Editor’s note

In order to further establish a management system and operating mechanism compatible with world-class universities with Chinese characteristics, and to promote the modernization of the governance system and governance capabilities, the Beijing Institute of Technology Party Committee has continued to deepen the reform of the two-level management system of the university and colleges, promoted the downward shift of management focus, to vigorously stimulate endogenous motivation, enhance the vitality of school running, and inject strong impetus into the development of high-quality universities.

Recently, the Propaganda Department of the Party Committee launched a special report on "Deepening Reform and Leaping Development", which fully demonstrated the successful practices and outstanding results of the comprehensive reform of BIT and the schools, aiming to broadly gather the development force and promote the continuous deepening of the reform. Today, the first report To Deepen Reforms and Ignite the Engine of High-Quality Development-Sidelights on the Comprehensive Reform of the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering was launched.

To Deepen Reforms and Ignite the Engine of High-Quality Development

--Sidelights on the Comprehensive Reform of the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

Industrial Ecological Building on Liangxiang Campus

BIT was approved to build a key laboratory of "Medical Molecular Science and Preparation Engineering" of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, received funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China for major instrument development projects, three national sites of first-class undergraduate professional were approved, and BIT won gold medal in the International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition. In 2021, the second year after the in-depth implementation of comprehensive reforms, the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering has achieved outstanding results in scientific and technological innovation, platform construction, and personnel training.

Only reformers advance, only innovators are strong, and only reform and innovators win. It is the consensus of the leadership team of the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering to seek motivation for reform in recent years.In 2020, under the overall deployment of deepening the comprehensive reform of BIT, the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering took the lead in applying to become the first batch of pilot institutes.

In response to the bottlenecks and problems that restrict development, the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering has implemented the"four in one" comprehensive reform, put forward 15 practical and hard moves, and formulated the reform "road map" and "timetable": Take the discipline development as the traction, condense the direction, optimize the layout, promote the intersection, and create a new growth point of the discipline;with the reform of talent training as the core, establish a first-class talent training system and steadily improve the quality of talent training;take the reform of the personnel system as the starting point, cultivate and introduce innovative teams, and realize the increase of the quality of the teaching team;supported by platform construction, actively plan to build three platforms for first-class scientific research, experimental teaching, and cutting-edge innovation.

In the past two years, the school has been working hard, and constantly pushing the reform forward and deepening, truly stimulating the endogenous driving force of the BIT’s development, and realizing the comprehensive improvement of BIT's governance level and discipline development level.

Integrating science and engineering to create a full-chain scientific research system

In 2020, with the outbreak of COVID-2019, and 100,000 square meters of MOFilter nanocrystalline membranes that can be self-cleaned, self-sterilized, and can be washed repeatedly are sent to the frontline to support the fight against COVID-2019 as soon as possible.

Antivirus principle of MOFilter materials

Behind the help of science and technology to fight against COVID-2019 is the hard work of the team of Professor Wang Bo of the school. Dedicated to the research of metal organic framework (MOF) materials for a long time, the team has solved the key scientific problemsfrom microscopic porous crystal growth to macroscopic mass production of high-consistency thin films, and related results have been reported in journals such as "Nature".

Spontaneous/stimulated Raman and Rayleigh scattering combined device

In November 2021, the project of "Spontaneous / Stimulated Raman and Rayleigh Scattering Combined Device" led by Professor Zhang Yunhong of the school was supported by the Major Instrument Development Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China,achieving the first breakthrough in the application of major scientific research instrument projects of the school.

Science and technology are the primary productive forces, and the convergence of multiple disciplines and cross-border integration of multiple technologies has become the norm. Under the promotion of comprehensive reforms, the school aims to "improve chemistry and revitalize chemical engineering",adheres to "integration of science and engineering, and characteristic development", gives full play to the advantages of chemistry, chemical engineering and technology disciplines, promotes original innovation research,promotes cross-integration, and condenses inorganic synthesis and advanced materials, chemical power and green catalysis, molecular design and structural control of nanomaterials, and other disciplines with distinctive characteristics of science and engineering, strives to promote and improve the overall scientific research strength and level through the key construction and priority development of the advantageous characteristic disciplines,to achieve the entire chain of scientific research from original research to serving the country's major needs.

Graphene chemical synthesis and new energy device application team

"BIT has discovered for the first time that oxygen-containing graphene structures produce electricity when exposed to water molecules, and has developed a series of new graphene self-powered energy devices that use water vapor as the ‘fuel'...." In recent years, journals such as "Nature" and "Nature Nanotechnology" have repeatedly reported on the research results of graphene chemical synthesis and new energy device application teams in the form of Research Highlights.

While condensing the subject direction, the school further ignited the engine of scientific and technological innovation, restructured the scientific research organization system, striving to make a fist with the fingers, targeting the force. The school focuses on cluster compounds, new energy chemical engineering, fluorine chemical engineering, theoretical calculations and other disciplines,constructed a "big team-big project-big achievement" innovative team cultivation mechanism. A number of scientific research teams with strong cohesion, innovation, and rapid development momentum have been gathered together to continuously stimulate the endogenous motivation of the school’s development.

