A New Beginning

Jiang University operates on a credit system, divided into major required courses, major electives, general required courses, and general electives. Beyond the required courses, you just need to accumulate enough credits from electives.

So, generally, most students finish the majority of their courses by the first semester of their third year. In the second semester of their third year, they only have some electives with less academic pressure, allowing them to focus on preparing for postgraduate entrance exams, guaranteed postgraduate admission, civil service exams, or studying abroad.

Chen Yuanguang had decided to become a freelancer back in his second year, but under Lin Jia's influence, he still completed all his courses by the second semester of his third year.

Because he frequently visited the School of Economics and Management, he was honestly more familiar with it than with the School of Chemistry.

Every time he went to the School of Economics and Management for class or to find Lin Jia, the students there would look him over.

At times like these, Chen Yuanguang was glad Lin Jia wasn't studying engineering; the students were still quite friendly.

However, ever since he borrowed the Biology Laboratory and published in Nature, when he went to the School of Biology to return the key, Chen Yuanguang finally experienced what it was like to be stared at like a wolf, even more exaggerated than if he had stolen a beautiful female classmate from the School of Civil Engineering.

First, the administrative staff in charge of the keys scrutinized him up and down like a rare treasure. Chen Yuanguang began to suspect this married woman in her early thirties might have ulterior motives.

"Yuanguang, please have a seat first. Our dean said that when you arrived, you should stay for a bit; he wants to chat with you. I'll go call him now."

Chen Yuanguang: "Okay. I also need to thank the School of Biology for their help this time; publishing in Nature went so smoothly because of it."

Chen Yuanguang thought he was just being polite, but the other person responded, "Our school's labs and environment are much more impressive than the School of Chemistry's, right!

How about it? Want to come to the School of Biology for your doctorate? Jiang University's biology is much stronger than its chemistry."

In 2018, Jiang University's School of Biology had two academicians, while the School of Chemistry had none. Later, by 2021, both the School of Biology and the School of Chemistry each added one academician.

Currently, the School of Biology is indeed much stronger than the School of Chemistry. Chen Yuanguang was well aware of this; in terms of various resources within the university, the School of Biology was ahead.

Of course, this strength in resources didn't have much to do with ordinary students.

"I haven't considered that aspect for now. Relatively speaking, I'm still more interested in chemistry."

After Chen Yuanguang offered a few perfunctory sentences, the other person went to the Dean's office of the School of Biology to ask for instructions. After getting permission, they called Chen Yuanguang in.

Dean Shu's face lit up like a flower upon seeing Chen Yuanguang. "Ah, Yuanguang, right? I've heard about you for a long time. Seeing you today, you truly are a talented individual. Come, sit, sit."

Chen Yuanguang smelled a trap. "Thank you, Dean. You're too kind. I still have a lot to learn from you."

Dean Shu poured water into the cup in front of Chen Yuanguang and then said, "Yuanguang, I read your paper published in Nature. It's very insightful, and it's based on having a theory first and then using experiments to test the theory.

This is something many biologists can't do because they don't have a strong enough mathematical foundation. It's unlikely for them to first sort out the logic from an abstract level, or even directly derive this entire system through deduction.

If you come from a biology background, we generally prefer to observe first, do experiments first, and then summarize and generalize after getting results to form a theory.

However, with the deepening of scientific research in this mode, frankly speaking, the easy research has been done, and the theories that are easy to summarize have been mostly summarized. The remaining fruits require a lot of effort to excavate.

That's why computational biology has been increasingly emphasized in recent years. Our school is also increasing investment in the field of computational biology, and we really like to recruit undergraduate students from the School of Mathematics to do research in computational biology. Their logical thinking is stronger."

Dean Shu spoke endlessly, and Chen Yuanguang muttered inwardly, As expected, being able to talk is a prerequisite for being a leader.

"Yuanguang, I don't want to talk about anything superficial. If you come to the School of Biology for a direct doctorate, I'll talk to Levitt. We'll do joint training. You'll actually study for your doctorate under him, and it will be affiliated with Jiang University.

I won't be listed as the first author or corresponding author on published papers. If you can publish another Nature paper, you can graduate with your doctorate within three years. If not, then four years at most.

Including the Nature paper you just published, with two papers, I guarantee you can apply for the Young Thousand Talents Program and subsequently the Changjiang Scholar. If you don't publish another Nature paper later, you'll at least be eligible for the Ten Thousand Talents Program and the Chu Tian Scholar.

If you publish more, the benefits can be negotiated further. I hope to cultivate you into a leading talent in computational biology at Jiang University."

The pie Dean Shu drew was very large, essentially meaning the School of Biology would only get the prestige, while the actual work would be with Levitt.

Of course, it's also very beneficial for them. Just getting closer to a Nobel laureate and having Jiang University's School of Biology listed as the primary affiliation on a Nature paper is already a huge gain.

Chen Yuanguang shook his head, "Dean, thank you for your kindness. These things are too far away for me. I'm not considering such distant matters for now."

Chen Yuanguang was well aware of the influence of an academician. He believed that the other party could deliver on their promises, but the problem was that these things held no appeal for him at the moment.

Dean Shu said, "This is something that can show results in three to five years. It's not distant."

Chen Yuanguang said helplessly, "Dean, the main thing is that I'm not interested in biology. I still want to work on materials later."

Dean Shu stopped trying to persuade him, "Alright, geniuses always have their personalities. We need to give geniuses time and space to develop freely. Yuanguang, if you change your mind before graduation, you can come find me anytime."

Within a month of publishing the Nature paper, Chen Yuanguang faced various enticing offers at Jiang University, all hoping he would stay.

After firmly stating his intentions, his life slowly returned to peace. Chen Yuanguang finished taking the TOEFL and GRE, then sent an email to Moungi Bawendi. He received a reply from Bawendi the same day.

Chen Yuanguang even wondered if Levitt had already spoken to Bawendi.

Bawendi scheduled a phone interview with him. After talking for about two hours:

"Light, I'm waiting for you in Boston. We talked earlier, you're a senior now, right? Do you have to write a graduation thesis in your senior year?" Bawendi asked on the other end of the phone.

Chen Yuanguang's chosen English name was Light, so the other party called him Light directly.

"Yes," Chen Yuanguang said.

Bawendi asked, "Have you started writing your graduation thesis?"

Chen Yuanguang said, "Not yet, we start writing next semester."

Bawendi: "Okay, this is what I'm thinking. Your foundation is very solid, and you have a deep understanding of cutting-edge theories. There are just slight cognitive biases in some theories, which are very easy to correct.

You've also published in Nature, so your academic writing ability is definitely not a problem. Therefore, I think you can come directly to Boston, and we can start working.

I can't wait to collaborate with you. My idea is for you to come directly to MIT next semester, and I will supervise your graduation thesis. Don't waste another half a year in Jiang City."

Chen Yuanguang thought to himself, It's not that my cognition has biases, but rather that some existing theories are wrong or need patching.