On October 5, 2016, the winners of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2016 were announced and the news quickly spread all over the country through the Internet. Wang Zhenzhen, a doctoral student working in a laboratory at the School of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology (SPST) of Tianjin University, was surprised to find that one of the three winners, Sir J. Fraser Stoddart, was the mentor of her mentor. For the first time she felt that "the Nobel Prize winner is so close to me and recognizes the world class research work we do at TJU”.
Almost at the same time, Jay Steven Siegel, Dean of SPST, received the news as well. He immediately sent a congratulatory message to Professor Stoddart, expressing his gratitude to his old friend.
The Story of Working in Tianjin University
Three years ago, just two months after his old friend Dean Siegel had accepted the letter of appointment from SPST, Professor Stoddart visited TJU for the first time at invitation by Dean Siegel. When Professor Stoddart came to visit TJU, the President, Li Jiajun (now the Party Secretary) and Dean Siegel, conducted an in-depth exchange with him about the future development of science at TJU and Professor Stoddart 's development and planning of scientific research projects among other issues.
Professor Stoddart not only accepted an invitation of Tianjin University to become a short-term National 1000 Talent Scholar to Tianjin University, but also proposed he bring his three core team members to TJU to form the scientific research team.
The Big Platform in Tianjin University
According to Feng Cuiling, the Secretary of the Party Committee of SPST, Tianjin is a city with a positive development environment, and moreover, SPST is more open to cultivating and supporting talented scientists. She believed Professor Stoddart really appreciated this.
Currently, the team's laboratory has been in operation for more than a year. The team includes Professor Stoddart, Mark A. Olson, Su Jihao, two post-doctoral researchers, a doctoral student and six graduate students as well as several undergraduate students.
The Big Plan in Tianjin University
Although he established laboratory and research team, Professor Stoddart's ambition in China is not limited to teaching, doing research, and cultivating students. He proposed a five-year working plan for TJU in 2015. In this proposal, he and his team will focus their attention on environmental sustainability by using sodium cyanide and mercury as the main reagents in precious metal extraction processes, which will make aquatic animals and their natural environment more secure.
Professor Stoddart and his team hope to use the research project to develop sustainable technology for extracting gold, which in his view represents the first eco-friendly technology for the next 120 years.
In addition, Professor Stoddart and Dean Siegel are proposing a more ambitious plan: the construction of a large scale life and health platform at Tianjin University. The two scientists agreed to build the platform by 2020.
