of all, we must develop a sense of mission.

We are born into this world with missions. Throughout history, whenever a catastrophe occurs, there are always people willing to shoulder responsibility and put it before their own gain. French philosopher Michel de Montaigne once compared a life with a mission to the greatest work of mankind. Those of you present today have had the good fortune to grow up in a relatively peaceful and prosperous time, and now our world is facing unprecedented challenges. We ought to consider how to find our place in a world filled with crisis and how to make use of our strengths. And the answer is to develop a strong sense of mission. With a sense of mission, you will have the strength to brave difficulties and push forward.

Secondly, we must establish a well-rounded world view.

China has experienced a skyrocketing economic takeoff over the 40 years of opening-up, and we owe much of our success to our unique culture and values. The history of China is a history of fusion, convergence, and ultimately congruence, and this has made our culture extremely inclusive. We strive at developing harmonious relationships with other countries despite our differences in values and principles. At the moment, globalization is suffering great setbacks but, in the long run, it is an unstoppable trend for mankind to continue as one.

This oneness is also reflected in you, the newcomers of Westlake. Forty-six of you came from overseas, and you are a reflection of globalization. I hope to see you embracing the global vision in this multicultural environment. On the one hand, you will learn to see the world from the Chinese perspective and objectively acknowledge our shortcomings and advantages, as well as those of others. Harvest the fruits of human civilization and develop a solid confidence, based on awareness of self and others. On the other hand, we need to be able to look at China from a distance. We can only see who we are through knowing how other countries are different. You can only become a leader in the world after developing analytical skills within a cross-cultural agenda.

Thirdly, we must foster our creativity.

Creativity is the defining power in forging the future. 2023 marks the 70^th anniversary of the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA, a grand scientific discovery that deciphers how biological information is preserved and transmitted at the molecular level. Over the decades, many new technologies and scientific research achievements have been born from that ground, making profound changes to every aspect of our daily lives. The work of our predecessors has created the rich soil in which our research can flourish.

You are standing on the shoulders of our predecessors, from where you can see farther and wider. What you need to do is to explore the realms that are even further and deeper. A tough mission, no doubt, but you have the full support of Westlake. Here, you will be led by outstanding faculty to work on state-of-the-art, interdisciplinary projects. You will experience the joy of free exploration in the world of the unknown.

We also encourage the collision between science and the arts. You will encounter literature, history, ballet, and music here, and we hope this will nourish the inspiration that leads us to a path less traveled.

Last, but not least, we must develop compassion and inclusiveness.

We live in a world made up of billions of individuals, each of whom has a unique existence that deserves our respect. Mutual respect and cooperation between individuals is a shared value across cultures. Yet, unfortunately, we sometimes still see prejudice in our society, which comes from poor judgement, ignorance, and dualistic thinking. That feeds into endless social unrest and conflict, but it also shows us the importance of compassion.

------

Westlake University is now the proud home to over 200 doctoral supervisors, including some who are already leaders in their fields and others who bring new blood to the game. All were once students, who went through the experience of feeling lost before finding their way.

Prof. Xin Zhang, principal investigator of the School of Science, spoke on behalf of the faculty to share his own experience of this “unknown journey”.

He had this to say: “The first thing you might want to let go of is that sense of superiority. I had a bumpy journey as a student – I went from studying physics, to chemistry, and then to biology. 'Starting from scratch’ was something that I experienced time and again. What I learned from that was to leave things behind, no matter how glorious they once were. Achievement shouldn’t weigh you down, it should motivate you. When I was working at Caltech, I worked in the same building as David Baltimore, the then president, and a leading scientist. He and his team worked extremely hard but stayed extremely humble. They often discussed their research with me, although I had no relevant training at all. That’s true excellence, to be able to let go of pride, clear the plate, and start again. That’s how you go far.”

Zhang continued. “Then, it’s about believing that things happen for a reason. Fixing your eyes on the goal doesn’t always serve us in research, and you may be pleasantly surprised if you just learn to enjoy the process. You will encounter anxiety and frustration when lab results don’t match the hypothesis, or when something inexplicable ‘just happens’. In these circumstances, take a step back. Think about how it may relate to your research question and discuss it with your supervisor and teammates. With their input, you may be able to quickly resolve the mystery, which will give you a taste of the unknown world.”

Ph.D. student Pengju Shi, now in his third year at Westlake, looked back on his experience and encouraged newcomers to follow their passion.

“Look at life as a researcher with perspective and keep calm,” he advised.

“Scientific research is a beautiful journey, but sometimes the beauty only reveals itself after failing. Whenever I start on a new project, I remind myself, ‘It’ll be a good one if I succeed after just 20 failures.’ In hindsight, every one of my projects was full of trials and errors before I landed on the right path. We all aim for success, yet failure is the norm. Therefore, if you have a bad day at the lab, please remind yourself that this is just the norm. There’s no need for frustration. If you keep the mood light and open, some interesting ideas might come to you,” he said.

“Ask many questions and go to the core,” he suggested.

“When I was a freshman, I’d stop when I found an answer. My supervisor would then ask a series of follow-up questions until I completely ran out of words. Over time, I also learned to ask more questions and dig deeper. These follow-up questions help me to reach the core of the issue and conduct deeper thinking on a logical level. Moreover, it takes deep understanding of the mechanisms to really understand data, or we might be misled by them.”

He had more advice for the students, saying, “Stay cooperative and open; that helps us to grow.”

He went on: “Part of my research is done in partnership with other colleagues in my lab, and often, new ideas pop up in our discussions. I conduct research on perovskite batteries, which involves materials science, physics, and chemistry. We happen to have colleagues specializing in these fields at the lab, and I’ve learned a lot through them. Working with others and picking their brains helps us to grow faster.”

Haoru Wu, representing the new students, shared how she became smitten with microorganisms through a general science comic book as a child, and how she experienced her first setback as a researcher.

“In 2019, I joined the School of Pharmacy at Nankai University. We were introduced to lab work in virology, and I learned from working with the seniors. This experience helped me to cultivate the mindset to be a researcher and establish a framework for acquiring knowledge. I thrived at piecing fragments together, trying to find explanations for all the wonderous phenomena that happen in real life,” she said.

“And it was also there that I experienced hardship as a researcher. My graduation project was to control dengue virus infection with the help of symbiosis with extracts from the bowels of mosquitoes. To single out the female mosquitoes, I had to hand pick over 4,000 of them from 2 pm to 8 pm in the evening. Later on, the mosquitoes that I had kept for a month were killed by accident. I was really upset, but had to start prepping again immediately.”

In conclusion, she offered this insight: “No one is born a researcher, but with hard work and persistence, we can get there.”

As the first nonprofit, private research university supported by public and private funding in China, Westlake is accompanied by our donors every step of the way.

Jianjun Shi, CEO of DH Fund Management Co. Ltd., and representative of the Board of Trustees, attended the convocation and passed on the board’s good wishes.

“Each cohort of Ph.D. students carries the hope of our country, our citizens, the university, and their families. The odyssey begins with one step. Let’s work to build Westlake, nurture Westlake, and contribute to the glory of Westlake,” he said.

Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Zhejiang University Xiangfeng Huang, Dean of the Graduate School of Zhejiang University Qunke Xia, and Executive Deputy Dean of the Graduate School of Fudan University Yan Chen also participated in the convocation. Huang and Chen delivered speeches.