The chemistry discipline of USTC was established in 1958 by a group of prestigious Chinese scientists such as Guo Yonghuai, Yang Chengzong and Wang Baoren. Since then, the discipline has continuously served the nation for high-quality education by nurturing young talents with global perspectives and for cutting-edge research by focusing on exploring new frontiers in science.
In 2020, the discipline was ranked 11th among global universities and 1st among Chinese universities in Shanghai Ranking’s Academic Ranking of World Universities, ranked 2nd among global research institutions and 1st among global universities in the Nature Index’s Top Rankings, and ranked 8th among global universities and 2nd among Chinese universities in the US News Best Global Universities.
To better integrate education modules with research capabilities, with the support from Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS), and specifically the staff scientists from the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry and the Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics two schools at USTC (School of Applied Chemistry and Engineering, and School of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics) were established. Since 2016, 16 faculty members have been selected as Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers, and 21 members as Elsevier's Most Cited Chinese Researchers. Nearly 10 professors from the chemistry discipline serve as editors-in-chief or associate editors for top-tier international journals, such as J. Phys. Chem., Mater. Chem. Front. and Chem. Mater..
With great efforts from such a group of elite faculty members, the chemistry discipline has developed 8 secondary disciplines, including Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Polymer Chemistry and Physics, Applied Chemistry, Chemical Biology, and Energy Chemistry. Enormous research breakthroughs have been made in all these secondary disciplines.
Since 2016, the chemistry discipline at USTC has won three National Natural Science Awards (second class), two National Technological Invention Awards (second class), and five Provincial or Ministerial Natural Science Awards. More than 600 high-quality peer-reviewed scientific papers are published annually, 75% of which are of JCR Q1. Remarkably, a total of 9 publications in Science, Nature and Cell have been achieved by the USTC chemistry discipline since 2016. In particular, single-molecule chemistry and Nano-chemistry are two of the USTC research fields in the leading position in the world. For instance, the breakthroughs in selective carbon dioxide conversion by electro-catalysis and preferential carbon monoxide oxidation in hydrogen are selected as the Top 10 Scientific Advances in China and the Top 10 Scientific and Technological Advances in Chinese Universities, respectively.
The chemistry research at USTC is always advanced with multidisciplinary collaborations in which the infrastructure plays a highly important role. The infrastructure includes three state key laboratories (e.g., State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry), National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, CAS High Magnetic Field Laboratory, and five provincial and ministerial key laboratories. The chemistry discipline is also a core member of the Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials of the Ministry of Education and the Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology. The infrastructure has provided a strong foundation for both conducting research and nurturing talent students.
The elite faculty and the major infrastructure have offered unique resources for the USTC chemistry discipline to culture young talents. The discipline cultures the young talents with a focus on their foundation in mathematics and physics, and strengthens the theoretical knowledge and experimental skills. Such an education concept enables the cross-disciplinary development of chemistry with physics, materials science, life science, environmental science and energy science. As such, students have been able to grow into the leaders in addressing grand challenges in key materials development and innovation, which adapts the national economic, technological and educational development. In the past five years, the discipline has won 14 excellent Ph.D. dissertation awards from the CAS.
The chemistry discipline has cultured a large number of world-renowned scientists and engineers within a short history of 60 years. The alumni of the chemistry discipline have become leaders in various fields. For instance, 16 of the graduates have been elected as CAS Academicians; many graduates, such as Yang Peidong, Xia Younan, Liu Wenbin, Cui Yi, He Chuan and Yin Yadong, now are world-leading scientists.
Excellent applicants may apply for USTC Fellowship, which covers tuition fee, insurance fee, monthly stipend (up to 7,000 RMB for PhD students and up to 3,000 RMB for master students) and accommodation subsidy. Applicants can apply through the Online Application System. Please refer to the following link for details: USTC Fellowship Program in USTC 2022:
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