I am XuYang from Hubei Province. I came to USTB in September 2017 as a freshman student, majoring in Environmental Engineering at the School of Energy and Environmental Engineering (SEEE). So far I have completed three years of my study at USTB and I really enjoyed the period I studied and lived here. Talking about myself, I’ve been working diligently in the past 3 years to achieve my dreams and I have scored high marks in most of the courses. At present, I am ranked first out of 110 students in my department and this has laid a solid foundation for my future study and research. Besides this, I got an opportunity to participate in different competitions termed as “Outside Classroom Scientific Research Activity” and won many prizes. To mention some; I won the first prize of ‘The Chinese Mathematics Competitions’, third prize in the National English Contest for College Students (NECCS), and second prize of the 15th National Environmental-friendly Science & Technology Competition. Due to my excellent performance, I have been awarded National Scholarship three times and straight ‘A’ grade student in Beijing.

During my sophomore year, I started to do experimental works by participating in science and technology competitions. Nowadays it is a great challenge to solve problems with large output, to deal with high moisture content, and to easily treat or dispose of food waste, but our team including me and six other members have invented a device for rapid drying of organic waste by using a novel vacuum fried drying method after a year-long of research and exploration. This work has won the Special Award of the 12th National University Student Social Practice and Science contest on Energy-saving and Emission Reduction.

Later in my junior year, as the team leader, I applied to the Student Research Training Program and made an exploration on the effects of disinfectants on bacterial growth and gene transfer by using microfluidic chip technology, laser scanning microscope, and flow cytometry, and an academic paper was finalized in July of this year. These activities not only have opened up a brand-new vision and formed good studying habits of integrating theory with practice for me, but also improved my physical handling and innovating ability. In this process, I have learned how to do basic scientific research, how to analyze and solve problems alone, and how to cooperate with team members when fulfilling a task.

Besides studying and scientific researches, I have taken part in many social practices, including as a volunteer teacher in a rural area, as a lecturer helping students with their studies at the Student Learning and Development Guidance Center, as a student, I attended different academic conferences to improve myself. Moreover, I worked as an assistant to the head teacher of freshmen, my communication skill and interaction ability has been greatly improved. Collectively I have learned how to keep a balance between study, research, and work through these experiences.

In general, I got comprehensive exercises in the study, research, and social practice and made great progress in the past three years. Finally, I would like to thank the University of Science and Technology Beijing for providing me with various opportunities to improve myself. Secondly, I would like to thank all the teachers in our faculty for their hard work and for teaching me lots of professional knowledge and skills. And thank my college counselors and classmates for helping me whenever I have difficulties. I feel very lucky to be able to study at the School of Energy and Environmental Engineering in USTB. I will persevere and continue to work hard to advance myself in the postgraduate stage to achieve my dreams. Wish our SEEE and USTB a better future!