In 2026, the sixth cohort of undergraduate graduates from Guangdong Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT) sets sail. Armed with the knowledge and courage bestowed by their alma mater, and guided by the belief of "Dream it. Do it.", they have etched their youth in constant exploration and breakthrough. Let us step into their stories, and witness how they take action as wings to wider skies.

Li Yundong

High School: 

Shandong Experimental High School

Program: Materials Science and Engineering

（with “Materials + Physics” Program)

GPA: 94.1

Total Credits: 195.5

Honors:

GTIIT Vice Chancellor’s list (2023-2024)

GTIIT Dean’s list (2024-2025)

GTIIT Program Head’s list (2022-2023)

Offer：

Research MSc in Physics, Technion 

(sole application)

Nearly 200 credits, a GPA above 94, and two first-author papers as an undergraduate. Any one of these achievements would be remarkable on its own, yet for Yundong, they are merely the tip of the iceberg of his four years of hard work. Course load heavier than his peers', a habit of questioning every problem to the very end, hour-by-hour time management, and dual research experience at GTIIT and Technion all speak for themselves. He has pushed his study of physics to the fullest, turning excellence into a habit.

Nearly 200 credits, GPA above 94

“Without doing any mathematical calculations, what conclusions can you draw right away?” Every time Professor Oren Cohen posed this question in class, Yundong would always remind himself to step back from the pile of formulas to ask himself: Do I truly grasp the essence? Have I built a physical picture? Have I developed physical intuition?

He could not make sense of this question at the start of college. “I once thought physics rested entirely on mathematics — that careful derivation alone would get me there.” Through repeated conversations with Oren, he revised this belief. “In research, many problems resist rigorous analytical solutions. We must rely on physical pictures to select approaches and arrive at mathematical approximations.”

photo with Prof.Oren Cohen

This conviction steered him, a longtime physics enthusiast since his youth, toward a systematic learning centered on developing physical intuition. “Physical intuition is not a hunch or unfounded imagination,” he explained. “It is a thinking skill forged through sustained practice and experience. It complements mathematical reasoning; dialectically, the two depend on each other.”

Four years of undergraduate study deepened his understanding: “It combines multiple capabilities. Given a system, one can reasonably imagine its behavior and evolution, construct a complete physical picture, and adopt suitable mathematical frameworks to describe it. When a picture cannot be formed upfront, we may start with mathematical derivation and uncover the underlying physical reality. At the same time, one can distill simple physical models from complex problems.”

He spoke with familiarity of landmark theories and models such as Einstein’s general relativity, the Dirac equation and the simple harmonic oscillator model. All demonstrate how physical pictures and mathematical tools reinforce one another, serving as models for his own thinking.

The “Materials + Physics” program, for which he applied at the very beginning of his undergraduate studies, served as fertile ground for him to develop this way of thinking. Here, he gained access to a richer array of advanced physics and mathematics courses, which afforded ample room for reflection to cultivate his physical intuition. Built on the solid foundation of the university’s Department of Physics, the program features highly small-class teaching. Through personalised academic guidance and research mentorship, it helps undergraduates consolidate their grounding in physics and sharpen their research skills, laying robust support for their future research.

Yundong introduced the “Materials + Physics” Program to parents.

Pursuing a dual program meant more credits to earn—and that demanded stricter time management and greater self-discipline. “On weekdays, besides classes, I'd set aside at least six hours for self-study—and stretch it further on lighter days. On weekends, I'd reserve at least one full day for study.” Two hours for review, one hour for assignments, and the rest for problem sets and preview. This routine stayed largely unchanged from his first to final year.

He trained his physical intuition within this tight schedule. “I force myself to raise at least two meaningful questions in every class.” The longer he stayed at GTIIT, the better he fit its inquiry-driven classrooms. Concepts are unpacked from multiple angles, shifting his mindset from memorization and formula application to analysis and construction.

This habit carries into textbook reading, paper study and problem-solving. He keeps asking: How do I find a starting point? How do I simplify the problem? How do I extract a physical model? How do I cleverly sidestep heavy computation? How do I make the right approximation? How do I form a correct mental picture of the physics? How do I read the real physical process behind the math? These constant reflections taught him not to rush into formulas, but to first map out the core physics.

Driven by reflection and persistence, Yundong graduated with nearly 200 credits and a GPA above 94. His diligent hours produced a transcript marked by both breadth and depth, laying solid academic groundwork for postgraduate research.

 2 first-author papers, 1 conference presentation

Yundong was a regular attendee at the weekly physics optics seminars at GTIIT. “Seeing fascinating work in optics from scholars worldwide, I gradually came to appreciate just how captivating this is.” Nourished by his coursework as well, he became more convinced: major breakthroughs in physics stem from humanity’s exploration of light, making optics one of its cornerstones. With this direction settled, he set his sights on subfields such as light-matter interaction, topological photonics, and quantum optics.

After his third year, he joined Professor Mordechai Segev’s group at the Technion for a two-month summer research project on temporal modulation in optical waveguides for light-matter interaction. “This was the most influential, important, and profound experience for me, and it directly helped me make the initial transition from a student to a researcher.”

Technion Solid State Physics Institute, Physics Building 

There, he gained firsthand exposure to the top-level research at the Institute of Solid State Physics of the Technion, worked on innovative projects with professors of remarkably broad vision, and brainstormed again and again with lab members. As different backgrounds and ways of thinking collided in discussion, he came to see that research is not just one person's derivation but collective inspiration at the frontier of the unknown.

Back in China, he continued the project with online group discussions. His interim results were submitted and accepted as a first-author contribution to the 17th Pacific Rim Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO-PR 2026). As the premier Pacific Rim forum for laser and photonics research, its accepted papers are indexed in IEEE Xplore Digital Library and the OPTICA Digital Library.

In August, he took the stage at this international conference, presenting work that showcased the academic vision of young GTIIT researchers. “The conference felt like unfolding a panoramic map of optics research before me—being there, I gained not just cutting-edge knowledge, but a real thrill at being surrounded by scientific passion.”

His poised delivery came from deliberate practice. “Research must withstand peer scrutiny and citation. Rigorous inquiry matters most, yet clear communication is equally vital.” When reading papers, Yundong studies details like authors’ phrasing, carefully chosen plot variables and figure-text layout, honing his presentation through restatement and comparison.

The Great Wall visit with group members after the conference

Another period of rigorous research training came from the research group of Professor Marcelo Fabián Ciappina. He joined the team in his third year and worked on topics including the weakly perturbed double pendulum, quantum optics, and photocurrent excitation. “Marcelo taught me a lot of numerical analysis methods commonly used in theoretical work, and he was always patient in listening to students' questions. He will walk through derivations on the whiteboard with us, sometimes for hours.” Work from this group was published in the SCI journal Symmetry, his second undergraduate first-author paper.

Photo with Prof. Marcelo Ciappina

“Research means repeated trial and error. Most time is spent failing, debugging, reading literature, doubting and restarting. Breakthroughs are fleeting moments in a long journey.” This joy of finding light through uncertainty gave him a clear vision of the road ahead: “I will pursue academia. My goal is to become an outstanding researcher in optics and ultimately an outstanding professor.”

Remain patient and inquisitive, observant and reverent. “Physics is not a theory imposed upon nature; it is listening to what nature tells us.” This line from Chinese-American nuclear physicist Chien-Shiung Wu have long guided him. Over the coming years, he will continue his postgraduate studies at Technion — the institution that inspired him — venturing deeper into the frontiers of physics.

Text: GTIIT News & Public Affairs

Photos: provided by Li Yundong