--An interview with Prof. Hu Xiaonong, selected by the Recruitment Program of Global Experts
Author: Wu Qingfu Wang Shuman:
Publisher: News Center

In 30 years studying hydrogeology, Professor Hu Xiaonong has published around 120 scientific research papers, 87 of which have been are cited by SCI and 50 published naming him as the lead author. Hu spent more than a decade doing scientific research in the United States, presiding over 13 projects approved by organizations including the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense and the Environmental Protection Agency. In a few years in China, he has taken charge of seven projects, with key ones authorized by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. He won the Outstanding Achievement Award of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2009 and was on the list of the Recruitment Program of Global Experts approved by the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China the following year. In 2015, he continued his work at Jinan University as a leader of hydrogeology study and established the Innovation Team of Ecological Simulation and Protection Strategy for Groundwater in Southern China.

In the early 1990s, Hu crossed the Pacific to study in the United States. He said research on groundwater, launched on a large scale in the late 1970s and early' 80s, was basically finished around 2010 in the United States. Related research in China, however, did not receive large amount of capital investment until recent years.

In 2015, Hu became a JNU faculty member under the university's high-level talent introduction plan. His research is a complex combination of physics, mathematics, chemistry and other disciplines. "Other schools may be equipped with only one or two experts, but we have a team that can work together and do some systematic research on a large scale," Hu said. "This is to our own advantage." He added that there was much room to study such issues as groundwater pollution and groundwater resource utilization，since research on groundwater in South China is still relatively insufficient.

With this background, the Innovation Team of Ecological Simulation and Protection Strategy for Groundwater in South China, led by Hu, naturally came into being. The team, based at the Aquatic Life Research Center of JNU's College of Life Science and Technology, can make full use of the center's advanced laboratory and modern office equipment, and it enjoys superior experimental conditions and numerical simulation environment. The team consists of internationally influential scholars and academic leaders, 2 postdoctoral fellows, 3 Ph.D. students, 16 graduate students and other personnel. It features high-level education, complementary disciplines, innovation and dedication. The international scientific research team is still expanding in scale.

While building an eminent team, Hu does not forget to cultivate his students into pillars of society. He would like to expose them to high-level conferences to broaden their horizons. Doctoral students under Hu's instruction have published more than three high-level papers cited by SCI -- the fruit of his exemplary words and deeds.