Support, resources lauded by experts

Southern University of Science and Technology, celebrating 10 years since its establishment, has cemented its place among China's top universities thanks to its unwavering support for fundamental scientific research.

Zhang Liyuan, a professor in SUSTech's Department of Physics since 2014, knows firsthand how important the university's support and resource allocation is in fostering effective research. He leads a group of researchers exploring the understanding of fundamental quantum physics, with the aim of uncovering novel quantum phenomena, new states of matter and new potential applications for future quantum computational and informational devices.

Before joining SUSTech, Zhang received his PhD in physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2007. He then worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Purdue University, Brookhaven National Laboratory and the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

He has published more than 30 papers in high-impact journals such as Nature, Nature Physics, Physical Review Letters, Advanced Materials and Nano Letters.

Many of these achievements have been made possible by the rapid development of SUSTech over its first 10 years, Zhang said.

"There has been a huge change over the years," he said. "Just looking at the data, there is an exponential increase. When we began, we had less than 100 faculty, and now recently Times Higher Education ranked SUSTech as the eighth top university in the Chinese mainland. That is an amazing result for such a young university."

The university in a very short time has also expanded internationally, attracting overseas students and exchanging with many other universities.

"We welcome exchange students and also send our students overseas," Zhang said. "For example, our students can go to Georgia Tech and Georgia Tech students can come in. We also cooperate with many other schools in this regard."

Last year, SUSTech welcomed almost 200 overseas students and sent 500 of its own to overseas universities for exchanges.

Zhang's laboratory is a hive of activity with high-tech precision scientific machinery whirring and humming 24 hours a day, which brings him to another important conclusion as to why SUSTech is perfect for passionate researchers and scientists.

"Because I live on campus, I can go from home to the lab in just five minutes, which means I can always be close to my work," he said.