On March 26, Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and ULink College in Guangzhou jointly held a Science Festival. A strong teaching team led by Vice Chancellor Prof. David Gershoni and Associate Pro Vice Chancellor Dr. Queena Yi brought interesting Science lectures and labs to high school students, showing them the charm of science. 

Talk about science, do experiments, experience the beauty of science and technology

Professor Gershoni gave a popular science lecture named "Quantum Science and Technology - Entangled Light Sources" combined his research area. In the lecture, Professor Gershoni started from the definition of physics and asked students: "Does the teleportation in "Star Trek" only exist in the world of science fiction?" "Schrodinger’s cat, is he alive or dead?" "Was Einstein correct when he said that ‘God does not play dice' ?” Through several interesting physics questions, he encouraged students to discuss and think, leading the lecture to the realm of quantum mechanics. And with the help of software, he showed students the classic experiment in the quantum world - the Double-slits Experiment and the famous theory of wave-particle duality. These complex and difficult concepts became clear and easy to understand by Professor Gershoni's humorous explanation. "Quantum technology has good prospects for development. In the future, quantum information processing, cryptography, ultra-high-precision measurement, and teleportation are all closely related to the progress of quantum technology," Professor Gershoni said confidently at the end of the lecture.

Professor Andrea Solotar from the Mathematics with Computer Science program combined mathematics with real life to show everyone the magical power of mathematics. She asked the question "8 teams compete in pairs, how many games does it take to decide the final winner? What if there are 625 teams?" at the beginning and encouraged everyone to solve the problem. She introduced the students to the world of mathematical strategies, and guided them to think through analogies and models.

Dr. Avishay Levy led everyone to discover the charm of chemistry through the combination of cases and experiments. He raised the question "why chemistry" and answered it from different dimensions. You can find chemistry everywhere in medical, pharmaceutical, chemical engineering, daily necessities, and materials engineering fields. If the scientific world can be regarded as a pyramid, chemistry is the basic science that studies matter at the top of the pyramid. Dr. Levy also brought chemical experiments to the high school, guiding students to experience the effect of sodium chloride on the water absorption properties of superabsorbent resins, using liquid nitrogen to produce blue liquid oxygen and instructing them to prepare ice cream with liquid nitrogen in a few minutes. The rich and colorful experimental projects made the students deeply appreciate the splendor of chemistry.

In the biology class, Prof. Ka Yin Leung's doctoral student Cao Yuping brought the team's research results to the high school, focusing on the important issue of antibiotic overuse and the evolution of antibiotic resistance genomes. With the theme of "Studies of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria in Bullfrog Farm", he summarized the research results of the team in the past 30 years, combining with the research experience of frog farms in Shantou, and vividly explained to students. Dr. Cao also brought a small experiment of bacterial, and taught everyone to make a petri dish and prepare bacterial communities of different shapes through sampling, smearing and other processes.

Talk about feature of education, talk about innovation, and discover the charm of GTIIT

Dr. Queena Yi also introduced GTIIT as an innovation-driven university of science and technology. "Chinese people always say that innovation is very important, but what is innovation? GTIIT has achieved this with actions," said Dr. Queena Yi. GTIIT fully introduced the "Knowledge Triangle" education model of the Technion, combining "education, research and innovation". The education in GTIIT lay a solid foundation on mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology. Emphasis is placed on improving critical thinking ability by question-driven teaching method. we encouraged students to participated in research and innovation project to improve their innovation capability.

As the China campus of Technion, GTIIT shares the same academic system and teaching standard. All faculty and teachers are recruited by Technion in 27 countries and regions worldwide and assigned to GTIIT, 60% of which are directly designated from Technion. Foreign faculty and teachers account for 80%. "The teaching team participating in this science event is representative of our international faculty team.

The team also visited the International branch of Guangdong Experimental High School and Guangzhou Huamei international School.

In international branch of Guangdong Experimental High School, Prof. David Gershoni, gave a popular lecture to students, and had a talk with students’ advisors. We introduced the cultivated effect of first Cohort of GTIIT. 80% of them go overseas for further study, 97% go to the top 100 universities, more than half are offered places in top 30 universities. 57% applied research-based master/Phd programs successfully. Both sides wish to have further cooperation in future.

Professor Gu Jidong shared his study and work experience in the University of Alberta in Canada, Virginia Tech University, Harvard University, and the University of Hong Kong for high school students in the International branch of Guangzhou Huamei International School, and gave a popular science lecture on "The Impact of Plastics on the Sustainable Development of the Earth". Since the Industrial Revolution, organic synthetic materials and plastics, have been manufactured and used more frequently in daily life due to their flexibility, durability and low cost. However, due to its non-degradable properties, it also brings irreversible harm to the environment. Professor Gu led students to think about this problem, explore solutions, and look forward to the future of the earth.

The topics of the lectures are different, but they are all exciting. This series of activities for scientists to give lectures to high school students was warmly welcomed by students, and stimulated the enthusiasm of the majority of students to explore the field of science. In the future, GTIIT will also continue to hold such activities, leading scientists to the high schools and making more students to discover the charm of science.

文/图：GTIIT传媒与公共事务部

Text/Photos: GTIIT News & Public Affairs