on april 26, shi yigong, a well-known structural biologist, academician of the chinese academy of sciences and president of westlake university, visited lanzhou university and gave two brilliant talks about his personal experience and professional studies.
the teachers and students of lanzhou university listened to academician shi yigong's speech in the auditorium or watched live broadcasting through on-campus network platform. shi yigong shared his experience with the audience with the topic "from confused graduate students to excellent scientists". the talk was hosted by li jia, dean of school of life sciences. shi yigong mentioned that he was used to be a confused graduate student. he started to enter the scientific research in the third year of his ph.d. study and eventually found the joy of scientific research in the fourth and fifth years. he concluded that hard working, changing methodology, challenging critical thinking of academic authority and persistence are essential qualities for an excellent graduate student. shi yigong also shared his experience of how his two students, who were not talented in the beginning, finally grew up into outstanding scientists. he hoped that the students could achieve their life goals through unremitting efforts and long-term persistence.