Graduates | 刘珉玮：奋斗不息，步履不止
流年似水，岁月如歌。今年，广东以色列理工学院迎来了首届毕业生。广以2017级本科毕业生系列采访将带大家一同聆听这四年来学生们与广以的故事，共同见证广以学子们的成长。今天分享的是化学工程专业毕业生刘珉玮的故事。
姓名：刘珉玮
毕业高中：湖北省水果湖高级中学
本科专业：化学工程
录取院校及专业：
伦敦大学学院 外科与介入科学专业
伦敦大学学院 药学专业
爱丁堡大学 药物与生物化学专业
香港中文大学 生物化学与生物医学科学专业
获得奖项：
广以2018-2019学年课外奖学金
广以2019-2020年度优秀共青团员
2020年“外研社·国才杯”全国英语写作大赛（广东赛区）特等奖
2020年“外研社·国才杯”全国英语写作大赛全国决赛三等奖
刘珉玮，举手投足间的儒雅书卷气难掩内心的坚韧和沉稳，他目标清晰，严谨细致，求真务实，在他身上似乎能看到未来科学家初长成的模样。接下来，珉玮将赴伦敦大学学院攻读外科与介入科学专业研究型硕士学位(MPhil)，开启人生中又一段崭新的逐梦之旅。
谈及在广以的学习生涯，珉玮的收获感和满足感溢于言表。“学校为我们提供一个国际化的平台，开拓了我的视野，培养了我的创新思维，使我接触到且学习了从事科学研究的必备技能，让我更加接近自己的理想。”
刘珉玮将专业学习比喻为聚沙成塔的过程，“几乎每一门核心课程都需要用到之前所学的知识，只有前面的课程知识掌握牢固，后面的课程学起来才会更加得心应手。”
珉玮认为自己在广以最大的收获是养成了独立思考的习惯，并掌握了高效的提问方法。“我高中期间就常向老师提问，所以刚到大学时我也会经常参加教授的Office hour，或者和教授邮件预约时间请教问题。但经过一段时间的学习后，我发现不能一味的寻求教授帮助，在提问之前或者之后，自己去阅览室借阅相关课本或网上查阅资料和文献，然后结合向教授提问所获取的答案和思考，对解决问题的帮助其实更大。”
事实证明，在珉玮申请研究生的过程中，独立思考的能力发挥着关键作用。“我申请伦敦大学学院研究型硕士时，曾和导师讨论过我的研究计划。导师在修改意见中表示可以考虑用他所建议的纳米颗粒来装载药物，而我却认为另一种纳米颗粒会更好。于是我查阅了这种纳米颗粒的相关资料，找到了它的优点，证明了使用它的合理性，并大胆地和导师阐述了我的理由。导师最终接受了我的观点，称赞这是一个Good idea并让我按这个思路继续写下去。”珉玮认为，只要找到能够证明自己观点合理性的论据，就要勇敢地表达自己的看法。“广以培养了我大胆质疑和独立思考的能力，我觉得这种能力会让我终身受用。”
在探寻知识和追逐理想的道路上，珉玮始终保持勤奋认真严谨的态度，步步为营去攻克一个又一个难关。他用“路漫漫其修远兮，吾将上下而求索”来形容自己的大学生涯。“这四年让我深切体会到知识的广阔性，也认识到想达到自己的理想，还有很长的路要走。”
珉玮小时候的理想是当一名医生，但由于高考成绩无法达到心仪的医学院，于是他决定“曲线救国”，去探索药物领域，离自己的“医学梦”更近一些。 “我喜欢去探索和挑战人类目前普遍存在的问题，其中之一就是癌症。目前虽然有很多方法去治疗癌症，但以传统化疗为例，虽然有一定的效果，但也逐渐展现出了它的弊端。因此，人类亟需一个新型的癌症治疗手段。”
珉玮表示，尽管自己一开始就对药物治疗癌症这个方面感兴趣，但真正让他确定未来研究方向的动力，还是起源于广以《基础生物纳米技术》这门专业选修课程。“这门课主要讲了生物纳米技术的应用，当中涉及纳米药物治疗癌症的知识。这门课给我提供了一个药物治疗癌症的新思路---运用纳米药物更高效地治疗癌症。”通过阅读大量的文献，珉玮进一步确定这个方向是他想深入探索的领域。“可以说这门课让我定下了我研究生阶段期望研究的方向，也为我后面研究计划的写作提供了知识背景和基础。”
珉玮希望自己未来能够成为一名真正的科研人员，在实验室里安静沉稳、认真严谨地探索他感兴趣的研究领域。“科学是一个很大的话题，我选择的这个研究领域有很好的前景，我也将面临更多的挑战。我希望我能够一直坚持下去，上下求索，不断学习。我期望在未来的某个时候，我的研究方向和成果能够对中国药物和人类健康的发展有所贡献。”
