Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Mechanics, Electronics, Materials Engineering, Computers Science… Geng Mingmeng has studied many subjects at SUSTech. During four years, he left his mark on each class, as well as on many extra-curricular activities and organisations.

He is a highly recognized graduate and has received awards at 10 provincial or higher levels for academic competitions in Mathematical Modeling, International Genetic Engineering Machine (IGEM), National Electronic Design Contest, ASC World College Supercomputer Contest and various others. He not only enjoys the fun of competing with other students, but also challenging himself to find solutions to problems and grow his skills.

He loves history, movies and sports, and never hesitates to share his experience if it can help his younger peers. He served as a student representative and as the Student Council Secretary, and also as a college counselor assistant during the new class. Later he even became vice-President of the Student Council, and devoted his time to rebuilding the Mathematical Modeling Association here at SUSTech. According to his friends, he is an “enthusiastic maverick and straight A student.”

Geng graduates this year from the biomedical engineering department, and after graduation he is heading to the French Polytechnic Institute of Engineering, one of the most prestigious “Grandes Ecoles” (elite universities) of France.

“No matter how much I would have scored, my first choice would always be SUSTech”

“I came to a fork in the road of my life, and I chose the less travelled one“. At the opening ceremony of 2015, President Chen shared this line from Robert Frost‘s poem “The road”, which struck a chord with Geng.

In 2013, when SUSTech was still shrouded in the unknown for most people, his friends and felt that although Shenzhen is a city that is full of energy and opportunities, spending 4 years as SUSTech may not be the best choice for him. Geng however was determined and sought out as much information about the university as possible, finally deciding firmly that it was the place for him believing that it was the best place to grow himself as a person, develop his research interests, and ultimately, contribute to the university’s future.

Now after four years of studying hard, he reminisces: “If I had to make the decision again at the time, it’s possible I wouldn’t have chosen it. However knowing what I know now, in retrospect, I would definitely say it is the best choice by far”.

Develop yourself in a multidimensional environment

          In Geng’s view, the approach people have nowadays to university has changed a lot, college entrance examination scores are now everybody’s biggest concern, and the university’s evaluation criteria becomes very punctual and bureaucratic. However he believes that academic performance should not be the only criteria to judge a student’s capabilities.

          When it came to choosing a university, Geng admits that at first he didn’t really know which one would be the most suitable. “I had to cast a wide net out to consider all possibilities. But even this approach is selective,” he says. “When you choose to join an organization, a community, there are three questions to consider: what can you bring to the organization? What can the organization bring you? Those ones are easy. The third is what does the organization give to the people around it?

At first, most of his endeavours ended in failure: the Class Committee Election, Student Council Comitte, the first round of the debating contest… However these failures were a way for him to learn that not everything may be suitable for him, or that his own potential hasn’t fully developed yet. They also served to make him especially proud of his successes: at his second candidacy in the debating competition he came first, winning the final.

In student affairs he also met success thanks to his experiences and his perseverance. After becoming a student representative, he was appointed as secretary of the Student Council where he was handling statistics, issuing announcements, arranging meetings and taking care of many other administrative tasks. Before any announcement and publication, the university seniors would carefully review and correct his errors, whether it was incorrect format, wording or inappropriate content… he said he is still very grateful to them, it allowed him to develop a very rigorous working ethic. “I took careful note of all the suggestions the seniors gave me to improve myself, and ultimately I became vice president of the Student Council. I in turn want to help as much as possible the younger generation and I hope the senior students will always do so”.

Contests are a stage for you to flex your intellect

In Geng’s resume, you can see a list of competition awards: International Genetic Engineering Machine Competition (IGEM) – gold medal, the United States of America students Mathematical modeling contest – first prize, the National Mathematical Contest – second prize, “Shenzhen Cup “Mathematical Modeling Challenge – First Prize, and so on.

          For the IGEM, during his first year summer vacation he chose to stay at the university. The team was divided into an experimental group and a modeling group, and he joined the latter. He used to consider biology as one of his future career prospects, but the experiments he was involved in actually made him realise that it was not what he wanted. The team’s seniors had great influence on him, and Geng was determined to use them as role models to learn from them and to begin training in the basic skills of academic research.

