Research starts with PhD students

Chapter 64: Cleared of suspicion, no more investigation? That won’t do!

Sun Xingli asked for a long time before he realized that Luo Yongjun had completed the proof of the Monge-Ampere equation.

His face was full of disbelief.

"How can this be!"

"Luo Yongjun, Lao Luo? The research on the Monge-Ampere equation?"

"A small project worth tens of thousands of dollars?"

"Study the smoothness of the solution and expand the boundary requirements?"

Sun Xingli stood there for a long time.

He was really surprised.

Any faculty member in the School of Mathematics would be equally surprised to hear the news.

This research project is a big gossip in the School of Mathematics!
Last year, Luo Yongjun applied for a research project on the Monge-Ampere equation. It was actually no big deal. Some people, when they don’t have national science foundation projects or provincial funding projects, will apply for a school-funded project as a transition.

School project funding is generally only tens of thousands of yuan.

Luo Yongjun's project became famous because he met Professor Chen from the University of Science and Technology and published a paper during his project application.

Professor Chen's research also involves proving the Monge-Ampere equation.

His research results removed the requirement of "uniform convexity of two regions" for the smoothness of the solution and also reduced the requirement of smoothness of the boundary, proving the overall smoothness of the Monge-Ampere equation under natural boundary conditions.

That's where it gets awkward.

If Luo Yongjun wanted to continue applying for funding, he had to modify the content of his research. His modifications were to expand on the research of Professor Chen.

There is a consensus in the academic community that once a research project has achieved a qualitative breakthrough, the difficulty of achieving another qualitative breakthrough will increase exponentially.

In the research on the Monge-Ampere equation, each improvement is separated by more than 20 years.

So the school didn't approve his project at all.

Later, Luo Yongjun made a big fuss and even implicated Zhang Qiu Sheng, the vice president of Soochow University, before he finally got tens of thousands of yuan in funding.

The exact amount of funding is unclear, but it is definitely not much.

Such a project would certainly not be favored, and almost no one in the school believed that Luo Yongjun could complete the research.

just now……

"finished?"

"Did you really finish it? You're not lying to me, are you?" Sun Xingli suddenly realized and asked Zhang Shuo, "Is it you? It must be you, right? You helped him finish it. Lao Luo is not at this level!"

"Then you underestimate Mr. Luo!"

Zhang Shuo said seriously, "Of course I also made contributions, but I only expressed some ideas at the end. In fact, Mr. Luo has already completed most of it."

This is the truth.

He contributed to several key points of the subsequent research, but the early stage was completed by Luo Yongjun alone. When he knew about the project, the completion rate was close to 50%.

Luo Yongjun calmed down after getting excited. He immediately reminded Sun Xingli, "Don't tell anyone!"

"I am also planning to submit a paper to the Annals of Mathematics. I will wait until it passes the review..."

Annals of Mathematics, one of the four major mathematics journals, is a bimonthly journal published jointly by the Department of Mathematics at Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study.

Professor Chen from the University of Science and Technology’s paper was published in the Annals of Mathematics.

It is interesting that Luo Yongjun is also preparing to submit a paper to the Annals of Mathematics.

"Uh-huh."

Sun Xingli could only nod blankly.

He also knew that he couldn't spread the news because it was too "outrageous" and he would probably be laughed at if he told others.

……

Zhang Shuo also gained a lot from Luo Yongjun's research.

First of all, there is one more system taskbar, plus the submitted tasks, which means two taskbars are free.

He also felt much more relaxed.

In addition, it’s also good to have a mixed work.

That is a paper to be submitted to the "Annals of Mathematics". The first author is not the same as the corresponding author, but to some extent, they can be considered equal.

Generally, high-level papers have several authors, and most of them are not just figureheads but have made real contributions to the research.

For example, Professor Chen from the University of Science and Technology’s paper has as many as five authors.

He has a research team that conducts collaborative research.

This is true of most research projects.

Many mathematical researches are also completed by a team.

There is a saying that goes, "three cobblers are better than one Zhuge Liang", not to mention that everyone who joins the project is smart. When they communicate and discuss with each other, the probability of completing the research will be greater.

