USTC: A Powerhouse of Talent

We are greatly honored to assemble this Special Issue to celebrate the accomplishments of the University of Science and Technology of China, a research-oriented university better known as USTC in the scientific community. The reason is very simple; both of us received excellent education from USTC: Xia a B.S. in Chemical Physics in 1987 and Yu a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry in 1998. A portion of the Chinese map showing several major cities surrounding Hefei, where USTC is located. Hefei is approximately one hour away from Nanjing and three hours away from Shanghai by train and the flight time from Hefei to Beijing is only two hours. As a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Yellow Mountain (or Huangshan) is known for its scenery, sunsets, peculiarly-shaped granite peaks, pine trees, and views of the clouds from above. From the very beginning, USTC has been blessed with strong supports from the Chinese government, including the establishment of two national facilities on the campus: the National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) and the Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale (HFNL). In fact, USTC is the only university in China that has two national facilities on the same campus. The newly established HFNL was formally approved by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology in November 2003. It was founded on a multidisciplinary approach, with a focus on both national strategic demands and frontier basic research. Research at HNFL involves physics, chemistry, biology, materials science, and information technology in a highly integrated fashion. Currently, 153 research scientists (most of them are USTC faculty) and staff members work at HFNL. Major facilities include a low-temperature and strong-magnetic-field laboratory and a micro- and nanofabrication laboratory. In 2006, HFNL was selected as a research base for the “Quantum Research” national science megaproject. It has also been a leading institution or participant of three other megaprojects: “Nanoscience and Nanotechnology”, “Protein Science”, and “Development and Reproductive Biology”. HFNL enjoys worldwide fame and was recently selected as one of the Top Ten State Science and Technology Developments in the World. Since its founding, the USTC has been persisting in fundamental research and enhancement of original capabilities of innovation, in order to accumulate strength and power for solving key issues in the scientific development of the nation. Over the past decade, the citation count per faculty member at the USTC is 8.23, among the highest for publications from all universities in China. According to the 2008 World University Rankings by Times Higher Education, USTC was ranked as the third top university in China and the twenty forth top university in Asia. In the 21st century, USTC is expediting the establishment of a world-class research university from five major aspects, namely talent cultivation, faculty development, discipline construction, society service, and a modern university system. USTC is probably known best for its high-quality students. The admission is very selective: more than 90% of incoming freshmen were ranked in the top 5% of their high school class and their scores for college-entrance examination were also among the very highest in the nation. The students of USTC have a strong reputation of being highly motivated and hardworking. For every 1000 students graduating from USTC, more than 700 will pursue a master or Ph.D. degree, and at least one of them will be later elected as a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences or the Chinese Academy of Engineering. These two ratios are also the highest among all Chinese universities. With these statistics in mind, it will not be difficult to understand why there are so many USTC alumni who are holding faculty positions in the western countries. The table provides a partial list of those alumni in the United States alone, whose research is closely related to materials science and nanotechnology. As limited by space, this special issue can only accommodate the contributions from ten USTC alumni, in addition to the contributions from six USTC faculty members (most of them also received their education from USTC). A partial list of USTC alumni who hold faculty positions in the United States and whose research is closely related to materials science and nanotechnology. It is hoped that this special issue will provide the readers some representative and exciting accomplishments contributed by USTC researchers or alumni to the field of advanced materials. We also sincerely hope that readers will enjoy the scope of topics presented here and perhaps take this opportunity to know more about our Alma mater. Go USTC! We are all proud of you!