Research starts with PhD students

Chapter 14 What is talent? This is talent!

"It's normal for a project to have a million yuan in funding. After all, it's in the computer field, and the Young Elite Scholars can get 200 million or 300 million yuan..."

"A personal reward of 100 million is normal. The research is of great significance!"

“The problem is, it can be completed in one month!”

Luo Yongjun muttered to himself that Zhang Shuo was very corrupt, especially when compared to the project he was working on, where he had been working on a project worth tens of thousands of dollars for two years and did not even have enough money to pay allowances to doctoral students.

Once the comparison is made, there are only two words left - uncomfortable!
He soon felt better.

The Institute of High Energy Physics is collaborating with Zhang Shuo personally, but because Luo Yongjun is Zhang Shuo's doctoral supervisor and has participated in the research work throughout, he will certainly continue to participate in the future and has become one of the participants in the project, and even his name is included in the cooperation agreement.

Even if it was just a sideline participation, it was enough to make Luo Yongjun happy.

He was much more excited than Zhang Shuo, and his lips never closed. "I'm also participating in the project? Am I really capable? Can I be used?"

Zhang Shuo smiled and said, "Teacher Luo, don't underestimate yourself. You have a lot of work to do."

"I'm just a doctoral student. I still have to attend classes when I return to school. You have to do a lot of things on the project, such as communicating with the school, reimbursement of funds, and finding people to help. It's impossible for the two of us to write the program..."

Someone has to do these things.

Luo Yongjun suddenly felt that he was indispensable. His chest straightened up and the corners of his mouth widened.

Project cooperation involves three parties.

The most important ones are the Institute of High Energy Physics and Zhang Shuo personally, but because Zhang Shuo is a student of Soochow University and Luo Yongjun is a teacher of Soochow University, the million-dollar funding also involves the management of school-enterprise cooperation, so the agreement must also have the school's signature to take effect.

Neither side gave any consideration to the school issue at all.

This is a cooperation project that is delivered directly to the school. It has only benefits and no disadvantages. How could they not agree?
……

After signing the agreement, Zhang Shuo and Luo Yongjun did not stay long and decided to return to Soochow University immediately.

Because it was a last-minute ticket purchase, the only available ticket was business class.

Luo Yongjun gritted his teeth and decided to take the business class seat. He waved his hand extravagantly and said, "Take a taxi. There's still enough time to have a meal at the airport!"

He looked at Zhang Shuo with a smile on his face, "Can you reimburse me for my return trip?"

"No problem at all."

Zhang Shuo nodded with some amusement. The project was a collaboration between the High Energy Group and him personally, and all kinds of reimbursements would be approved as long as he nodded.

Luo Yongjun's reaction could be summed up in one word - "cool", feeling that he could finally enjoy the joy of having his expenses reimbursed.

He has always had projects in hand, but the funding was pitifully limited. Even when attending academic conferences, he would save as much as possible on travel and accommodation.

The two talked all the way.

Zhang Shuo's performance was relatively flat, but he was still in a good mood.

The personal funding of one million will make him much more financially secure, and at least he won't have to worry about living expenses in the future.

Luo Yongjun kept talking about the research project. "Zhang Shuo, are you sure you can finish it in a month? Do you have any plan?"

“Just do it normally, just like our research.”

Zhang Shuo said, "The framework is already there, and the core algorithm package is also there. The rest is just ordinary analysis, calculation, and code to implement the functions. It's not difficult at all."

"Right."

Luo Yongjun nodded in approval and said expectantly, "I don't know when the funding will be transferred to you, and your personal bonus is one million!"

“I also hope the money will arrive soon.”

Zhang Shuo smiled and said, "But I am more looking forward to completing the research and then using a large computer to analyze the experimental data."

"what?"

Luo Yongjun was stunned for a moment, frowning in confusion, "What is there to look forward to? After the project is completed, analyzing the data will be the job of the Institute of High Energy Physics, right?"

"Teacher Luo, please think about it carefully."

Zhang Shuo said, "When I first started this research, I didn't actually plan to get any project. My goal was to analyze experimental data."

"This is a new analytical method that has never been done before. Perhaps there will be new discoveries by comparing the deviations between experiments and simulations?"

"What does that mean?"

“It’s possible that unprecedented physical discoveries will emerge.”

"what?"

Luo Yongjun was stunned for a while, then suddenly stood up and shouted, "Unprecedented physical discovery? That's worthy of a Nobel Prize!!"

"This one……"

Zhang Shuo didn't know how to comment. He thought for a moment before continuing, "It's difficult, right? Physical discoveries require complete proof to be confirmed. We are just analyzing experimental data once, and we may see some results, but we should not be able to clearly prove that it is a new physical discovery in a short period of time."

"There are many factors that influence the experiment. Perhaps more people would think it is a normal deviation. In addition, we still need to prove that the analysis method has no loopholes."

"Of course, the most important thing is hope that one day we can discover new physical phenomena through research and give a completely new explanation."

"By then, Nobel will not seem to be important anymore."

Zhang Shuo sighed.

Luo Yongjun suddenly realized that his and Zhang Shuo's ideological realms were not on the same level.

He was constantly concerned about funding and personal honor, but Zhang Shuo was actually looking forward to the future, expecting new discoveries to promote scientific development?

He smiled to himself.

Thinking about participating in a million-level project, his excited mind was racing. Suddenly, at one point, he felt something was wrong.

He is Zhang Shuo's mentor and Zhang Shuo is his student.

