Great Country Academician

Posted on 2023-02-11 14:40 | VIP chapter

The news that Hua Guo joined CERN as a member state really surprised Xu Chuan.

After all, in the previous life until the rebirth, this was something that the country had been working hard on.

As for why the trajectory of this life has changed so much, he can't figure it out.

However, whether this is good for the country or for him, it can be said to be good news.

After seeing off Senior Brother Lin, Xu Chuan also started working.

He accepted the position of full professor in the Department of Mathematics of Princeton University and enjoyed the benefits that Princeton brought him, so teaching students and doing scientific research is the corresponding obligation.

However, the position of a lifelong researcher at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton did not require him to do anything.

For this world's top research institute, it doesn't matter if the researchers inside take a walk in the "research institute forest" every day.

Scholars who can enter this institute and become lifelong researchers have basically made great contributions in their respective fields.

Of course, for scholars who can enter this institute, very few people would waste their time like this.

When he came to the study, he turned on the computer and logged into the mailbox.

Leading students and attending classes are two things that professors at Princeton University must do. Of course, many full professors will leave the matter of attending classes to their doctoral students or assistant professors.

After all, in a research university, another duty of a professor is to conduct his own academic research.

From this, a well-known system in the American education system was derived: "academic leave".

This means that university professors are usually eligible to apply for half-year or one-year academic leave after they have served in the school for a period of time.

During the vacation, professors have no teaching tasks and can devote themselves to academic research.

And for a half-year leave application, the school usually pays half a year's salary in full; for a one-year academic leave application, half a year's salary is paid.

This treatment can be said to be top-notch.

Opening the mailbox, Xu Chuan was a little dizzy with the pile of unprocessed letters inside.

After Princeton University sent him the application materials for full professors, he posted his information on the school's admissions website.

Then, the letters in his mailbox increased every day.

There are two semesters in Princeton, one in spring and one in fall.

The spring school starts from January to March every year, and the specific time is uncertain. The autumn school basically concentrates on August and September.

However, due to the fact that this school is open to recruiting students from all over the world, its application time is basically at least half a year in advance.

For example, when the school starts in autumn, the general application period is from September of the first year to January of the second year.

The seven or eight months between the end of January and the beginning of school in August are for Princeton to select students, conduct interviews, issue applications, and prepare materials, visas, etc. for students from all over the world.

And now it is late December, and the application deadline for the fall semester is almost over.

At this point in time, to be honest, generally speaking, good students have already been picked away.

After all, the application has already started in September, and it is now the end of December.

Of course, to him, if no suitable student is selected, it doesn't matter whether he takes the student or not.

He is a full professor, and if he brings students, he basically takes a PhD, that is, he takes doctoral students.

And for him, it was too late to start school in the fall.

Waiting for the school to start next fall, he probably has returned to China, and he will also bring a P student.

However, considering that it is not easy to have a Chinese professor in Princeton, Xu Chuan still chose to accept two or three students.

Because there is one more Chinese professor, it is basically a default that Princeton will accept one more Chinese student.

So on Princeton's official website this time, he specifically asked the school staff to state that students need to report before February next year.

Although he may only be able to lead this group of students for a few months, there is no need to worry too much about defrauding the students he leads.

After all, during the Ph.D. period, the supervisor was poached or resigned by other schools, which is quite a tricky thing for doctoral students.

But that is for other people. For the students he leads, there is actually no such problem.

First of all, before he left, he would definitely arrange a retreat for these students.

For these students, if they are willing to follow him to China, he will definitely be happy.

If you don't want to, August and September are Princeton's fall admission season, and it is not unfeasible to stay in Princeton and change a tutor.

This doesn't affect the students' studies at Princeton very much.

It is indeed a tricky thing to change the supervisor during the Ph.D., but it also depends on the situation.

If it is the kind that has been studying for two or three years and then suddenly told that the instructor has run away, it is really cheating.

But for him, enrolling early, and then changing tutors just in time for Princeton's opening season, it can be said that it has no effect.

Even from another perspective, this is an opportunity for these students.

After all, not everyone can learn from a Filipino prize winner during their doctoral period, or in other words, not everyone can learn from a mathematics professor who proved the seven millennium problems.

The former may be simpler. After all, the number of Fields Medal winners has reached double digits over the years.

the latter? Looking at the entire mathematics world, there are only a handful of such top professors.

For these students, these six or seven months of study time can completely see an additional scientific research experience.

For other ordinary professors, if a student under his name has ever studied and worked with such a top mathematics professor, he may be very happy.

On the one hand, this kind of scientific research experience is really beautiful.

On the other hand, maybe you can use this relationship to deal with the other party.

Therefore, Xu Chuan is not under any psychological pressure that he may leave Princeton next year, and he is not worried that his running away will cause any major problems to the recruited students.

It took a whole day for Xu Chuan to deal with the emails in the mailbox.

Although he started recruiting students near the end of the application period for Princeton, the quality of the student files sent by Princeton’s admissions team and the applications sent to him by himself is unbelievably high.

When foreign students apply to universities in the United States, they generally look at four aspects: GPA grades, TOEFL or IELTS test language scores, recommendation letters, and portfolios (published papers, participating scientific research projects, etc.).

Among them, the GPA grade point is the basis. If it is lower than 3.5, unless you have a solid portfolio as a background, you will basically be rejected by top universities such as Princeton, Harvard, and Yale.

In the list sent to his mailbox by the Princeton working group, all GPAs are above 3.8, and there are several GPAs with 4.0.

As for the applications that he sent to his mailbox, the average GPA is a little lower, but they are basically above 3.6, and 4.0 is not uncommon.

In terms of conversion, if the total score of the college entrance examination is 750 points, the GPA of 3.6 is 675 points, and the GPA of 3.8 is 712.5 points, and 4.0 is directly full.

