With rich overseas academic and research experience he has been discovering new knowledge in Oceanography; with innovations and confidence he has come to the young but fast-developing SUSTech; and he believes SUSTech will become a world-renowned research base in ocean science and engineering. He is Prof. Yongshun Chen, the new chair at the department of Oceanography at SUSTech.
Prof. Chen received the doctoral degree in geophysics from Princeton University in 1989. After that he worked as Green Scholar postdoc at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD and Assistant and Associate Prof. at College of Oceanography, Oregon State University. He once made pioneering contributions to the dynamics of crustal accretion at ocean spreading centers. In 2001, he was selected into the 4th batch of Chang Jiang Scholars Program of the Ministry of Education of China and joined the faculty at Peking University as a professor in the School of Earth and Space Sciences. In 2002, he was awarded the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars. In 2004-2008, Prof. Chen was apointed as one of the two editors-in-chief of Marine Geophysical Researchers, has served as member of IODP-China Expert Committee and he is now incumbent Chairman of InterRidge.
In the exchange with the journalist, Prof. Chen referred to “We are making history!”serveral times. He elaborated on his overseas experience, expansion of his research interests and his vision of building a new department. Working at SUSTech for about one year, Prof. Chen has been quite active in building of SUSTech Department of Oceanography and has been busy in recruiting new faculty with talents and potential.
Changing Research Interest: Ocean to Land
“My major research interests are in marine geophysics and seismotectonics”, according to Prof. Chen Yongshun. His primary research involves studying marine geophysics, such as structure of the oceanic spreading center under sea water, and plate tectonics theory, etc. Prof. Chen has spent over twenty years working abroad, and during that time he was not familiar with the Chinese efforts in ocean studies for there was little information on Chinese deep-sea studies available in the public domain.
After returning to China, Prof. Chen Yongshun shifted his research interests from marine to land and started to focus on China continental tectonics. He used his start-up fund purchasing 40 broadband seismographs to start the field-oriented seismotectonics program at Peking University. Since 2004, he has started to take Peking University students and teachers to Tibet, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Northeast China, Inner Mongolia and North China to engage in field portable seismic array observations. Basically he has traveled the whole China. Prof. Chen said, “After coming back to China, I found our country has indeed a number of scientific research vessels. In particular, the R/V “Dayang Yihao” research ship owned by COMRA, which mainly does resource-related research/exploration in international waters. It is a little bit different from the deep-sea studies we make and it is little difficult for us to gain the data in our researches from the cruises on R/V Dayang Yihao. When President Chen Shiyi invited me to SUSTech to establish a new department of oceanography, I felt very excited and cherished the opportunity. I will work hard to develop a strong program in ocean sciences and engineering at SUSTech.”
Oceanography is promising in SUSTech
“After receiving invitation from President Chen Shiyi, I did some homeworks and concluded that it is highly likely for a new oceanography program to succeed at SUSTech. Though we are still in the start-up phase, great progress will be made in the future”. According to Prof. Chen, SUSTech has three favorable conditions that can make the dream become reality.
First, SUSTech has sufficient research fund. Oceanography is a “noble” discipline because large-sum expenses are needed for the expensive professional research equipments and for supporting research cruises. Thanks to the strong support from Shenzhen, SUSTech has sufficient fund to support building a strong program in oceanography at the university.
Second, SUSTech has natural advantages in location. All the leading Chinese universities in oceanography are located in coastal areas, such as Ocean University of China, Tongji University and Xiamen University, etc. In general, it is believed to be difficult for the universities off the coast to succeed in oceanography. Because Shenzhen lies in the coastal area of South China Sea, SUSTech has the unique location advantage, which makes it convenient to develop oceanography program in the future.
Last but not least, SUSTech offers a good package to secure the talents. There is a relatively small pool of overseas Chinese scientists in oceanography. SUSTech, as a new university, targets at international development and 10-20% of its faculty members can be foreign experts. Thus the university ensures us build a strong international faculty team.
Prof. Chen Yongshun continued, “These 3 points gave me confidence and helped me to decide to take the opportunity to join SUSTech to establish the oceanography department. I have felt the strong support from the President Shiyi Chen and Shenzhen municipal leaders for building the program in oceanography.”
Leading 1 to 2 international cutting-edge research programs within 5-10 years
Prof. Chen Yongshun focuses on 3 strategic tasks for building the department in oceanography.
First, building a high-quality talent team, which is essentially important for all schools, departments or universities. Discipline development, first of all, relies on introduction of talents.
Second, because oceanography has its own peculiarities, which should rely on platform building and advanced equipment, such as research vessels and equipment for deep-sea sampling, etc. However, professionals’ ideas are needed to choose the instrument. It is necessary to know what international labs have been equiped and what they are doing now. And this is based on introducing the excellent international experts.
Third, participate in and lead the international research programs. In this regard, Prof. Chen explained, “Oceanography study is featured by international cooperation. 60% of world surface is covered by international waters. No country can finish researches in one certain field/orientation by itself. As a result, it’s natural in oceanography that all countries hope to seek international cooperation. At first, SUSTech should participate in these international programs and become a player while mastering the latest progress in international studies. After that, we should work hard to become a leader like USA. I hope SUSTech can lead 1 or 2 international research programs in oceanography within 5-10 years.”
In 2009, Prof. Chen Yongshun headed the Submarine Seismograph Engineers Team from Paris Institute of Earth Physics on Ocean 1 research ship to make the first deep-sea seismography array detection of China in SW Indian Ocean. (Photo)
Capturing the International New Research Tendency in Seminar
“I fully agree with President Chen that talents introduced as new faculty at the university should have international background. Having international vision demands the talent to have wide range of knowledge, fame and to follow the international dynamics. During my 5-year (PhD) graduate study in Princeton University, I tried hard to attend most of the seminars in the Department in various fields in geology and geophysics on the afternoon of each Friday. Though I found it difficult to comprehend the lectures at the beginning, I gradually understood the concepts of different fields. So I learned about other disciplines except for besides geophysics. And this benefited me greatly in the 20-year overseas studies and work. On the other hand, I often attended international workshops in those 20 years so I had strong international exposure. Other people knew what I was studying, making communications and exchanges easier. I think this is why President Chen required that academic leaders should have a global experience as a professor for over ten years, and should have a strong international vision.”
Words for students: We are making history!
“SUSTech students have independent thinking and students choosing SUSTech are not ordinary at all. I believe. I have confidence in SUSTech and believe the students will never regret their decision to come to SUSTech. Not long ago, a leader from the Ministry of Education asked why I gave up the position at Peking University and chose to work at SUSTech, I answered, ‘We are making history!’ I feel so excited to open a new chapter in my career and have the experience to work with my colleagues and students to build a promising SUSTech from its inception stage.”