The mentor will work on projects with the students, and the students will also call the mentor 'boss', which also represents a kind of hierarchical relationship on the project.

For the project that he had just received, Zhang Shuo was the direct person in charge. He had to work on the project with Zhang Shuo, and it was okay for him to call Zhang Shuo "boss".

The question is, "Who is the boss? Who is the mentor?"

……

Soochow University is one of the famous universities in China.

The School of Mathematical Sciences in the university has a history of one hundred years, and its faculty and scientific research level are among the top five in the country.

A small internal working meeting of the college is taking place in the small conference room on the first floor of the administrative building.

The meeting was chaired by Sheng Zhenhua, vice president of the college and director of the Institute of Scientific and Engineering Computing. Participants included Wang Duoju, administrative director, Yao Song, deputy director, Wu Qiao, director of the Comprehensive Management Office, and others.

The meeting discussed talent introduction and funding management.

Talent introduction is one of the key tasks of the college. Only by continuously introducing high-quality talents can the college's academic level remain competitive.

Fund management is a troublesome area.

Soochow University is one of the top universities in the country, with a total annual funding of several hundred million yuan, but the School of Mathematics does more pure mathematics research and therefore does not receive much funding.

Teachers in the college all complain about funding issues.

This problem even troubles Vice President Sheng Zhenhua. The Institute of Scientific and Engineering Computing, which he is in charge of, is also always worried about funding.

A lot of things were discussed at the meeting, including striving for cooperation with enterprises and helping faculty members of the college apply for more funding projects.

Finally, Sheng Zhenhua asked Zhang Shuo, "How is the doctoral student we talked about in the last meeting? Which professor is he following?"

He then sighed, "This is the first time since the school was founded. This has never happened in the school's history of a hundred years."

The others nodded in agreement.

Among the leadership of the School of Mathematical Sciences, everyone knew Zhang Shuo's name. Because it was the first time that a master's degree was revoked while he was studying for a doctorate, they held a special meeting to discuss it, and even the dean Qi Cheng asked about it.

Yao Song sat next to Sheng Zhenhua and said a name, "Professor Luo Yongjun."

When mentioning Luo Yongjun's name, Yao Song couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth. He is the deputy director of administration and is responsible for the college's project funding for teachers.

Last year, Luo Yongjun came to him because of funding issues.

Yao Song pushed it back with just a few words.

Who would have thought that Luo Yongjun would bypass him and go directly to the vice president of Sudong University? Then the vice president called him and criticized him severely.

If it was a big deal, it would be fine, but is it worth it just for a budget of ten thousand dollars?
"Rolling meat!"

Yao Song really had no idea what to do.

At this time, Wu Qiao said, "I have discussed Zhang Shuo's matter with others. Considering the possible public opinion problems, we decided not to give Zhang Shuo a scholarship."

"I talked to him about it and he agreed."

He added, "The announcement issued by Donggang University was reprinted by several media outlets, some of which had exaggerated headlines."

"Although it didn't cause much discussion and didn't involve the university, we still have to try to prevent accidents from happening. If public opinion ferments in the future, we can also make an explanation to the public."

Sheng Zhenhua nodded with satisfaction.

Others also felt that Wuqiao’s consideration was very thoughtful, and public opinion had become a focus of attention for various universities.

Negative news related to universities often appears in online public opinion.

It was originally just a small matter, but it became a big deal in the public opinion, and it will also cause discussion among the whole nation and bring negative impact on the image of the university.

After discussing Zhang Shuo's issue, Sheng Zhenhua announced the end of the meeting. Turning around, he noticed Assistant Director Zhou Jianxin waiting at the door.

The assistant to the college's administrative director is a regular administrative position within the college, and its rank is just below that of the deputy administrative director.

Zhou Jianxin’s superior is Wang Duoju.

Wang Duoju turned around and greeted generously, "Xiao Zhou, come in and tell me what you want to say."

Zhou Jianxin walked in and said, "It's like this. I just received a message from the Institute of High Energy Physics saying that there is a research project with a budget of 2 million yuan, and they want the college to sign an agreement."

"Tell me more specifically."

Zhou Jianxin said, "It's a mathematical computer project. We need to develop a program and work with specific individuals. It involves a doctoral student and a professor in the college."

"If it was a regular collaboration, I wouldn't have come here specially. The main reason is that this collaboration is very strange. The designated collaborator is a doctoral student, not a professor."

Wang Duoju asked curiously, "Which professor?"

"Luo Yongjun."

"Professor Luo?" Wang Duoju looked at the others in surprise and asked, "What's the name of the doctoral student?"

"Zhang Shuo."

The others looked at each other in great surprise.

They were just talking about Zhang Shuo and wondering why there would be no public opinion problems. But the Institute of High Energy Physics designated to cooperate with Zhang Shuo on a project, and it was a large project involving millions of dollars?

Sheng Zhenhua tapped the table a few times to attract everyone's attention, and said, "What we are discussing today is the introduction of talents."

“Talents should not only be discovered from outside, but also from within the school!”

“The talents cultivated by our school are excellent!”

"What is talent? This is talent! Just a PhD student can be valued by the Institute of High Energy Physics and can get a project funded by millions of dollars!"

He then explained, "Director Wu, forget about the scholarship issue you mentioned."

"We discussed this in our last meeting. Donggang University cannot influence us. Zhang Shuo is now a student of Soochow University and will become an outstanding doctoral graduate trained by Soochow University in the future."

"We have to protect our students instead of punishing them for no reason."

"do you understand?"

(End of this chapter)