到网申时，珉玮的研究计划已经修改到了第五版本。
“大四下学期申请研究型硕士的那段时间，可以用身心俱疲来形容。”由于第一版研究计划完成得比较晚，当珉玮在剑桥大学教授的推荐下找到伦敦大学学院的导师，他看了研究计划和相关资料后表示愿意继续和珉玮往下讨论时，已经是2021年的4月份，时间非常紧张。
“研究计划的写作和修改需要阅读大量文献，而且我申请的研究方向和我本科方向不同，这是一个耗费时间和精力的过程。”在这期间，珉玮依旧保持自己对课业的高要求。“想同时做好这两件事是很难的。我先保证我课业的标准，再抽时间去完成研究计划的写作和修改。我也告诉自己如果这个难关攻克不了，那何谈今后顺利实现自己的理想呢？那段时间，我基本上没有怎么休息，感觉自己一直在‘运转’。所幸的是，我最终顺利完成了研究计划的修改，得到了导师的许可开始网申，同时学业上也取得了不错的成绩。”
珉玮认为自己能顺利挺过这段难熬的时光，不仅是靠自身的努力和毅力，更离不开父母的支持、老师们的关心和朋友们的鼓励。“我的父母非常尊重我的想法，让我遵循自己的选择和兴趣。感谢广以的教授和老师，当我在课业问题上有不懂的问题，他们总是能尽快耐心解答，还时不时关心着我研究型硕士申请进度并给予我鼓励。朋友们的关心在那段时间也给了我很大的帮助。最后，还得感谢学校自动售货机里的咖啡。”珉玮打趣地说道。
课余时间，珉玮积极参加志愿者活动，本科四年共参与了十余项志愿项目。大二期间，他作为朋辈导师为2018级的同学提供基础化学和常微分方程辅导课；大三时作为概率与统计导论这门课的助教，协助教授为同学们批改作业，并解答同学们关于作业批改上的疑问。
乐于助人的他总结了自己申请研究生的经验，以讲座和文件的形式向学弟学妹们分享了英国研究型硕士项目申请和研究计划写作等方面的心得，希望能让即将面临升学问题的学弟学妹们少走点“弯路”。“期望他们能够在接下来的申请季中，取得更大的成就。”
“在课业学习方面，遇到问题首先还是要多思考和提问，多去参加教授的Office hour，向老师请教你的学习、发展规划、研究方向等问题，教授都会很乐意解答。”他告诉同学们不要惧怕提问，“教授不会认为你的问题很愚蠢，相反他会觉得你是一个善于思考的学生。在提问的同时，也要保持自己独立思考的习惯，这对今后的学习有很大帮助。”
在珉玮看来，对待学习一定要保持勤奋认真的态度，对待科研工作更是如此。他提醒师弟师妹们大学阶段的学习难免遇到各种各样的挑战，遇到困难时，不要轻易放弃，要一步一步去克服。“我在本科期间几乎每一门课程都配备一个笔记本。我会把老师上课讲授的内容，在课后总结到笔记本上，这样是把上课的知识又巩固复习了一遍，这对知识的掌握很有帮助。在期末考试复习时，对照笔记本复习，也会使自己思维思路更加清晰，复习更效率。我还有一个提问本，自己在课堂上或课后有不懂的问题，我会及时记录到提问本上。在做题目出现错误时，我会总结错误的原因，遇到不懂的问题时，我会不断探索、钻研和提问，直到把它们弄清楚为止。”
在升学和未来发展方面，珉玮建议想申请英国研究型硕士项目的同学尽早完成研究计划并开始套磁，这样时间更加充裕，机会也会更多一些。“最重要的还是要有自己的兴趣或者理想，兴趣是最好的老师，要知道自己以后想做什么、想研究什么领域，这样在整个申请以及学习过程中你都会更有动力。”
更多广以毕业生的故事
The first cohort students were graduated from Guangdong Technion - Israel Institute of Technology this year. The series of interviews with the graduates from Class of 2021 will show their stories with GTIIT in the past four years. Here is the story about Liu Minwei, a student of Class of 2021 from Chemical Engineering Program.
