Graduates | 张誉行：兴趣是我前进的动力

Original 广以君广东以色列理工学院 2023-04-29

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#广以毕业生专访 40 个

#广以学子风采 50 个

白驹过隙，又一届毕业生即将奔赴各自人生的星辰大海。四年点滴交织闪耀，光亮照向浩瀚征途。自本期起，广东以色列理工学院2018级本科毕业生系列采访将带大家走进广以学子们的故事，回忆往昔峥嵘岁月，共盼未来似锦前程。

本期我们将与大家分享化学工程专业毕业生张誉行的故事。

优秀毕业生：张誉行

毕业高中：四川省绵阳中学

本科专业：化学工程

录取院校及专业：新加坡国立大学，隆德大学，埃因霍温理工大学，瓦赫宁根大学，阿姆斯特丹大学，新罕布什尔大学PhD，布鲁塞尔自由大学，休斯顿大学PhD

获得奖项：广以本科生院院长嘉许名单，广以学业优秀奖学金三等奖

“我从小就喜欢化学！”聊起自己最爱的学科，张誉行的眼里亮起了光。这个率真的男孩曾在广以创造了一个“传说”——仅用时20分钟便完成了化学考试，并取得了满分的成绩！四年过去，这个从小热爱化学的学生在广以追梦成功，获得休斯敦大学有机化学方向的直博录取。于他而言，在广以的四年时光，是让他从应试教育中脱胎换骨、自由追求所爱的珍贵记忆。

壹

童书启蒙科学梦

广以深挖科研路

引导张誉行步入科学殿堂的，是一段与科学不经意的相遇。“稀奇古怪的化学家”“尖叫的清洁剂”……儿童科普系列丛书《可怕的科学》中夸张的标题、生动的描述，深深吸引了当时还在上小学的张誉行，在他心中埋下了科学的种子。

对于化学世界的渴望，吸引着张誉行在中学阶段不断地“超前学习”，科学的种子也渐渐生根萌芽：初中学业较为轻松，他开始学习高中的化学教材；到了学业任务繁重的高中，他仍然挤时间自学。高二便已自学完成了部分大学化学课程。化学也成为他最得心应手的考试科目之一。但张誉行心里已经有了更远大的目标：他希望自己不止得到卷面的高分，更要跳脱离开传统应试教育，接触到真实的科研世界，与世界一流的人才、知识比肩。

“有机合成需要想象力，或者说是创造力。在脑海中勾勒出分子立体结构、不断思考构建合成路线，抓住这一闪而过的灵感，也许就能找到最优合成路径，大幅缩减耗能。这个过程让我非常着迷。”在深入了解化学学科之后，张誉行锁定了自己的科研兴趣方向：有机化学研究。他也迅速找到广以相关科研方向的教授，向他主动咨询、推荐自己，并获得许可进入课题组，向科研世界正式迈出了第一步。

但真实的科研世界并非象牙塔与乌托邦，更不能只靠天马行空的想象来完成科研的突破。在进入课题组不久，曾经骄傲的少年亲历了残酷的竞争，课题组的一篇文章还未发表已被其他院所“捷足先登”，“不是第一名就输了，只能放弃。” 公认的重要课题、热门课题，往往有很多研究小组同时在做。有机化学属于基础学科，研究工作充满了不确定性。光有想法不够，必须尽快找到最优实验条件，取得实验数据发表，才能确认成功。

选择广以作为开启科研之路的第一站，张誉行感到非常幸运。广以创新育人的环境，让每个本科生都能在低年级加入自己感兴趣的课题组，并有机会参与正在进行的科研攻关项目，每个学生都能从“真枪实弹”的科研任务中提炼学术问题、锻炼实际能力、深挖兴趣方向。这也为包括张誉行在内的许多广以学子在申研、申博时积累了重要科研经验。

良师相伴成长路

科研力量薪火传

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在广以学习，张誉行最大的感受是，每一名学生的尚待挖掘的力量都能“被看见”。学校采取生师比10：1的小班制：课堂上，同学们能与教授有更多的机会直接交流、答疑解惑；课题组里，导师们言传身教，手把手地培养新一代的科研青年。

在初高中应试阶段，张誉行曾因自己的粗心大意吃了不少亏，但进入广以后，导师给他上的第一课就是——严谨对待每一个细节。回忆与导师相处的时光，张誉行虽然压力很大，但更多的时候是心怀感恩：“导师对我非常用心。除了日常的科研任务之外，每周我还需要阅读指定的前沿科研文献，再向他复述内容、分析自己的想法。他非常严厉，常常批评我思考过程中的一些细小差错，标准毫不放松。”在教授的高标准、严要求下，张誉行的粗心得到了改正，渐渐得到教授的认可，培养出科研人必备的严谨习惯。

在与导师相处的过程中，张誉行不知不觉克服了另一大难题——英语口语。大一初入广以，他也与其他“萌新”一样，由于高中阶段更多考察卷面能力，只掌握了难以开口的“哑巴英语”。但在广以的全英教学环境下，课堂与教授交流、小组作业上台展示、与课题组导师交流也让同学们“不得不开口”。张誉行表示，在广以的学习不仅克服了许多中国学生最为头疼的英语口语问题，更让他渐渐学会更加自信地表达自己。

