The iChEM researcher, Prof. Yujie Xiong of USTC won the “Biomatik Distinguished Professor Award (2015)” recently. The award is given to two persons every year. The 36 years old professor told journalist, he had won a lot of award since his arrival to China, he emphasized the "sense of belonging" made him success.
Feeling "sense of belonging" after returning China
In 2004, Prof. Xiong got his Ph.D Degree in Inorganic Chemistry in USTC, and became a post-doc in University of Washington (Seattle), under the tutelage of renowned materials scientist Prof. Younan Xia. Three years later, he worked as an assistant researcher in Engineering and Sciences department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Prof. John Rogers lab. Due to his outstanding research performance, in 2009, he was honored to be the chief researcher at National Nanotechnology Infrastructure organization in Washington University (St. Louis). Also, he was the managing director of the Center for Nanoscience at an early age of 30.
At that time, Prof. Xiong had a smooth life and great research achievement in the USA. But deep in his heart, he never got the feeling of “home” there. While being aboard so many years, he felt hesitant to stay there anymore. At the same time, China started the National Thousand Talents program which attracted his attention to visit his homeland.
“When I visited USTC in March, 2010 and saw the great research condition in China, I made my decision to come back” said Prof. Xiong. He was selected into the “Hundred Talent Program” by CAS and "Recruitment Program of Global Experts" by Chinese government. He started to construct his lab and organize his group in China, the lab was established just within half a year.
“Trinity” of cross-collaboration
The research field of Prof. Xiong is nano-composite materials design and synthesis for energy issues. With three years, he has published 36 papers as corresponding author, including 13 papers published in international key journals like, JACS, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., and Advanced Materials. In his opinion, his success is inseparable from the support and guidance from some internationally renowned scholars like Yi Xie, Yi Lou, who help him understand the importance of interdisciplinary science gradually.
In addition, Prof. Xiong collaborated with other lot of young professors in USTC. They often eat in the cafeteria and talk about research. They try to carry out a "precise preparation - theoretical modeling - Advanced characterization” which is the trinity interdisciplinary collaborative research model. He said that they have published a review paper in Chemistry Reviews under this collaboration recently.