          Him and his team put in a lot of time and effort into the IGEM project, resulting in them taking home the top prize.

          The mathematical modeling competition also helped him a lot. The first time that he participated in the “Shenzhen Cup” Mathematical Modeling Challenge, he didn’t pass the first stage, but that led him to start using LaTeX, and he learned a lot about mathematics and computer science, as well as other disciplines. He believes that participating in mathematical modeling competitions is key to learning skills, because new knowledge to solve problems, and teamwork is important: “You want to know the advantages of your teammates, but also their shortcomings, know when they may be wrong, so as to avoid mistakes and problems.

          In addition to scientific competitions, Geng used his experience to give advice and guide the younger students in their academic choices, especially in the mathematical modeling class. In his second year he taught first year students during their summer vacation, he was constantly looking at the slides without daring to look at the students and constantly worried about what to say next. “Later, doing classes was much more relaxed, and I could be very natural and teach the younger students how to communicate. But it was definitely not easy at first”.

“A Comprehensive Range” to find your own way

Geng says he is not the kind of person to give up easily. Interested in a wide range of topics, he always wanted to learn more, try more. SUSTech offers two years of comprehensive training before choosing a specialty, something that he liked very much. In the morning he would be reasoning in the maths class, in the afternoon he would be in the biology laboratory, he’d then have dinner in the evening with physics students talking about their subjects, and would struggle at debugging code at night. “The wide variety of subjects is great, something which is not available in other universities. At the beginning at SUSTech we were not many students in the class, but every day we would study different subject backgrounds and have different teachers and classmates to discuss and exchange with, it was very interesting”.

“There are two kinds of search algorithms in the computer, those with width first and those with depth first. I consider myself as the first kind. I’m all in the width and the memory used, it is sometimes the most suitable for finding the optimal solution.”. Geng tried almost all of the courses except one or two such as law, and he gradually eliminated the ones which he realised would not be an appropriate career for him. “For some subjects I already knew after one or two classes. However I can’t rule them out without at least giving it a try.“

          This method of choosing also meant that he had to take many more courses, so he learned a wider range of knowledge, which made it difficult to focus especially on one subject. “I have seen many students that choose one discipline straight away, especially mathematics, physics and computer science, but I don’t recommend doing that.”. They have chosen to limit themselves and I have learned so much. I feel it is important to gain knowledge for your own sake, even if you don’t get a high score in that particular topic, you learn it for yourself. I don’t want to be locked away in an academic ivory tower, I want to be involved in different disciplines”.

          The Biomedical engineering course is diverse to say the least. Elective courses include biology, electronics, computer, maths and other specialised courses which were all very interesting for him, but that was not his final choice for his future career. After learning about medical image processing, he did some laboratory-related image processing in the lab and found that other areas of image processing were interesting. In order to further study, he also looked at image processing from the mathematical point of view and found that it was also very interesting.

          “I can not rule out the possibility of engaging in mathematics or even other subjects in this industry,” he jokes. “I’ve had a lot of surprising stories during the past four years.”

On the road of continual learning

          After graduating from SUSTech, Geng will go to the Paris Polytechnic Institute of Engineering to continue his studies. The first year he will learn French and mathematics, physics, computer science and economics; the second year will focus on pure mathematics, applied mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, computer science, mechanics, economics and from the eight disciplines he will need to select three or four. The third year he will have to determine his final direction; and the fourth year he will transfer to another school of his choice to study and obtain his double degree. “Although the academic system is very long, it is very suitable for me, and I hope to spend more time in advanced courses in mathematics, physics and computer science, because soon there will be no chance to learn anymore”.

          He sums up his four years of SUSTech as a constant process of trying, a period of growing. “Some of the values ​​people have may be the same at the beginning, but four years later we may choose a completely different road. You have no way of knowing what is right. 4 years is not enough to evaluate a person, after all, life is a very long process”.

Text: Student News Agency Wei Xin

Image: student news agency Liu Jingyu

Edited by: Jeremy Welburn