From May 18 to 21, 2023, the 8^th Innovation Cup National Geophysical Knowledge Competition for College Students took place at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in Hefei, China.

The Department of Earth and Space Sciences (ESS) at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) sent two representative teams composed mainly of undergraduate students. The teams from SUSTech won several awards for their performance in written examinations, video presentations, on-site presentations and debate. The Solid Earth Geophysics Team won the Special Prize and the Gravity, Electric, and Magnetic Survey Team won the Third Prize.

Haoqi LI, an undergraduate student at SUSTech, won the Best Individual Award in the Solid Earth Geophysics Group, and Chunquan YU, Associate Professor of the Department of ESS, won the Best Instructor Award in the Solid Earth Geophysics Group.

Xiaofei CHEN, Chair Professor and Head of the SUSTech ESS Department, was invited to deliver a keynote speech at the competition. He hoped that participating universities would take the opportunity to explore an effective way to cultivate innovative, interdisciplinary, and application-oriented talents by combining the characteristics of disciplines and majors.

A total of 73 teams from 32 universities across the country, including Peking University, USTC, Tongji University, China University of Geosciences, and Jilin University, participated in the competition.

“This competition is not only a test and training of basic knowledge and comprehensive ability, but also a stage to showcase ourselves and allow us to gain knowledge, ability, and friendship. This competition is of great significance and a great asset to our growth,” said participating team members from SUSTech.

A faculty member of a participating team said that the “National Geophysical Knowledge Competition for College Students has become a major event for mutual learning and exchange and will continue to provide innovative talent training and further promote the talent cultivation in the field of geophysics”.

Associate Professor Chunquan YU led the Solid Earth Geophysics team, and its members included undergraduate students Shaodong LI, Haoqi LI, and Zizhuang TANG, and a graduate student Chenxin SHUAI.

The Gravity, Electric, and Magnetic Survey team was led by Dikun YANG, Assistant Professor of the Department of ESS, and comprised undergraduate students Junhao HU, Jiawei LU, and Deyang WANG, and a graduate student Daopu WANG.

The Innovation Cup National Geophysical Knowledge Competition for College Students is a national first-level competition jointly sponsored by the Chinese Geophysical Society (CGS) and the Steering Committee of Teaching in Geophysics of the Ministry of Education.