INTERVIEW
It’s not easy to fix the time for an in-depth interview with President CHEN Shiyi. As an entrepreneur, CHEN Shiyi’s routine life is always on the run.
His daily schedule is always tight. “President Chen is like a ball of fire, full of dynamic and working in high intensity,” said his office staff. This accords with the paces of his 12 years of life since he returned to China – Setting up the College of Engineering at Peking University in 2005; assuming the second presidency of SUSTech in 2015, constantly jumping out of the comfort zone to be the pioneer of new enterprises.
Yet, it is common to run into the President for SUSTech students. Graduate student of Chemistry YANG Jiong encounters the President once every one or two weeks and even runs with him on the playground. “He is in his sportswear. We all greet him and he always responds enthusiastically.”
In the afternoon, at 6:00, I finally got the hard-won opportunity to meet him. “Sorry to have kept you waiting,” said CHEN Shiyi, smiling in a weary look, cupping his hands.
CHEN Shiyi greeting the faculty and students of SUSTech at the 2017 Spring Festival
Looking out of the window of the office, SUSTech is like a land of idyllic beauty.
Surrounded by nine mountains and one lake in lavish green, one feels calm and peaceful as if nature has blended with the buildings. The trees stand along the lakeside. Young people are either reading books or holding group discussions at the waterside. Six faculty apartment buildings more than 10-storeys high stand in neat order at the east side of the campus. In hisComprehensive Documentary of the Returned American Lifetime Professor, Professor DENG Weiwei wrote: “The six apartment buildings probably are one of the places with the highest density of professors in the world: in a range of 80 meters by 120 meters live nearly 300 professors… It is an intellectual community in the literal sense.”
This is the “Utopia” of the scientific world, and its concept is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. I stopped more than a half dozen of students among the crowd flocking from the teaching building and asked them why they applied for SUSTech, and the answers were the same with no exception: “Because the university’s philosophy is worth pursuing.”
CHEN Shiyi seldom accepted special interviews in his more than two years presidency, as he was always overwhelmed with work. Today, the truth-seeking and pioneering spirit has become the distinctive style of the university.
When asked how he evaluates himself, he told me, “I am someone with ideals and sentiments, but I am also pragmatic. For an idealist, the most important thing is to make it happen.”
SUSTech came out with ideals. Students have many choices and rights here. The most typical manifestation is the 2+2 model: the first two years are for general education. Juniors can choose their own professions and there is no restriction on the number of students for each profession. “It’s the most amazing thing,” said ZHANG Zhichao, an undergraduate of Chemistry of Class 2013. “We are free to make our choices for our professions. But at least in my class, the distribution of professions is relatively even, there are no particularly popular or unpopular ones.”
This balance is rare in universities in China, I said to CHEN Shiyi. He smiled slightly. “Because under the 2+2 system, the teachers will seriously consider the positioning of the colleges and departments and actively publicize the disciplines. We are student-oriented, and the teachers have to strive to win over students. The students have two years to think about what profession they are suitable for. It’s very scientific, and very humane.”
On the Internet, some eye-catching titles are redefining the University in the waves of reform — “SUSTech is the in-system reform,” “Refusing to be the second Peking University or Tsinghua University.” In the face of a variety of voices, CHEN Shiyi remains very calm: “We just want to be SUSTech.” He linked the positioning of the university with the region’s development and historical role. “Shenzhen is one of the most successful cities in terms of economic development in China since the reforms and opening up. But due to historical reasons, the higher education is one of the shortcomings of the city. Shenzhen has recognized the significance of higher education for a sustainable future development of the city in the new stage, and has provided resources, land, demand direction for various types of higher education, including SUSTech; on the other hand, the universities offer talent, technology and cultural support to Shenzhen. The growth of the universities should be closely intertwined with the growth of the city.”
Teachers and students in the campus are experiencing the transformation together. “Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship” has become the university’s three pillars to stand out with distinctive characteristics. Building it into a research university with the top entrepreneurs in China is the expectation of CHEN Shiyi for SUSTech.
