Time: March 31, 2017

Author: Wang Shuman Liu ChenGuang

Publisher: press center

At JNU, the development of such basic disciplines as chemistry is closely related to its construction as a high-level university. JNU has 27 majors that require their students to study chemistry, including pharmacy, medicine, life science, environment and food science. In 2016, JNU employed Prof. Li Dan to lead its chemistry program; he has integrated the Department of Chemistry with the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, establishing the College of Chemistry and Materials Science in April. At present, the college has 547 undergraduates, 295 graduate students and 80 teachers.

Curious about the new college's construction and planning, we interviewed Li.

A former vice president of Shantou University, Li joined JNU in 2016. As the first dean of the College of Chemistry and Materials Science, he fully committed to the construction of the new college as soon as he took office. He expects it to advance steadily. "Chemistry and materials science at JNU have laid a good foundation and have entered the top 1% in Essential Science Indicators, which will support the development of college and JNU’s construction as a high-level university," Li said.

Although the workload has been very heavy, Li's passion for scientific research remains intact. He said research was his lifelong interest. He chose to work at JNU mainly because it has more suitable research conditions. In 2014, achievements in scientific research on controlled synthesis of supramolecular coordination compound and agglomeration, which Li presided over and finished, won first prize in the Guangdong Science and Technology Awards. This scientific research accumulates more than 10 years of achievements by Li and his team.

The construction of high-level universities cannot be realized without talent, and talent is the basis of the subject development. Li said he hoped a long-term process would form a virtuous circle to cultivate and accumulate talent, and to enhance the impact of the college so as to attract more talents.

More than 30 years of teaching have given Li an original view of "syllogism" in training students. In the first stage, Li said, teachers will carry out their duty as long as they can teach students the stuff of books; in the second, students should be taught not only the knowledge, but also how to learn; in the third, the most important thing is to teach them the truth in life. These three stages also happen to correspond to Li's own cognitive changes in his work. In the first stage, teaching was a job; in the second, he regarded as a profession; in the third, he has regarded teaching as a career in which he can strive all his life.