Calculated in this way, they are basically proper academic masters.

Xu Chuan flipped through the application form in the mailbox, and then pulled out a form, directly excluding applicants with a GPA of 3.8 or less and without an excellent portfolio.

In his previous life, he had been a professor at Princeton for so many years, and he had already had his own method of screening students, which was very handy.

Screening these applicants is like recruiting employees for a company's HR.

The undergraduate line (GPA grade point) is the dividing line.

If you do not meet the undergraduate requirements, the application will basically be thrown into the trash can.

It is undeniable that there may be a very small number of people who have not reached the undergraduate level but have excellent work experience, but these people are only a very small number after all.

Panning for gold on the beach is far less efficient than panning for gold in a gold mine, and requires far more effort than harvesting.

So setting a standard line is the most convenient for HR.

The same is true for the selection of students. If the grade points do not meet the standard, direct elimination is the best choice.

After screening, look at the applicant's portfolio, and you can select the students who roughly want to interview.

If there are too many, you can almost decide who has the recommendation letter.

After spending a day, Xu Chuan screened out twelve application forms from the mailbox, and planned to conduct an online interview with these resumes in the next two days.

Anyway, the current mobile phone and computer are also very convenient for online interviews.

The interviewees on the first day were all from Huaguo. Among the 12 resumes, Xu Chuan left six for domestic use. Judging from the proportion, they were given preferential treatment.

But anyway, no one knows, and it doesn't matter if it's a secret operation or something.

The first interviewee was Gu Bing. Judging from his resume, he was a doctoral student at Minhang University of Technology. He is currently 25 years old and seems to have a doctoral degree. However, his GPA is not very high, 3.8 points.

Of course, this is not high compared to other interviewees in the same batch. For ordinary students, a GPA of 3.8 is simply an unattainable mountain.

Putting it in the college entrance examination, a GPA of 3.8 is almost the same as the provincial top scorer in science, which is actually very good.

It's just that generally speaking, those who dare to apply for a university like Princeton are all at this level, so it seems relatively average.

When he was transferred to Princeton in his previous life, his GPA was 4.0, and he also had scientific research experience in discovering new particles at CERN. Even in a place like Princeton, he belonged to the top group.

Of course, he did not apply in his previous life, and he was appointed as a student by Witten when he was at CERN.

Compared with other resumes, Gu Bing's GPA is not high, but the reason why Xu Chuan likes this resume is not GPA, but his work set.

This doctoral student has some scientific research experience, has participated in scientific research in physics and chemistry laboratories, and has published two papers. Although they are both in SCI Zone 3, they are quite rare.

Among the many domestic resumes, he is more optimistic about this one, because this resume meets his requirements for students.

He will probably return to China in the second half of next year, and then the two disciplines of physics and materials will be his key breakthrough areas.

And having participated in scientific research in physics and chemistry laboratories can help him start.

So Xu Chuan arranged Gu Bing for the first interview.

On the computer, the meeting and interview room opens.

The figure of Gu Bing who was waiting for the interview came into Xu Chuan's eyes, which made him stunned involuntarily.

Without him, the image of this student named Gu Bing is far from the photo on the application resume.

In the photo, he has jet-black hair, but in the interview, he has the demeanor of a math expert. At the age of twenty-five, the hair has moved back like the Pacific Ocean at a young age.

After being stunned for a moment, Xu Chuan came to his senses, coughed lightly, and said, "Excuse me, are you Gu Bing?"

On the other side, hearing the voice of inquiry, Gu Bing almost stood up nervously, and quickly said: "It's me, this is Gu Bing."

Seeing the nervous interviewer in the video, Xu Chuan comforted him with a smile: "Don't be nervous, it's just a simple interview."

"Okay, okay."

Although he was comforted, this student Gu Bing was still very nervous.

But this is normal, after all, this interview determines his future.

He is not only applying to Princeton, but also Xu Chuan, a top mathematics professor who has proved the seven millennium problems.

Regardless of age, this is like an ordinary Shengdou who suddenly meets the boss of his province one day. The difference in level is too big, and everyone will be nervous.

"Let me introduce myself first in English."

Xu Chuan didn't give the interviewer much time to adjust his mentality, after all, this was also part of the assessment.

For a top mathematics professor like him, there are many opportunities for students to give reports on stage.

If the psychological quality is not strong enough, how can you control the overall situation?

But as long as it is not the kind of top-level social terror, normal people can be trained, and he was gradually trained by Wei Teng back then.

It was said that Gu Bing seemed to be absent in class and was suddenly called by the teacher. His body jumped up and he straightened up. After a few seconds, he said, "Hi, professor, my name is Gu Bing."

Gu Bing introduced himself on the other end, and Xu Chuan listened on the other end.

Although sometimes there are some mistakes due to nervousness, but at least the interviewer's English is still passable.

"I read your application materials. You are studying algebraic topology and analytic geometry. Please tell us about your understanding of smooth Riemannian manifolds."

After waiting for the other party to finish introducing himself, Xu Chuan began to ask questions. After spending ten minutes, he had a basic understanding of the interviewer in front of him.

His basic skills are fairly solid, and his talent is quite satisfactory in his opinion, but it is quite surprising that he has already begun to have some ideas of his own in the field of mathematics, and he is not ashamed of the gradually receding hair.

As for character, I can't see it yet.

In terms of recommendation letters, there is one from Academician Zhang Weiping of Sun Moon University.

Considering this factor, his character should not be too bad, so after failing the interview, he drew a circle on his resume.

This means to wait and see, indicating that the interviewer can make a decision if he is not satisfied, but he can be denied if he is not satisfied, which is quite satisfactory.

As for whether he can be selected, it depends on whether there are any interviewees from Huaguo who can surpass him.