Scientific research results are emerging one after another, innovative breakthroughs are constantly produced, and young talents are growing rapidly... This is inseparable from the support and guarantee of a first-class scientific research platform. In recent years, the school’skey laboratory of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology for "Medical Molecular Science and Preparation Engineering" has been approvedthrough deepening comprehensive reforms, optimizing and integrating scientific research and faculty. The laboratory will aim at key technologies such as independent development of drug molecular design software, breakthrough of foreign patent barriers for drug synthesis, and green technology for innovative drug manufacturing processes to solve the "bottleneck" problem in the medical field.

"Taking comprehensive reforms as an opportunity, the school will further promote the construction of platforms such as the High Energy Material Center, the Pharmaceutical Molecular Experiment Center, and Phase II of the Industrial Ecological Building, strengthen the deployment of emerging interdisciplinary fields, face the world's scientific and technological frontiers and major national strategic needs, and adhere to the integration of science and technology, and continue to improve the ability of pilot basic research and the ability to produce results."said Zhang Jiatao, Dean of the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.

Integration of science and education to cultivate top-notch innovative talents

BIT-China Student Team

"Gold Medal! For the seventh time!" In November 2021, with the project Taste Detector and Its Exclusive Seasoning, the BIT-China student team of BIT came to the fore from 343 teams from top universities at home and abroad, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Manchester, Technical University of Berlin, and Tsinghua University,won the gold medal in the 2021 international Genetic Engineering Machine (iGEM) competition.

"It is not easy to win gold medals in top international synthetic biology competitions.Profound scientific research accumulation, broad international vision, diversified interdisciplinary and teamwork together have resulted in the brilliant achievements of seven gold awards, two silver awards and one single award nomination in nine years. "After winning the award, Sun Yiyang, the captain of the BIT-China team, said excitedly.

Breaking down the barriers between disciplines, majors, and departments, and letting high-level talents act as "course chiefs" and leading the teaching team; develop offline, online, mixed O2O teaching modes, and establishing gold-level basic courses and specialty majors course group; the curriculum system is integrated and reshaped according to the output orientation; in 2019 and 2020, three national-level first-class majors in chemical engineering and technology, chemistry, and energy chemical engineering have been approved...

The School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering has always focused on the core of talent training reform, carried out innovation and breakthroughs while deepening the integration of science and education,established and improved the scientific research and education system, created a practical platform for scientific research and education, established a scientific and perfect evaluation system, and cultivated students' original spirit and critical thinking in scientific research activities, steadily improving the quality of talent training.

Students from the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering participated in the National College Student Chemistry Experiment Innovation Design Challenge

In the China International "Internet+" Innovation Competition, the National College Student "Challenge Cup" Innovation Competition, the National College Student Chemistry Competition and other important domestic and foreign competitions, students from School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineeringwon 1 national award special prize, 8 first and second prizes, more than 40 awards at provincial and ministerial level; published high-level academic papers in international journals such as "Nat. Catal.", "Nat. Commun.", "JACS", "Angew. Chem." and "Adv. Mater."... The school gives full play to the supporting role of first-class teachers and high-level scientific research, and cultivates a fertile soil of "integration of science and education and teaching first". Students' innovative achievements continue to emerge, and the effectiveness of scientific research and education is becoming more and more obvious.

I hope that the scientific research results I have made can be put on the ‘bookshelves’ as well as on the ‘shelf’, and generate value to the society."This is the ambition of the student Wu Dengxu before graduation. In September 2017, Wu Dengxu, a teenager from Dongxiang, Hubei, entered the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of Beijing Institute of Technology. When he first entered school, Wu Dengxu's grades were not satisfactory and he was at a loss for the future. After listening to the "Inorganic Chemistry" class, he was deeply moved by Professor Wang Bo, the lecturer of the course, with his scientific and national sentiment, and he secretly made up his mind to pursue his own scientific research dream.In the four years of university, he won three national inspirational scholarships and four first-class scholarships, and published an SCI top journal paper as the first author.

Wu Dengxu, who has the dream of serving the country through scientific research, is just a representative of many students in the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. In recent years, the school has taken morality as the foundation, combined with professional characteristics,integrated ideological and political education into the talent training system, comprehensively promoted curriculum ideological and political construction, given full play to the role of the main channel of the classroom, and cultivated a group of top-notch innovative talents with both integrity and ability.

Quan Kun took the initiative to help community residents purchase living supplies during the COVID-2019 epidemic

"I am not only a young man in the community, but also a college student, what’s more, a member of the Communist Party. In the current COVID-2019 epidemic, I have to take the responsibility and rush to the front line." In 2020, COVID-2019 prevention and control at the critical moment, Quan Kun, who is a 2017 graduate student at BIT, was at home in Wuhan. He immediately submitted a "War Request" to the street party organization andbecame the first college student volunteer on the front line of COVID-2019 epidemic prevention and control in Fujiangdao Community, Zhifang Street, Jiangxia District, Wuhan.