Name: Liu Minwei
High School: Hubei Shuiguohu Senior High School
Program: Chemical Engineering
Received offers from:
University College London, Surgery and Interventional Science Program
University College London, Pharmaceutics Program
The University of Edinburgh, Medicinal and Biological Chemistry Program
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Biochemical and Biomedical Sciences Program
Awards:
GTIIT Extra-Curricular Scholarship
GTIIT Excellent Communist Youth League Member
Special Award of the Writing Group in the 2020 FLTRP Cup National English Speaking, Writing and Reading Contest in Guangdong Province
The third prize of the Writing Group in the National Finals of the 2020 FLTRP Cup National English Speaking, Writing and Reading Contest
Liu Minwei, is tough and calm in his heart. He has a clear goal, rigorous attitude toward academics and the pursuit of dream. It’s believed that he can become a good scientist in the future with the valuable quality. Minwei is going to study at University College London, Surgery and Interventional Science Program (MPhil), to pursue his dream in a new journey of his life.
Every little makes a mickle
When talking about his study and life at GTIIT, Minwei's sense of achievement and satisfaction is palpable. "GTIIT provides us with an international platform, which broadens my horizon, cultivates my innovative thinking ability, enables me to learn the necessary skills for scientific research, and makes me closer to my dream."
Liu Minwei compares learning to a process of accumulation. “Almost every core course needs to use the knowledge learned before. Only when the knowledge of the previous course is firmly mastered, the later course can be learned more easily.”
Minwei believes that his biggest gain at GTIIT are the habit of independent thinking and asking questions efficiently. “I used to ask my teachers questions in high school, so when I first came to GTIIT, I often attended professors' office hours or made email appointments with them to ask questions. But after a period of study, I found that I could not only seek help from the professor. Before or after asking questions, I looked up relevant textbooks in the library or literature on the Internet, and then combined with the answers and thoughts from the professors. It was actually more helpful to solve problems.”
The ability to think independently proved crucial in Minwei's postgraduate application process. “When I applied for Master of Philosophy at UCL, I discussed my research proposal with my supervisor. He suggested that I could consider using the nanoparticles he suggested to load the drugs, but I thought another nanoparticle would be better. Therefore, I looked for relevant literature of this nanoparticle, found its advantages, proved the rationality of using it, and explained my reasons to my supervisor. He finally accepted my idea, praised it as a good idea and told me to keep going along it.” Minwei believes that one should be brave enough to speak up as long as he can find evidence to support his opinion. "GTIIT cultivates my ability to question bravely and think independently, which I think will be useful to me all my life."
In the pursuit of knowledge and dream, Minwei has always been diligent, serious and rigorous, conquering one difficulty after another step by step. "These four years let me deeply appreciate the breadth of knowledge, but also realize that I still have a long way to go to achieve my dream."
Be persistent because of my dream
Minwei hoped to be a doctor when he was a child, but he couldn't get into his ideal medical school because of his Gaokao scores, so he decided to explore the field of medicine to get closer to his dream. "I like to explore and challenge the most common problems humanity faced today, and one of them is cancer. At present, there are many ways to treat cancer. However, taking traditional chemotherapy as an example, although it has a certain effect, it also gradually shows its disadvantages. Therefore, a new cancer treatment is urgently needed."