“Before we could respond, the university has placed more choices before us,” said student ZHANG Zhichao. With the establishment of the College of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the university encourages students to practice. Graduate students can enjoy the dual tutorial system with basic research supervised by university professors and innovation needs satisfied by off campus instructors hired by the university. Some students have even started their business successfully. Two years ago, soon after the “entrepreneurial wind” blew, a student set up an online restaurant. And now it has three or four franchises with annual sales of nearly 10 million yuan.
CHEN Shiyi at the campus of SUSTech
The school also encourages professors to start businesses. After approval, the professor can work in the company one day a week. At the same time, the university has formulated strict rules and regulations to ensure that professors focus their energy on teaching and research. Over the past two years, the professors of SUSTech have set up 25 enterprises to promote the transformation of scientific knowledge into commercial applications. “On a fertile land of entrepreneurship in Shenzhen, keeping professors trapped in the campus is definitely not the way to develop a university” CHEN Shiyi stated, “the academic freedom of the university is to respect the choices of the professors. It is to provide a quiet research environment for professors dedicated to academics and a platform for innovative and enterprising professors to integrate research findings with social needs”.
“I have a restless heart. I love new challenges, and I love making changes.”
In 2005, CHEN Shiyi was the head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University. In the same year, he received an invitation from Peking University for the post of Dean of the College of Engineering. “I thought at that time, it would be nice to be the dean, but even better to be the lab director, so I could spend more time on my own research. But to a certain extent, at my age, reaching 50, I thought I could try something different.” This invitation shifted his role from a scientist to an administrator and a reformer.
CHEN Shiyi at Peking University
His change was closely representative of the change Peking University was going through. 2009 was the fourth year since the College of Engineering was established. When a new student asked a senior fellow where the administration office in the College of Engineering was, she replied in bewilderment, “The College of Engineering? Is it in Peking University?”. 8 years later, in the World University Rankings 2017 released by Times Higher Education, Peking University ranks 12th in the subject of engineering, which even surprised CHEN Shiyi. “Though the subject of engineering also includes computer and electronics, it is sufficient to show that the College of Engineering plays an important role in the engineering development of Peking University.”
Today’s achievement makes CHEN Shiyi have more confidence about the direction SUSTech is taking. However, 12 years ago, he was still confident even in a 100-square-meter small building without employees. “With regards to the good condition in Peking University, why is it difficult to build a College of Engineering?”
At that time, he considered taking a direction contrary to the tradition: the target is engineering science, which is a combination of the College of Engineering with other subjects in Peking University including science, arts, medicine and mechanics. On the one hand, he cannot imitate Tsinghua University and has to develop subjects separately. What are the strengths of Peking University? As science, arts and medicine are all strengths of Peking University, the development of engineering should rely on its science. As Peking University’s Mechanics thrives from its solid foundation in Mathematics and Mechanics, it can carry out some theoretical and core scientific research to be different from the engineering research in Tsinghua University.
On the other hand, he also considered the social need in the future. “As engineering is closely related to science, we need to explore more in engineering and change the discoveries into our future tools. For this, Peking University should be at the forefront of engineering to lead its future development.” He uses the example of AI. As AI is related to big data collection and calculation, which is connected to mathematics and physics, it is clear that the core of engineering technology is science.
“I am an optimist,” during the interview, he emphasized the importance of confidence, “Confidence is the basis for patience. One has to make painstaking efforts for success. Never Mind. Just do it.” When I asked him about his decision to come back to China to be a manager, some feelings exuded obliviously, “In my view, being a scientist is easy. Back in America, I only focused on science, strolling around the campus, making research and spending some time figuring out solutions. However, a manager will face more complicated difficulties and environments than scientists. And there is no difference between China and other countries.”