Three-dimensional education professor Yang Guoyu instructing students to do experiments

Through deeply promoting the comprehensive reform of the three-dimensional education, putting ideological and political education throughout the entire process of talent training, the school will provide practical actions, practical achievements, and practical results.Through strengthening the leading position of teachers in talent training and the primary responsibility of teaching and educating people, solidly promoting the mentor system for all-staff education, and realizing the precise connection between the supply of teachers and the growth needs of students, a team of high-quality full-time and part-time ideological and political teachers who are credible, respectable, reliable, willing, daring, and promising have been created.The school leaders took the lead as moral education tutors, 72 peopleincluding Yang Guoyu, a national talent plan candidate, served as academic and educational tutors,more than 20outstanding alumni served as external tutors, andmore than 90outstanding students served as peer tutors to help students fully grow and become talents, drawing the animation scrolls abouteducating by everyone, educating people in everything, educating people all the time, and educating people everywhere.

Policy empowerment to build a "cornucopia" of high-end talents

Since 2019, double-appointed academician Professor Zhao Dongyuan, national-level talent Professor Wu Biao, "returnee" young talents Lv Hongjin, Jin Xuhui, Li Cuiling, Sun Jianke, Yao Liaoyuan, Liu Helei, Huang Zhiqi, etc. have joined the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of BIT. In just three years, many high-level talents gathered quickly, which provided surging impetus for the academy's leap-forward development, andformed a model of "introducing talents with talents and gathering talents with talents".

Teachers are a valuable asset for building first-class universities and first-class disciplines. For the school to be first-class, it must gather a large number of outstanding talents. In the process of advancing the reform, the school has “tailored” the personnel system reform methods for the two disciplines of chemistry, chemical engineering and technology.The school will continue to deepen the reform of the "pre-employment, long employment and special employment" teacher appointment system in the chemical discipline, formulate a new system teacher introduction standard in line with the development of the chemical discipline, vigorously promote the talent introduction mode of "large team + excellent youth", and use the new platform growth point to attract talents to realize the leapfrog development of the school's talent team.After two years of practice, the school has explored a unique development path and continuously released the talent "aggregation effect".

In 2019, the BIT-Queen's University Synthetic Biology Sino-British Joint Laboratory was established. Since then, a number of international conferences such as the Sino-British Bilateral Young Scholars Advanced Energy Symposium, Chemistry Frontier International Symposium, and ACS-JPCL-BIT Physical Chemistry Forum have been successively carried out. Even in the context of the normalization of the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the school is still working hard to build an international exchange platform, with wonderful presentations of international forums and academic reports online. This series of international exchanges has greatly enhanced the international influence of the school, and has also built a bridge between outstanding overseas talents and the school.

In the process of building a first-class teaching team, the school insists on being inclusive and gathering talents from all over the world.Focusing on the disciplines of key cultivation and construction, through international exchanges and cooperation, the school will strive to attract and introduce outstanding talents with important academic influence, and strive to create a new situation of talents.

Over the past five years, the school has adhered to the"targeted" training, constantly created an environment for recognizing, loving, respecting and using talents, and vigorously promoted the construction plan of excellent teachers. The school has introduced32outstanding young teachers from well-known universities or research institutions at home and abroad, including4national-level talents,7overseas outstanding young talents, and2national-level young talents. The team of high-level talents continues to grow.

The school teachers participating in educational practice activities

"The red gene is passed on from generation to generation, and we have entered a new era. We should shoulder the responsibility of teaching and educating people, and unify the questioning and caring about the family and the country."On December 7, 2020, the young teacher Lv Hongjin of the school joined the Communist Party of China at BIT honorably.

In 2018, after finishing his postdoctoral experience at the University of Rochester, Lv Hongjin joined the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of BIT,in his view, although new progress has been made repeatedly in scientific research, the "progress" of joining the party is even more significant.

With the rapid gathering of young teachers, the school always adheres to the party’s management of talents, attaches importance to cultivating and leading talents, and actively promotes the ideological and political education of teachers. The school has carried out brand activities such as Yan'an root seeking training course, "listening to teachers" and "salutary influence of education · talking about the future", and created a new era teacher team with excellent political quality, exquisite professional ability and excellent education level.

"The smooth progress of the comprehensive reform of the school is mainly due to giving full play to the strong fighting fortress role of grass-roots party organizations in promoting reform and development, leading the cadres and workers of the school to think and work hard in one direction, and focusing the stress of reform and limited resources on the key growth points of the development of the school and disciplines."Wang Zhenhua, Secretary of the Party committee of the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, said.

The wind generates water and the waves rise. In the past two years, the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering has devoted itself to reforms and forges ahead, creating a new situation in the development of the school.In the future, the school will further highlight and strengthen the political function of grass-roots party organizations, vividly reflect the political responsibility and political ability in promoting the school's education, teaching, scientific research management, reform, development and stability, lead the school's high-quality development with high-quality party construction, and make every effort to forge ahead towards a first-class School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.

Reforms are only in progress,

Yet not completed

In the new journey of building

A world-class university with Chinese characteristics

Comprehensively deepening reforms will surely provide

Inexhaustible impetus to promote the high-quality development of schools