The first cohort students were graduated from Guangdong Technion - Israel Institute of Technology this year. The series of interviews with the graduates from Class of 2021 will show their stories with GTIIT in the past four years. Here is the story about Liu Minwei, a student of Class of 2021 from Chemical Engineering Program.

Name: Liu Minwei

High School: Hubei Shuiguohu Senior High School

Program: Chemical Engineering

Received offers from: 

University College London, Surgery and Interventional Science Program

University College London, Pharmaceutics Program

The University of Edinburgh, Medicinal and Biological Chemistry Program

The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Biochemical and Biomedical Sciences Program

Awards:

GTIIT Extra-Curricular Scholarship

GTIIT Excellent Communist Youth League Member

Special Award of the Writing Group in the 2020 FLTRP Cup National English Speaking, Writing and Reading Contest in Guangdong Province

The third prize of the Writing Group in the National Finals of the 2020 FLTRP Cup National English Speaking, Writing and Reading Contest

Liu Minwei, is tough and calm in his heart. He has a clear goal, rigorous attitude toward academics and the pursuit of dream. It’s believed that he can become a good scientist in the future with the valuable quality. Minwei is going to study at University College London, Surgery and Interventional Science Program (MPhil), to pursue his dream in a new journey of his life.

Every little makes a mickle

When talking about his study and life at GTIIT, Minwei's sense of achievement and satisfaction is palpable. "GTIIT provides us with an international platform, which broadens my horizon, cultivates my innovative thinking ability, enables me to learn the necessary skills for scientific research, and makes me closer to my dream."

Liu Minwei compares learning to a process of accumulation. “Almost every core course needs to use the knowledge learned before. Only when the knowledge of the previous course is firmly mastered, the later course can be learned more easily.”

Minwei believes that his biggest gain at GTIIT are the habit of independent thinking and asking questions efficiently. “I used to ask my teachers questions in high school, so when I first came to GTIIT, I often attended professors' office hours or made email appointments with them to ask questions. But after a period of study, I found that I could not only seek help from the professor. Before or after asking questions, I looked up relevant textbooks in the library or literature on the Internet, and then combined with the answers and thoughts from the professors. It was actually more helpful to solve problems.”

The ability to think independently proved crucial in Minwei's postgraduate application process. “When I applied for Master of Philosophy at UCL, I discussed my research proposal with my supervisor. He suggested that I could consider using the nanoparticles he suggested to load the drugs, but I thought another nanoparticle would be better. Therefore, I looked for relevant literature of this nanoparticle, found its advantages, proved the rationality of using it, and explained my reasons to my supervisor. He finally accepted my idea, praised it as a good idea and told me to keep going along it.” Minwei believes that one should be brave enough to speak up as long as he can find evidence to support his opinion. "GTIIT cultivates my ability to question bravely and think independently, which I think will be useful to me all my life."

In the pursuit of knowledge and dream, Minwei has always been diligent, serious and rigorous, conquering one difficulty after another step by step. "These four years let me deeply appreciate the breadth of knowledge, but also realize that I still have a long way to go to achieve my dream."

Be persistent because of my dream

Minwei hoped to be a doctor when he was a child, but he couldn't get into his ideal medical school because of his Gaokao scores, so he decided to explore the field of medicine to get closer to his dream. "I like to explore and challenge the most common problems humanity faced today, and one of them is cancer. At present, there are many ways to treat cancer. However, taking traditional chemotherapy as an example, although it has a certain effect, it also gradually shows its disadvantages. Therefore, a new cancer treatment is urgently needed."

Although he is initially interested in drug treatments for cancer, Minwei says the real impetus for his future research comes from his elective course Fundamentals of Bionanotechnology. "This course focuses on the application of bionanotechnology, which involves the knowledge of nanomedicine to treat cancer. It gives me a new idea for drug treatment of cancer - using nanodrugs to treat cancer more efficiently." After reading extensive literature, Minwei further identified the direction he wanted to explore further. "It can be said that this course helps me set the direction of my postgraduate research, and also provides a knowledge background and foundation for my later research proposal writing."

Minwei hopes to become a real researcher in the future, focusing on his research in the laboratory. "Science is a big topic. The field I have chosen has great prospect and I will face more challenges. I wish I could keep going, keep searching, keep learning. I hope that at some point in the future, my research and achievements can contribute to the development of medicine in China and human health in the world."

All efforts will pay off

By the time of submitting application online, Minwei's research proposal was in its fifth edition.

"It was exhausting in my senior year when applying for Master of Philosophy." Because of the late completion of the first version of his research proposal, it was already April 2021 when Minwei was finally admitted to apply online after he went to the supervisor of UCL on the recommendation of the professor of University of Cambridge, and the professor reviewed the research proposal and relevant materials and expressed his willingness to continue the discussion with Minwei.

"Writing and revising research proposal requires a lot of literature review, and the research direction I apply for is different from my undergraduate program. It is a time and energy consuming process." During this period, Minwei also maintained high standards for his academic performance. "It's hard to do well in both at the same time. For me, I have to do well in my schoolwork first, and then finish the writing and revision of my research proposal. I tell myself that if I can't overcome this difficulty, how can I realize my dream in the future? Fortunately, I successfully completed the revision of my research proposal, got permission from my tutor to apply online, and achieved good academic results."

Minwei believed he went through that time not only because of his hard work and perseverance, but also the support from his parents, teachers and friends. "My parents are very respectful of my ideas and let me follow my own choices and interests. My teachers at GTIIT always answers mu questions patiently. They also care about my application progress and give me great encouragement. My friends also helped me a lot during that time. The coffee in the vending machine at campus is also helpful." Minwei said jokingly.

Always be willing to help others

In his spare time, Minwei took part in volunteer activities and participated in more than 10 volunteer projects during his undergraduate years. In the sophomore year, he worked as a peer tutor to provide tutorials of Fundamentals of Chemistry and Ordinary Differential Equations for the Cohort 2018. As a teaching assistant of Intro.to Probability and Statistics in his junior year, he assisted the professor in answering questions about the homework for students.

Minwei summed up his experience in applying for postgraduate universities and shared his experience in writing research proposals and applying for the UK master's program in the form of lectures and documents, hoping to help students who are facing the confusion of applying universities make fewer mistakes. "I expect them to make great achievements in the coming application period."

"In terms of academic study, the first thing we can do is to think and ask questions, attend the professor's office hour more often. The professors are willing to give suggestions in the aspects of study, career development, research direction, etc." He told the junior students not to be afraid to ask questions. "The professors won't think your questions are stupid, he'll think you're a thoughtful student rather. While asking questions, you should also keep the habit of thinking independently, which will help a lot in future study."

In Minwei's opinion, one must be diligent and serious in study, especially in research work. He reminds the junior students that they may inevitably encounter various challenges in their university study. When facing difficulties, never give up easily and overcome them step by step. "I have a notebook for almost every course during my undergraduate years. I will summarize the key points in the notebook after class, which is to review the knowledge in class again. When reviewing for final exams, the notebooks will also help you think more clearly and study more efficiently. I also have a notebook to record the questions in time. When there is any mistake, I will sum up the reason and try my best to figure it out."

In terms of future development, Minwei advises students who want to apply for Master of Philosophy program to complete their research proposal as early as possible, so that they have more time and opportunities. "The most important thing is to have your own interests or dreams. Knowing what you want to do and study in the future will keep you motivated throughout the application and learning process."

Text: GTIIT News & Public Affairs

Photos: Liu Minwei, GTIIT News & Public Affairs