This June, the first cohort students will graduate from Guangdong Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. The series of interviews with the graduates from Class 2021 will show their stories with GTIIT in the past four years.

Here is the story about Cen Zhinuo, a student of Class 2021 from Chemical Engineering Program.

Name: Cen Zhinuo

High school: No.1 Middle School, Zhongshan

Program: Chemical Engineering

To help fulfil his dream to start his own business, Cen Zhinuo originally planned to apply for a business-related program in a university after the college entrance examination. However, his father's words changed his mind. "I think if you want to start your own business, you should first learn some practical and technical knowledge in your undergraduate study, rather than learn about business and management-related programs directly."

Later, Cen Zhinuo learned that all programs provided by GTIIT were related to science and technology, and this university also features innovation and entrepreneurship education. "Both Jewish and Chaoshan cultures have given birth to countless business talents all over the world, and GTIIT is a perfect combination of the two. I can learn science, engineering, and business-related knowledge at the same time. It is very attractive to me." Therefore, Cen Zhinuo rejected the offer from a famous university in China and chose to study Chemical Engineering Program at GTIIT.

Make progress with teachers together

The four years' study at GTIIT has brought Cen Zhinuo numerous new understandings of the chemical engineering program. "Before I came to GTIIT, I didn't have the opportunity to get in touch with specialized directions of this program. At the very beginning, my understanding of science-related programs was that they were very boring. However, I gradually found that engineering-related programs were more inclined to transform existing technologies into applications and make academia closer to life. We wouldn’t be required to delve into very profound organic and inorganic chemical mechanisms at the beginning, but learn from physics, organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, fluid mechanics and other fundamentals as well as the operation of various instruments. It’s very interesting because we not only have a lot of hands-on experiences, but we can also witness the changes made possible to the world by what we learn.”

The experience of participating in research projects helped Cen Zhinuo learn more about his program. "Students at GTIIT have the opportunity to participate in research projects with our professors during undergraduate years. It’s a very valuable experience for us. I have been involved in the study of how to measure the abundance of microplastics in water with SPO stains and the production of disinfectant by-products in aqueous solutions containing microplastics. The process of preparing project proposal, literature review, doing experiment, getting experimental results, learning to write research papers and making presentations has helped me learn a lot. Now I have learned how to find the literature quickly and accurately to get useful information, as well as the methods of using instruments, writing research papers, and making a concise and effective research presentation."

Cen Zhinuo is grateful for his peers and teachers he met at GTIIT. Teachers and students learn from each other and witness each other's progress. Cen Zhinuo recalled the interesting biochemistry class from Prof. Yigal Achmon. "In the second semester of my freshman year, I can still remember that Prof. Yigal Achmon found that his original teaching method did not motivate us. So he began to use some jokes in class to make his class more interesting and easier. Some of us had seen him practice for the next day’s teaching in an empty classroom alone at night."

Entrepreneurial dream grows at GTIIT

Cen Zhinuo is the funding President of GTIIT Association of Commercial Entrepreneurs. When it comes to the original intention of establishing the association, Cen Zhinuo said that it was a product of the idea of "dream and cooperation". "I have a dream of starting a business, and I'm sure more GTIIT students share my interests. Therefore, I hope to establish such an association to connect students with common interests to learn together. Maybe in the future, we can use different insights and experiences to have further idea exchanges and cooperation."

Cen Zhinuo said that at the beginning of establishing the association, he often felt confused due to the lack of experience. "I am very grateful to the teachers at GTIIT who provided us with a lot of suggestions and supports. Till now, GTIIT Association of Commercial Entrepreneurs has invited many outstanding entrepreneurs to share their experiences with us, such as Mr. Huang Hongchuan, who was on the 2017 China Forbes 30U30 List; Mr. Guan Yudong, the winner of Shantou Youth Innovation Award; Mr. Wei Guanchao, an excellent alumnus of Shantou University and so on. We also invited Prof. Xu Xin, a pioneer researcher in the field of Jewish culture from Nanjing University, to share with us the Jewish culture in Israel. Prof. Lin Danming, Pro-Vice Chancellor of GTIIT; Connie, Victor, and other teachers with business-related background also shared many ideas with us. Besides, academic forums are held regularly to facilitate the exchange of ideas which in return help us produce more mature and operational business ideas."

In 2019, Cen Zhinuo and his partners organized the first GTIIT Innovation Challenge. "We all know that the Jews are good at business, and Chaoshan people are also known as 'Eastern Jews'. Therefore, we are looking forward to the achievements of innovation and entrepreneurship from GTIIT. We want to create a better environment for innovation and entrepreneurship at GTIIT, and we hope that Shantou will become famous for its innovation and entrepreneurship achievements one day."

Now Cen Zhinuo is more confident of starting his own business. "I hope to become a real entrepreneur in the future with what I have learned in the university!"

Vision determines the future

Cen Zhinuo saw the huge potential of GTIIT four years ago. "As a new university, there must be a lot of resources and opportunities at GTIIT that no other university can match, and those who are willing to choose GTIIT in the first year will have a lot in common with me. I think I can make many friends here."

Establishing GTIIT Association of Commercial Entrepreneurs, brainstorming with excellent entrepreneurs, participating in the workshop of product design and the commercial project x-culture with students from all over the world, doing business roadshows as a student representative in CRC incubator, participating in scientific research project, getting the opportunity to visit to the enterprise, learning from the forum of Guangdong Provincial Laboratory of Chemistry...... The above experiences Cen Zhinuo got after studying at GTIIT made his original intention of choosing GTIIT come true.

"I am very grateful that GTIIT has given me the opportunities to meet excellent entrepreneurs, friends, and many other people that I would never have had an opportunity to meet in my life. It has greatly broadened my horizons and now I trust different perspectives lead to different interpretations. My study at GTIIT has enabled me to resources only few people are fortunate enough to have: better understanding of many things, a clear mind to start preparations early enough to avoid any regrets in life."

So far, Cen Zhinuo has received offers of chemical-related programs from University College London, the University of Manchester, the University of Southampton and the National University of Singapore. "The Israel Institute of Technology is highly respected in Europe and the United States, especially in the United States. GTIIT is as good as other national 211 or 985 project universities in China. GPA90+, rich experience in student associations, extra-curricular activities in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship, scientific research experience, recommendation letters from well-known professors......I think I can’t get the offers without these factors. I want to tell the junior students that GPA is important. Study hard and gain more useful experiences, so that you can have more options once you graduate."

"I hope I can further expand my horizons and enrich my thinking dimension during my postgraduate study. I also hope I can keep my original mind after graduation and not be defeated by the real life and give up my dream." Said Cen Zhinuo.

"I’m honored to be the constructer of a big ship that is striving to move forward", this is the greatest feeling of Cen Zhinuo in the four years at GTIIT. "Although GTIIT is a new university, it has excellent resources to help me create unlimited possibilities. I was like one of the constructers of this big ship, and I shared the same goal as the university. While I was building this ship, it was also providing me with all kinds of support without hesitation. For me, it was as if I were writing the history of this great ship with my own efforts."

"As a student of Class 2021, I’d like to say to the juniors and potential students that I hope you truly love GTIIT and realize your role as the constructer of GTIIT. In fact, what you will become is largely determined by what you think you should be. If you feel that it is your mission to make the world a better place, then you will be the one that leads the society forward. On the other hand, if you just complain and don't make efforts, you will accomplish nothing in the end.”

Text: GTIIT News & Public Affairs

Photos: Cen Zhinuo, GTIIT News & Public Affairs