Although he is initially interested in drug treatments for cancer, Minwei says the real impetus for his future research comes from his elective course Fundamentals of Bionanotechnology. "This course focuses on the application of bionanotechnology, which involves the knowledge of nanomedicine to treat cancer. It gives me a new idea for drug treatment of cancer - using nanodrugs to treat cancer more efficiently." After reading extensive literature, Minwei further identified the direction he wanted to explore further. "It can be said that this course helps me set the direction of my postgraduate research, and also provides a knowledge background and foundation for my later research proposal writing."
Minwei hopes to become a real researcher in the future, focusing on his research in the laboratory. "Science is a big topic. The field I have chosen has great prospect and I will face more challenges. I wish I could keep going, keep searching, keep learning. I hope that at some point in the future, my research and achievements can contribute to the development of medicine in China and human health in the world."
All efforts will pay off
By the time of submitting application online, Minwei's research proposal was in its fifth edition.
"It was exhausting in my senior year when applying for Master of Philosophy." Because of the late completion of the first version of his research proposal, it was already April 2021 when Minwei was finally admitted to apply online after he went to the supervisor of UCL on the recommendation of the professor of University of Cambridge, and the professor reviewed the research proposal and relevant materials and expressed his willingness to continue the discussion with Minwei.
"Writing and revising research proposal requires a lot of literature review, and the research direction I apply for is different from my undergraduate program. It is a time and energy consuming process." During this period, Minwei also maintained high standards for his academic performance. "It's hard to do well in both at the same time. For me, I have to do well in my schoolwork first, and then finish the writing and revision of my research proposal. I tell myself that if I can't overcome this difficulty, how can I realize my dream in the future? Fortunately, I successfully completed the revision of my research proposal, got permission from my tutor to apply online, and achieved good academic results."
Minwei believed he went through that time not only because of his hard work and perseverance, but also the support from his parents, teachers and friends. "My parents are very respectful of my ideas and let me follow my own choices and interests. My teachers at GTIIT always answers mu questions patiently. They also care about my application progress and give me great encouragement. My friends also helped me a lot during that time. The coffee in the vending machine at campus is also helpful." Minwei said jokingly.
Always be willing to help others
In his spare time, Minwei took part in volunteer activities and participated in more than 10 volunteer projects during his undergraduate years. In the sophomore year, he worked as a peer tutor to provide tutorials of Fundamentals of Chemistry and Ordinary Differential Equations for the Cohort 2018. As a teaching assistant of Intro.to Probability and Statistics in his junior year, he assisted the professor in answering questions about the homework for students.
Minwei summed up his experience in applying for postgraduate universities and shared his experience in writing research proposals and applying for the UK master's program in the form of lectures and documents, hoping to help students who are facing the confusion of applying universities make fewer mistakes. "I expect them to make great achievements in the coming application period."
"In terms of academic study, the first thing we can do is to think and ask questions, attend the professor's office hour more often. The professors are willing to give suggestions in the aspects of study, career development, research direction, etc." He told the junior students not to be afraid to ask questions. "The professors won't think your questions are stupid, he'll think you're a thoughtful student rather. While asking questions, you should also keep the habit of thinking independently, which will help a lot in future study."
In Minwei's opinion, one must be diligent and serious in study, especially in research work. He reminds the junior students that they may inevitably encounter various challenges in their university study. When facing difficulties, never give up easily and overcome them step by step. "I have a notebook for almost every course during my undergraduate years. I will summarize the key points in the notebook after class, which is to review the knowledge in class again. When reviewing for final exams, the notebooks will also help you think more clearly and study more efficiently. I also have a notebook to record the questions in time. When there is any mistake, I will sum up the reason and try my best to figure it out."
In terms of future development, Minwei advises students who want to apply for Master of Philosophy program to complete their research proposal as early as possible, so that they have more time and opportunities. "The most important thing is to have your own interests or dreams. Knowing what you want to do and study in the future will keep you motivated throughout the application and learning process."
更多广以毕业生的故事
文：GTIIT传媒与公共事务部图：刘珉玮、GTIIT传媒与公共事务部
Text: GTIIT News & Public Affairs
Photos: Liu Minwei, GTIIT News & Public Affairs