Despite setbacks and controversies, both the College of Engineering and Mechanics have done a good job. Mechanics once descended to the 5th place in the National Subject Rankings before bouncing back to 1st place along with Tsinghua University and the Harbin Institute of Technology, which may be the best reply to previous controversies. “It has been 12 years since I came back in 2005. Now I think the College of Engineering in Peking University has developed significantly and is widely recognized across China.” CHEN Shiyi mentioned that recently, the Ministry of Education is planning new engineering projects and Peking University represents the direction of comprehensive universities to carry out new engineering. “We are already at the forefront. Following suit, typical comprehensive universities in America such as Harvard University and Brown University have established Colleges of Engineering. Although ours is earlier than theirs, that does not mean that ours is better than theirs. However, at least, we have got the same idea that comprehensive universities should better capitalize on engineering to cultivate talents to serve society.”
Speaking of his research, he is more excited than ever.
“Let me show you my powerpoint presentation. Turbulence is in fact very interesting.” He turns on the computer, starting from the basic concept of the turbulent flow.
Turbulence is a flow regime of fluids which is commonly found in nature, industrial units and our daily life. Airflow, sea flow and people’s blood flow are all related to turbulence. Questions like how to design a plane’s shape to reduce resistance and how to lower the aerodynamic noise of a running train are key factors influencing the success of national aeronautical, aerospace and navigation engineering and are the foundation of national major equipment manufacturing.
He thinks he is lucky. “The job needs personal efforts and favorable climatic, geographical and human conditions.” When he studied for a doctorate at Peking University, he was a student of Mr. ZHOU Peiyuan, China’s best turbulence scholar. In 1987, he went to Los Alamos National Laboratory in the US for his post-doctorate studies and his tutor was Robert Harry Kraichnan, a top scholar on the theory of turbulence and post-doctoral student of Einstein. He had access to advanced equipment and observed the basic physical phenomena of turbulence through simulation with the best computer in the world then.
The most acclaimed work was finished here. In 1992, an article co-published with a partner earned him a high reputation in the academic world. He was the first to propose the lattice Boltzmann method and became the founder of the field. The method combines statistical physics with fluid mechanics to solve partial differential equations and simulate fluid mechanical and other physical and chemical processes, to achieve efficient parallel computing. Scientific achievements were soon transformed and applied in energy and environmental engineering, heat and mass transfer, combustion and multiphase flow, underground seepage and electromagnetic field simulation.
CHEN Shiyi in class
Speaking of his contributions to turbulence research in the early stage, there are a series of facts: In the early 1990s, he broke the world record of the Reynolds number in direct numerical simulation; he was the first to work out the scaling exponent of turbulence and the scaling exponent during convective diffusion; he proposed the theory of mapping closure in turbulence – an important theory of combustion and turbulent diffusion and the foundation of numerical calculation; he proposed the formation mechanism of large-scale vortexes in the nature and explained counter-accumulation of energy.
His academic achievements on the Internet are mainly made before 2005, which gives an impression: His role as a scientist has faded away after he became a manager and reformer. CHEN Shiyi doesn’t think so. He doesn’t wish that people regard his return as a transformation.
“I returned to China and it doesn’t mean that my research began to go downhill after it reached its peak. I think the research I made after returning is better than what I did in the US.” Since 2005, he has held the additional post of Director of Turbulence and Complex System National Key Laboratory of Peking University. “I never stopped my scientific research, at least in Peking University. My best research was done there.”
After returning to China, he focused entirely on the turbulence model. In the perspective of maths, it’s difficult to make direct numerical simulations of turbulence and it’s necessary to build a model. He led his team to propose the constraint large vortex simulation model in turbulence and obtained accurate calculation results of resistance and separated flow. “I combined Kraichnan’s mathematical ideas and ZHOU Peiyuan’s physical ideas to build a physical model which is currently the most possible and best one in my opinion to solve engineering application problems of turbulence; the model is used in aviation, navigation and other fields.”
He owes his achievements in Peking University to the scientific research environment at home which is an important reason why he decided to return to China. “Now the research environment in China is the best in the world in terms of hardware; the basic education for students is not inferior to that abroad; there are also sufficient international exchanges. What’s important is that the Chinese industrial circle needs turbulence research more urgently than the US. The urgent need brings heavy investment in turbulence research and thus promotes the development of the discipline.”
