As Fudan University is about to celebrate its 120th anniversary of founding, its alumni couple Li Ping and Liao Mei has made a one-time donation of 1 billion yuan ($137 million) to their alma mater to support the construction of the university's Xue Min Institute of Advanced Studies, which aims to become a world's top institution for high-level basic research and interdisciplinary research of natural sciences.
alumni /əˈlʌmnaɪ/ 校友 alma mater /ˌælmə ˈmɑːtə(r)/ 母校
"We have been looking for such a donation program at Fudan, which we expect to be academically challenging, time-consuming, and financially demanding, but can have a profound effect on society. We would regard it as our social responsibility," said Liao Mei, an alumnus in the class of 1986 from the Department of History at Fudan University.
Li Ping, a polymers major in the class of 1985 from Fudan's Department of Materials, is the co-founder of Chinese battery giant CATL. He and Liao first learned about the university's plan of establishing an advanced studies institute in November, and quickly hit it off after rounds of discussion.
"We feel China has come to the stage where it can make some contributions to the whole of humanity and world in the fields of natural sciences and basic sciences," said Li.
Eyeing interdisciplinary, cutting-edge and international research, the institute is committed to becoming a globally leading source of scientific and technological innovations, contributing Fudan's wisdom and efforts to building China as a sci-tech powerhouse.
▲复旦大学江湾校区俯瞰图 复旦大学提供
面向全球招募顶尖青年人才
学敏高等研究院已启动人才招募工作，计划在十年内引进近百名全球顶尖的青年学者，尤其是博士毕业后5年左右的青年科学家，不限学科和国籍。
The institute is set to open its door to global best young scientists within five years after graduation from their doctoral programs, according to the university. It will provide support to help them carry out research with original breakthroughs, technological revolutions and far-reaching influences, striving for research results that can push forward the development of the society by leaps and bounds.
▲复旦大学实验室一角 复旦大学提供
The institute will also be equipped with an academic council consisting of high-level international scholars, including Nobel Prize winners. Nobel laureate in chemistry Michael Levitt, a member of the academic council, said he expected the institute to blend the best of Eastern and Western academics and become a global leader in advanced studies. "We hope scholars from various fields across the world can gather here, to carry out in-depth, long-term and forward-looking original researches."
▲复旦大学1989届材料科学系本科毕业合影
推 荐 阅 读