张誉行（中）与好友

四年时光转瞬即逝，在广以，张誉行开拓了国际视野，明确了主攻方向，思想更加成熟。从兴趣到事业，曾经懵懂的少年也渐渐有了未来的目标——“成为一名谦虚的学者”。张誉行想告诉学弟学妹：“对化学有兴趣、数理能力不错、具有想象力和创造力的师弟师妹们可以选择广以化学专业。在这里，遇见更好的自己！”

张誉行（左二）与龚新高校长合影

在张誉行入学的2018年，化学相关方向仅开设了化学工程专业。但自今年起，广以引入了又一重要基础学科——以色列理工学院的王牌专业，也是被称为“诺奖摇篮”的化学专业，正式开始招收本科学生。

在这里，广以期待更多热爱化学、有志科研的学子踏上逐光之路！

Following the footsteps of the first cohort, the exciting news is coming from cohort 2018. Students are receiving offers from overseas prestigious universities. Up to now, 101 GTIIT students have received 286 offers of admissions to master/doctoral programs from 83 prestigious universities around the world.

Time flies and the second cohort of students are going to graduate from Guangdong Technion - Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT) this year. From this article, we will present a series of interviews with the graduates from the Class of 2022, to show their stories at GTIIT in the past four years.

Here is the story of Zhang Yuhang, a student of the Class of 2022 from the Chemical Engineering Program.

Zhang Yuhang

High School: Mian Yang High School

Received Offers from：National University of Singapore, Lund University, Eindhoven University of Technology, Wageningen University & Research,

University of Amsterdam, University of New Hampshire(PhD), Free University of Brussels, University of Houston(PhD)

Awards: Dean's list, Academic Excellence Scholarship (3nd Prize)

"I've been loving chemistry since I was a kid!" Talking about his favorite subject, Zhang's eyes lit up. The frank boy once created a "legendary" record in GTIIT – he finished the Chemistry exam in just 20 minutes and got full marks. Four years in GTIIT was a precious memory for Zhang, for he was allowed to chase his dream freely here, and was admitted to prestigious universities including the University of Houston, where he will start his direct doctoral program this autumn.

Childhood Dream Achieved in GTIIT

Zhang first met science in a series of children's books Horrible Science, which was designed to get children interested in science by concentrating on the trivial and unusual. Zhang, still a primary school student at that time, was fascinated by the description by the authors and the "seed" of chemistry was soiled in his brain.

The "seed" grew in the following years. Out of his desire for more Chemistry knowledge, Zhang started his "pre-study" – he learned the high school textbooks in middle school, and managed to finish some college courses by himself in the second year in high school, during which Chemistry also became his best subject, but he was not satisfied with just high grades. Zhang had a bigger plan for the future: he hoped to enter the real scientific world, to learn and work with the top talents. Thus, he chose GTIIT to start his science journey.

"Organic Chemistry requires imagination and creativity. Inspiration for the best reaction path may come up when you are reflecting on it. That's why I am fascinated by this process." Zhang soon settled down for his research interest and managed to join the research group focusing on Organic Chemistry, taking the first step to his dream.

However, the real world is neither an ivory tower nor a utopia, while scientific breakthroughs can never rely on imagination. The harsh reality taught the once proud boy a lesson. Another research group published the article on a similar topic before Zhang's group. "For scientific discoveries, you lose if you are not the first one," Zhang said. There are often many research groups working on the same important or popular topics at the same time. Organic chemistry is a basic discipline with uncertainties, so it requires the researchers to find the optimal experimental conditions and publish the article with real experiment data as soon as possible, rather than just posting an idea.

Zhang feels lucky to have chosen GTIIT as the first station to start research. GTIIT provides an innovative environment, allowing the students to join the research group based on their interests in their junior years, and participate in the ongoing research projects, during which they can extract academic ideas, gaining practical abilities and exploring science interests. This also enables students including Zhang to accumulate experience for further study.

Knowledge Torch Passing by Mentors

The potential of every student can be seen here in GTIIT, said Zhang. The ratio of students to teachers is about 10:1, enabling each student to exchange ideas with the professors; providing time for professors to guide students through the more complicated questions in the research.

In middle school,Zhang screwed up on the test several times, for his carelessness, which was criticizedby his mentor in GTIIT. Looking back on the time with his mentor, Zhang was stressed but with more gratitude. "He is a committed teacher, who will guide me to read the recently-published articles. He is strict to me, and will point out some small mistakes in my ideas," Zhang recalls. It was the guidance of thementor that made Zhang successfully get out of the habit of carelessness and become more professional.

At the same time, Zhang found he unconsciously improved his oral English. When first came to GTIIT, same as other freshmen, Zhang lacked the experience of speaking English and was also afraid to do that. In GTIIT's English-medium environment, students are urged to open their mouths, to communicate, present and study in English. Zhang pointed out that studying in GTIIT helps Chinese students like him improve both their language and skills of communication.

Zhang (middle) with Friends

Four years passed, and Zhang broadened his vision, determined his direction, and became more mature. Chemistry is not just an interest, but a lifelong career goal for him. "For students who are interested in Chemistry, good at math and science, with imagination and creativity, welcome to GTIIT!" Zhang wanted to tell the freshmen.

Zhang (Second from the Left) with Chancellor Gong

In 2018, Zhang was enrolled by the Chemical Engineering Program, one of the three programs provided by GTIIT at that time. This year, GTIIT opened the Chemistry Program, waiting for more students with passion for Chemistry and the aim of scientific research.

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