Success belongs to the team not an individual. CHEN Shiyi doesn’t avoid “personal gradual seclusion”. Last year, he published 18 papers, more than 10 of which were published on top journals of fluid mechanics. “I was dominant before, but now my colleagues and students are dominant. I think it’s like driving a car; even though I don’t step on the gas, the car is still running. I don’t have much time for research. But it doesn’t matter. I’m a scholar and I’ll continue my research after I leave the post of President.”
His former colleague, a teacher at the Peking University College of Engineering told me, “He’s an absolute leader; he’s energetic to attend to both important matters and trivial ones properly and can choose the right person for a job.”
CHEN Shiyi doesn’t owe his achievements completely to his capability. “Chairman Mao said nothing in the world is difficult for one who sets his mind on it. I’m used to doing research as a practitioner.” He used to raise funds for the Peking University College of Engineering and it turned out to be successful. But before returning, he knew little about fund-raising. He was Chair at Johns Hopkins University then and he turned to people who did fund-raising, learned from them and asked them how to raise funds, talked with others and obtained support. “So I think you achieve success not because you are capable but because you set your mind on one thing.”
CHEN Shiyi (first from left in the back row) finished postgraduate studies at Peking University in 1984
He sets his mind on many things and he knows others in communication. What he said reaches the bottom of people’s heart like an ice-breaking arrow. Many people still remember the scene when he made speeches: he is “very contagious”, “not boastful”, “provides a large quantity of real data” and “his speech is exciting and shows us a bright future”. DENG Weiwei mentioned how CHEN Shiyi persuaded him to return to China in an article. When he met CHEN for the first time, what CHEN Shiyi said impressed him, “If you don’t want to be an academician, you don’t need to go to the SUSTech”. CHEN Shiyi hoped that outstanding young people could reach the peak of academic research.
I asked Chen about leadership. He answered, “To be a so-called leader means to lead people, not himself or herself. The essence of being a leader is to pursue a common ground most of the time and to seek a compromise when there are different opinions”.
He pays attention to the development of his peers and whether talented returnees have platforms to exert their talents. There are many excellent academic leaders abroad. They know about the conditions at home and abroad. If they see the returnees are given better opportunities, many of them will return to China in the future. “A good scientist is also a wise leader. If a good scientist can’t be an academic leader, who else can? I am lucky to secure the opportunity to exploit my talents. Given a better opportunity, many people can be good leaders. This what I have experienced and others also succeed.”
On September 10 2017, CHEN Shiyi shared six photos at the opening ceremony of SUSTech. One of them was the photo of DENG Weiwei and him. DENG Weiwei said, “Joining SUSTech after returning to China is a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ decision.” CHEN Shiyi thinks it’s exactly true.
So far he has made many important decisions: engaging in scientific research, returning to China to establish the Peking University College of Engineering and acting as President of SUSTech in Shenzhen. None of these decisions are made easily, but he regards every decision as a hard-won opportunity and keeps going firmly and confidently. He sees joining SUSTech as the most important and correct decision in his lifetime.
In SUSTech, many professors gave up their steady jobs as teachers in top universities abroad and returned to China. Some of them have financial difficulties, but what attracts them is the opportunity to establish a first-class university together. By joining SUSTech, they may be founders of one of the world’s top universities in the next one or two hundred years.
CHEN Shiyi asked me, “Just think about it, if there is once-in-a-lifetime opportunity before you, will you grasp it?”
Night falls and it’s 19:30. Even if there is a choice made only once in a lifetime, the determination is always done in the twinkling of an eye, “For those who returned to China, they always remember the Chinese nationality deep in their hearts. They hope that China will grow strong and there will be a historically influential university around the whole country. So, I believe that the choice has nothing to do with my persuasion or capability but entirely with the era. The decision we made once in our lifetime is closely related to the development of China and the era of a bright future”.
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