Poaching People

In Shen Qi's plan, the Mathematical Research Center will initially be set up with three departments: Mathematics Room, Physics Room, and General Affairs Department. The first two departments will directly participate in front-line scientific research, while the General Affairs Department will be responsible for logistics management.

The center should initially have no fewer than thirty staff members, but currently, apart from the center director Shen Qi, no other staff members have been assigned.

One of the spots in the Mathematics Room was reserved for Zhou Yu'an would be receiving his PhD from Princeton University in a few months.

Zhou Yu'an specializes in Differential Geometry and Partial Differential Equations. According to the structure of the mathematics major, Shen Qi's Mathematics Room needs at least twelve people, each responsible for two branches, to cover the entire field of mathematics.

The branches of physics are even more complex, requiring at least fifteen people to fully cover them.

With the addition of three logistics personnel, the initial staffing of the Mathematical Research Center should not be less than thirty people; this is how it was estimated.

Let's recruit talented people. Shen Qi's WeChat group for the Peking University Mathematics Department from his undergraduate days is still active, and he's the group admin.

Shen Qi sent a message in the group:

"The Yanshan University Shen Qi Mathematical and Physical Research Center has been established, and I will serve as its director."

"Our center is independent of any college at Yenching University and reports directly to the university. We prioritize academic excellence and primarily engage in basic theoretical research, combining theory with application."

"Our goal is to build a Chinese version of the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study with socialist characteristics."

We are now recruiting several Mathematical Research, with salaries and benefits comparable to those offered by the Big Mathematics Department.

"By the way, a doctoral degree is required. That's all."

Those interested should contact me directly.

The moment this message was sent, the WeChat group, which had been dormant for a long time, exploded with activity.

"Is the Boss Shen back?"

"Great news!"

"I want to go, but what can I do if I only have a bachelor's degree?"

I'm still a graduate student.

"I'm currently pursuing my PhD, and the thesis is so frustrating that I've considered suicide."

Shen Qi's eyes were blurry from receiving hundreds of messages. He sent a voice message: "Quiet down, everyone! Those who have already graduated with a PhD, type '1' in the group."

Ou Ye: "1."

A minute passed, and only Ou Ye typed 1.

Luo Ji: "Ou Ye Zhen Goddess!"

Li Zhenqiang: "Ou Ye graduated with a PhD so quickly! And from Princeton!"

Cai Qing: "Undergraduates who are struggling to make ends meet dare not speak up."

Shen Qi asked, "Is Ou Ye the only one who graduated with a doctorate? Including me, it's two people?"

Luo Ji did some calculations with Shen Qi: "The Boss Shen, you went to the US after your sophomore year and stayed there for five years. During those five years, we continued with our junior and senior years. A few of us went to work after graduating with our bachelor's degrees, while most of us went on to pursue master's and doctoral degrees. Do the math yourself. In the three years after graduating with your bachelor's degree, could an average person graduate with a doctorate by now?"

If you calculate it that way, then there really aren't many people who graduate with a doctorate.

Li Zhenqiang has started writing his Doctoral Thesis, and his progress is already quite fast.

Luo Ji had just graduated with a master's degree. He didn't want to pursue a doctorate and was planning to find a job. He thought about working for Shen Qi, but Shen Qi only recruited doctoral students for front-line research positions.

For logistics staff responsible for finance, human resources, and miscellaneous tasks, Shen Qi set a minimum requirement of a bachelor's degree. It would be unsuitable for Luo Ji, a graduate student in the Mathematics Department from Yenching University, to do this kind of logistics management work; it would be a waste of his talent.

The standards for front-line researchers cannot be lowered; they must be doctoral students. Shen Qi is well aware of the difference between doctoral students and graduate students. Without experiencing the doctoral stage, some academic qualities cannot be developed.

Taking from the people and using it for the people—this kind of poaching should start from within Yenching University itself.

Shen Qi left Yenching University five years ago, and some changes have taken place during those five years.

No matter how things change, the Big Mathematics Department at Yanda University still has the same number of people. Shen Qi pulled up some files and searched for Doctoral Thesis from the Big Mathematics Department at Yanda University within the past year.

For those engaged in theoretical research, academic papers are their soul; their thoughts can be glimpsed from their papers.

After finishing his doctoral dissertation, Shen Qi became particularly interested in three of the papers and continued to research the authors of those papers.