If a person encounters a small problem, he may be stuck, but the same problem may be solved quickly for someone else.

This is the importance of teamwork.

Zhang Shuo returned to the dormitory.

I haven't felt tired these days, but it's still very taxing to keep spending money on research.

He lay on the bed, opened the communication app on his mobile phone, and found a lot of messages.

He has become accustomed to this situation. He will reply to some important messages and chat with classmates and friends when he is in a good mood.

Today's message is a bit strange——

Li Liu Shuangyue: "I went to the General Office today to find the people from the investigation team and told them that I knew you had completed your master's thesis a long time ago."

"Don't worry, the investigation will yield results soon."

Meng Hao (classmate): "I sent an email to the investigation team to prove that you did not plagiarize. Your paper was completed a long time ago. They even called me to confirm my identity. What should I be afraid of? It's confirmed!"

Zhang Jian (classmate): "Zhang Shuo, I told the investigation team that there is no problem with you. When a teacher came to ask, I told him in person that I am responsible for what I said!

Even if I go to court, I will be a witness!"

There are many similar discussions in the student group, all talking about the General Office, reporting, and emails.

After asking about the situation, Zhang Shuo found out that it was a temporary investigation team set up by Donggang University that released public information on the university's intranet.

Public information states that if anyone knows about a plagiarism incident, they can report it directly to the General Office.

If you do not want to disclose your identity, you can send a message to the designated email address, and then the investigation team will communicate and inquire.

On campus, people from the investigation team will come to communicate with you.

We also communicate by phone outside of school.

This is a clue to the plagiarism incident in the open call for papers.

Zhang Shuo was quite popular at Donggang University and had a lot of classmates and friends. In addition, there was a lot of public opinion online, and some people who knew about the situation sent emails.

Few people go to the general office, and most people don't want to show up in public.

Li Liu Shuangyue was a very special person. She went to the general office and had a chat with the people from the investigation team. She said that she knew that Zhang Shuo's thesis was completed ahead of schedule and she also said a lot of bad things about Huang Hui.

Zhang Shuo felt very warmed by his junior high school girl’s behavior. He showed some concern for her studies and graduation thesis, and chatted with her for more than half an hour.

After putting down his phone, Zhang Shuo also felt very relieved.

Plagiarism in papers has always been a stain on one's character.

Now it can finally be cleaned.

……

The next morning, Donggang University released public information that they had conducted a reinvestigation and determined that Zhang Shuo's thesis was completed ahead of schedule.

This clears the suspicion of plagiarism.

Donggang University also announced that it would restore Zhang Shuo's master's degree certificate and diploma.

This announcement once again caused a stir in online public opinion.

#Donggang University announced investigation results# quickly became a hot topic in public opinion.

Many people commented, "As soon as this matter came out, we knew that Zhang Shuo definitely did not plagiarize!"

"A PhD student who can publish in a top journal would plagiarize in his master's thesis? What a joke!"

"Without this wave of public opinion, Donggang University probably wouldn't have reinvestigated the issue, and Zhang Shuo might have to bear this stain for the rest of his life."

"Now, once online public opinion appears, everything can be solved. Without public opinion, nothing can be solved."

"We should reflect on why Donggang University didn't conduct a new investigation when public opinion didn't arise? What on earth were they doing during their first investigation?"

"They must know there is a problem internally, but without pressure, no one will care..."

Just as the administrative director Tian Jun judged, the incident itself will become a stain on Donggang University and will have a significant negative impact on the university's reputation.

Of course, the problem has not been resolved yet and the pressure on Donggang University remains.

As public opinion heated up, a large number of people posted comments urging the investigation team to release detailed results, and unsurprisingly, a name was involved -

Huang Hui.

The investigation team determined that Zhang Shuo’s graduation thesis was not plagiarized, so the plagiarist must be Huang Hui.

Huang Hui is not mentioned in the investigation announcement. Why?

Aren't you going to investigate?

This is not possible!

(End of this chapter)