Materials are all around us. Since ancient times, humankind has never stopped its pursuit of materials with greater performance, a pursuit that has led human society to progress and driven round after round of technologicalrevolutions. As the first national comprehensive university in China, Peking University(PKU) has along traditionof and unique strengthsin materialscience. The Department of Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology was founded in 2005 and later became the Department of Material Science and Engineering in 2012. In September 2020, as one of the important measures to implement its “New Engineering Disciplines Development Plan”, PKU brought all relevant departments together and established the School of Materials Science and Engineering (SMSE).
In 2017, the Materials discipline of PKU was among the first to be selected into the national “Double First-Class” discipline construction list. Ithas a first-class national-level undergraduate major in materials science and engineering, a first-level doctoral degree, a post-doctoral mobile station, and a doctoral program in materials and chemical engineering. In 2022, the Materials discipline of PKU globally ranks 16th in ESI disciplines (top 1.4‱), 6th in the US News disciplines, and 16th in QS disciplines.
SMSE of PKU adheres to the development idea of "building a great team, establishing a great platform, taking on great tasks, and cultivating great masters". It insists on strengthening the school with talents, which is realized by introducing and cultivating talents at the same time, emphasizing the morality of faculties, valuing scholars with genuine knowledge and abilities, and highlighting the quality and contribution-oriented evaluation guidance. It is exploring the construction of a talent evaluation system that meets the needs of the development of “New Engineering Disciplines”. SMSE now has 120 faculty members (including members in Shenzhen Graduate School). There are 4 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences/Engineering, 6 Changjiang Distinguished Professors, 14 recipients of the National Outstanding Youth Fund, 9 chief scientists of the National Key Research and Development Program, and 20 national-level young talents. The overall proportion of talents ranks the top among the colleges of PKU and the Material schools in the universities.
SMSE followsits original aspiration of “cultivate talents for the Party and the country” and implements the “New Youth for Materials” education project. Though “Fostering Talents for Materials Plan” and “Sharpening Talents for Materials Plan”, the school carries out ideological and political education in classes and in practice, guiding students to grow into newcomers of the era who can undertake the important task of national rejuvenation. The cultivation of undergraduates emphasizes a solid scientific foundation and a broad professional caliber. SMSE organizes a “Chemistry + Materials” double-major program, builds “Tong cheng College”, and cultivates “bilinguals” with both scientific and engineering thinking. The training of academic degree postgraduates adheres to the integration of science and education, which takes high-level scientific research projects as the guide and strengthens process management to foster “Explores” of cutting-edge scientific problems. The training of professional degree postgraduates highlights the in-depth integration of industry, education, and research, which involves holding a high-level interdisciplinary “Tongcheng Materials Science Forum” to cultivate “Navigators” who can lead future technological innovation and industrial transformation.
With a solid discipline foundation and interdisciplinary integration, SMSE plays an important rolein supporting China’s S&T development strategy and insists on “promoting engineering with science”. It focuses on five characteristic disciplines, including emerging materials for national strategies and the frontiers of world science and technology, green energy materials for the national dual-carbon strategy, optoelectronic and display materials for the main economic battle field, implantable biological materials for human health, and structure-function integrated composite materials for national modernization. At the same time, SMSE attaches great importance to the communication and cooperation with the government, scientific research institutes and industrial enterprises. It devotes to making the breakthrough from "0 to 1", and actively participates in the iterations of "from 1 to N" and "from N to infinity", so as to gain deep integration of industrial chain and innovation chain. At present, SMSE has 1 national-level key laboratory, 1 national-level quality inspection center, and 9 provincial and ministerial-level key laboratories/centers. It has won a number of national/provincial science and technology awards,andachieved honors such as the Top Ten Scientific Advances in China as the first unit to complete the project. The school has built a strategic cooperative relationship with Huairou National Laboratory and established an industrial council to carry out in-depth industry-university-research cooperation with leading enterprises such as Tongcheng, Wanhua, and Jingbo.
As the new round of scientific and technological revolution and the industrial transformation keep surging forward, the major shift unseen in a century in the world landscape is picking up speed. The new era calls for PKUers to make more contributions and shoulder new responsibilitiesas we embark upon the new journey. With a consistent pursuit of“making materials that bring real benefits to human development”, SMSE will deepenthe ideological and action awareness of taking high-level research universities as a national strategic scientific and technological force, solidly promote the construction of world-class disciplines, and build a material subject education and research institution with international influence. SMSE aims to push the scientific development and technological progress in future strategic new materials, help strengthen China’s self-reliance in high-technologyand contribute its share in achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
