On May 28, 2020, the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering of the USTB held an online master degree defense for International Students who are in the major of Environmental Science and Engineering.

The members of the defense committee are as follows:

Committee Chairman: Prof. Dr. Li Zifu;

Committee members: Prof. Dr. Duan Xiaoli, Asso. Prof. Dr. Song Bo, Asso. Prof. Dr. Ma Hongzhi, Asso. Prof. Dr. Cheng Shikun;

Secretary: Dr. Wang Xuemei.

Prof. Li Zifu, the chairman of the defense committee, announced the start of the defense. All the members of the defense committee and the students opened the Tencent Meeting Software to see each other. Each applicant had a 15-minute dissertation presentation. Three reporters are: Mc.Swain Bertrand with thesis titled “A Cross-Sectional Study on the effects on Solid Fuel use on Lung Function and Cognitive Development in children”, Mukandinda Cyuzuzo Clarisse with thesis titled “Assessment of climate change and human activities impacts on water Yield in Rwanda”, Bakayoko Moussa with thesis titled “Research on lead removal in wastewater by activated carbon produced from Modification of coal gasification residue”. After the report, the members of the defense committee made comments and asked questions, then the applicant answered and clarified.

Although it is an online defense, the entire process is rigorous as well. After the Q & A, the chairman of the defense committee announced the adjournment of the public defense meeting, the defense committee held a closed meeting and evaluated the level of each thesis. Then the secretary launched a vote online through WeChat APP.

After the discussion meeting of defense committee, the public defense meeting resumed. The chairman of the final defense committee announced that all the students passed the defense, on condition that everyone must modify carefully according to comments. However, nobody could reach the thesis level “Excellent”. After revision, all the thesis must be handed to academic board of School of Energy and Environmental Engineering (SEEE) and academic board of USTB for further evaluation. Then USTB will award a master degree officially for them.

Last but not the least, the students gave their respective speeches about their master's career, and their supervisor also recalled their behaviors in USTB. The chairman announced the end of the defense. Congratulations to everybody for a bright future!