"Zheng Yang, who completed his master's and doctoral studies for five years, wrote a very good thesis in the field of Homological Algebra. He is currently a researcher in the Department of the Mathematics Department and Number Theory at the School of Mathematics... It's not easy to poach him. Researcher Zheng is one of Lao Sun's people." Shen Qi fell into deep thought. Sun Erxiong's office was downstairs from his. Lao Sun was the director of the Department of Algebra and Number Theory.

"Meng Hui, his Mathematical Analysis paper is brilliant... Wait, this paper looks familiar, and this guy's name sounds familiar too?"

Shen Qi remembered that Meng Hui was one of Lu Guozhen's people and a member of the team working on the Mathematical Analysis section of "Systematization and Hodge Conjecture".

"I see. Some of the AN section materials that Lao Lu gave me were written by Meng Hui, and Meng Hui compiled them into his doctoral dissertation."

Old Lu is now the Vice Dean Mathematical Sciences. I wonder if it's feasible to ask him for someone?

The third Doctoral Thesis was the one that attracted Shen Qi the most; it was a paper in the field of Mathematical Physics.

This PhD student made a bold innovation by skillfully using constrained variational analysis combined with perturbation analysis to demonstrate that the equilibrium solution of the NSP equation is unstable under certain conditions, in three-dimensional Poisson Equation, regarding its nonlinear stability.

"Excellent! Elite talents in Mathematical Physics are invaluable. This person can be put to my use. He has a deep understanding of NSP and Navier-Stokes equations, and possesses a certain degree of innovative thinking ability."

Shen Qi was intrigued by the talent. According to the information, the PhD candidate in Mathematical Physics was named Xiao Junlong, and he was currently working in the library group of the Big Mathematics Department at Yenching University.

Yenching Big Mathematics Department has a small library that specializes in collecting mathematical literature, and it is managed by the school's library team.

The staff of the college's library group, i. e., the librarians.

"This is ridiculous. Such an outstanding PhD graduate becomes a librarian?" Shen Qi left the office and walked towards the college library.

Dr. Xiao was definitely suppressed. Sigh, this kind of thing can happen anywhere. Suppression and exclusion also exist in the American academic community.

A math PhD with no place to use his talents, struggling to survive in the cracks while waiting for an opportunity... Shen Qi imagined Dr. Xiao's current situation, which was at a low point in his life. It's better to offer help when it's in need than to add flowers to brocade.

Asking the Department of Mathematical Sciences for a librarian shouldn't be a problem. Anyway, the Department of Mathematical Sciences doesn't value Dr. Xiao, so I might as well use him... Shen Qi arrived at the department library, where there was only one person inside, playing on the computer.

"Please register before borrowing books. Feel free to browse within the library." The person playing on the computer said without turning around; he was probably one of the librarians.

"I don't borrow books, I only borrow people." Shen Qi strolled behind the librarian and noticed that the librarian was looking at high-resolution pictures of pretty girls. "Are you on a dating website? These girls' photos are so fake, everything from their heels up is photoshopped."

The administrator retorted, "Who doesn't photoshop these days? A little photoshopping is good for your health."

"You're not married yet, are you?" Shen Qi asked.

The administrator stated matter-of-factly, "Who goes on dating websites when they're married? This is a legitimate website, not a place for casual sex."

Shen Qi looked around. "Excuse me, does Dr. Xiao Junlong work here?"

The administrator turned around and said, "I am Xiao Junlong. What do you need?"

"You?" Shen Qi was a little surprised. The guy in front of him who called himself Xiao Junlong was neither handsome nor dragon-like, what a waste of such an elegant name.

With small eyes, a big nose, and thick, upturned lips that blended seamlessly with his nose, this administrator, standing at about 1.65 meters tall, was far from handsome. By female standards of beauty, he would be considered an ugly man.

Judging by male aesthetic standards, he is also an ugly man.

"So what if you look down on me?" The administrator showed his badge, and it was indeed Xiao Junlong.

"No," Shen Qi shook his head.

"Hey, aren't you that guy, Shen Qi?" Xiao Junlong recognized Shen Qi.

Shen Qi: "It's me."

"Professor Shen, you're so handsome! You look even more energetic in person than in the photos. How can you be so handsome? Do you go to spas often?" Xiao Junlong glanced at Shen Qi, then at the photoshopped picture of himself on the computer, and thought Shen Qi was more handsome.

"Can getting a spa treatment make you more handsome?" Shen Qi asked rhetorically, then continued, "Dr. Xiao, there's a math problem I don't quite understand, and I'd like to ask you for help."

Xiao Junlong didn't believe it. "Are you kidding me? You still have questions you don't understand?"