I was a top student in America.

Chapter 106 Can He Turn into the Hulk? (Please Subscribe)

Seeing this, David, who was sitting next to him organizing documents, stood up on his own and grabbed a paper cup to go to the coffee pot.

"Professor Rudy, would you like some coffee?"

"David's here too, thank you for your help." Professor Rudy pulled out a chair, sat down, took the coffee David offered, and nodded his thanks.

David smiled and nodded, tactfully stepping aside so as not to disturb the two professors' serious conversation.

Upon hearing Rudy's words, Professor Jason paused, his pen stilling, a look of astonishment on his face.

Just a few days ago, this guy came and asked for Amber to join the physics department project team.

Why are they resorting to the same old tricks again after only a few days?

If he continues like this, his students and assistants will probably all be pulled into the physics department to do work.

The research group already has a small number of doctoral students, and we also have a bunch of academic projects waiting to be completed, so the number of people we can send out to help is quite limited.

Professor Jensen put down his pen and looked at the other person with a slightly puzzled expression.

"Didn't Amber just go there to help out?" he asked with a hint of helplessness. "I really don't have any extra PhD students to assign you."

"Let me finish," Professor Rudy paused slightly, looking somewhat embarrassed. "The person I want to borrow this time has a rather special situation."

A few days ago, Jansen had actually recommended Li Ao to him, and even brought the paper published in the *Applied Mathematics Letters*.

Show him the paper.

But at the time, he felt that Li Ao was, after all, a high school student and might not understand physical models and engineering code, so he ultimately only chose Amber.

Just a few days later, he took the initiative to come back and specifically asked for the person.

This contradictory behavior certainly made him lose face.

While the two professors were talking, David, who was sitting quietly on the sofa in the corner, unconsciously glanced in their direction.

Hearing that Professor Rudy wanted to borrow people, he couldn't help but feel tempted.

That was a collaborative project led by the U.S. Department of Energy and Argonne National Laboratory.

This kind of experience, which is closer to real scientific research applications and has an interdisciplinary nature, would interest not only doctoral students but also young assistant professors.

It will be a highlight on your resume in the future.

He felt somewhat envious when he heard that Amber had been loaned out.

Hearing Professor Rudy speak again, David couldn't help but want to volunteer and try to seize the opportunity.

However, the moment the thought crossed his mind, Professor Rudy cut to the chase and revealed the real candidate.

"I'd like Leo to come and help out for a few days too."

"Leo?"

Professor Jensen subconsciously raised an eyebrow and repeated the name on his tongue.

After regaining his composure, he asked with some confusion, "Weren't you worried a few days ago that he didn't have enough physics background and coding experience? Why did you suddenly change your mind today?"

He had known Professor Ludi for many years and had collaborated with him on numerous occasions, and he knew that Professor Ludi was always cautious in his personnel choices for projects.

Unless something unexpected happened, the other party wouldn't have overturned their judgment so quickly.

When his words were pointed out to him, Professor Rudy coughed awkwardly and quickly explained the reason.

"We will be giving a progress report to the Department of Energy next month. The project is indeed under a lot of pressure right now."

He admitted, "I've thought about it carefully, and Leo's paper on the estimation method of discrete average of convex functions may really bring new progress to energy stability analysis. In short, it's worth letting him give it a try."

After hearing these words, Professor Jensen really couldn't find a reason to refute them.

He knew something about the situation of that project in the physics department.

Currently, in addition to the University of Chicago, teams from other universities such as Caltech are also advancing similar lattice models and numerical simulations, making the competition extremely fierce.

If we want to maintain our advantage in the next stage, we must come up with more stable mathematical estimates and calculation schemes as soon as possible.

After a moment's thought, he finally nodded in agreement.

"Alright then, I'll ask Leo what he thinks."

"I'm relieved to hear that."

Seeing that Professor Jensen had relented, Professor Rudy's face immediately relaxed.

Having finished this matter, he didn't linger. He stood up and prepared to leave: "Then I'll go back to the project team first and arrange the permissions for the data and code repository."

After saying that, he pushed open the door and left the office.

David looked in the direction Professor Rudy had left, and only after the office door closed again did he belatedly come to his senses.

Professor Ludi made a personal trip just to borrow Li Ao to work on a project.

Since the start of summer camp, this was the umpteenth time David had been shocked by Li Ao.

He thought he should have gotten used to it by now, but his psychological threshold has been raised again and again, and now he is almost numb.

The lasting impact of Li Ao's paper was truly surprising; the fire spread so quickly from the mathematics department to the physics department.

Just as the thought was flashing through his mind, he suddenly heard Professor Jensen's voice, which startled him.

"David".

"Ah—yes, Professor." He immediately turned around and responded.

"Give Leo a call," Professor Jensen calmly instructed. "Tell him to come over when he has time. I want to ask him something in person."

Although he had agreed in principle to let Li Ao participate in the physics department's project, he still wanted to find out in person what had happened in the past few days.

"Yes, Professor." David nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile, inside the Wyndham Arena.

Li Aozheng and Jamal, among others, participated in basketball training.

He didn't try to hide the fact that he had gone to the University of Chicago for a seminar that morning, and briefly mentioned it during a break and casual conversation.

Jamal reacted the strongest as soon as he finished speaking.

He stared wide-eyed, basketball in hand, his voice rising involuntarily: "What? Leo, you're going to work for the Ministry of Energy?"

Li Ao rolled his eyes upon hearing this, noticing the curious glances from his teammates, and quickly added, "It's a research project in collaboration between the University of Chicago, the Department of Energy, and Argonne National Laboratory. It's not about going to work."

"That's outrageous! This is the Department of Energy!" Jamal's shock was not diminished at all.

Jaylen followed closely behind: "I heard Argonne National Laboratory has an X-ray source. Can they turn you into the Hulk?"

"Damn, if Leo could turn into the Hulk, our team would definitely win the Chicago tournament!"

Jamal nodded vigorously, his eyes full of anticipation.

Listening to his teammates' increasingly outrageous fantasies, Li Ao felt somewhat helpless.

He thought to himself that the Hulk transforms using gamma rays, not X-rays.

Besides, if such a project really existed, NBA teams would probably be lining up to apply for cooperation by now.

After the break, Li Ao was preparing to return to the field when his prepaid flip phone in his pocket suddenly rang.

He casually pulled out his phone, and the screen displayed David's number.

After pressing the answer button and exchanging a brief conversation for more than ten seconds, Li Ao hung up the phone, looking somewhat surprised.

He had planned to approach Professor Jensen the next day, but the professor called first, clearly already aware of what had happened at the seminar.

He went straight to Coach Durant to ask for leave: "Coach, the University of Chicago needs me urgently, I have to go there first."

"They're definitely telling you to turn into the Hulk, hurry up and go!"

Jamal and the others waved their hands and urged him on, their words full of joy for him.