Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) has always paid attention to the development of its scholars, and their ability to educate the future leaders for the new era. With that in mind, highlighting the top educators each year has become an ongoing series at SUSTech, as we examine their unique and innovative approaches to pedagogy while focusing on scientific research.

As part of the 2019 SUSTech Teachers’ Day Awards Ceremony, Associate Professor Xu Hu from the Department of Physics won two awards; Presidential Early Career Award for Excellence in Research and Young Professor of the Year.

Dr. Xu Hu is one of the youngest outstanding scholars at SUSTech. At the same time, he is also a “senior employee” of SUSTech, having been on campus since 2011. He integrates youth into SUSTech, fundamentally growing and contributing with the SUSTech community. “Looking back at when I signed my contract in 2011, I was the first full time teacher of SUSTech.”

Before coming to SUSTech, Xu Hu was a senior research assistant at City University of Hong Kong. Dr. Xu Hu reflected about the build-from-scratch nature of SUSTech, and how that truly fit into Shenzhen. “In the early years of SUSTech, we built laboratories and research centers from the ground up, and we worked side-by-side with other departments – sometimes quite literally.”

Outside Xu Hu’s office are all the articles and papers that he has published under the SUSTech name. He said that the article in the top left corner is one of the first papers published with SUSTech as the communication unit.

When SUSTech was first coming together, Xu Hu braced himself to learn professional knowledge in computer science in order to build a high-performance computing center at SUSTech. He encouraged the recruiting of students to SUSTech, from middle school all the way to postgraduate. He always said once he had taken the task, he would do his best to accomplish it. Thus, Dr. Xu Hu has made contributions both academically and in public service to the university.

Xu Hu’s research focuses on the surface stability, catalytic mechanism and magnetic topological properties of metal oxides. After joining SUSTech, he has published 52 scientific papers as a corresponding author or first author, with 4 in Phys. Rev. Lett., 10 in Phys. Rev., 1 in J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1 in Nano Lett., 1 in Nat. Commun., and 1 in Matter. The research published by his group has grown rapidly in recent years, with the number of papers in the last two years being more than the papers in the previous six years. In addition, his three grants have been funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).

Given his experience in building laboratories from the ground up, Xu Hu does not like to see laboratory equipment laying idle, so often works late into the night. He will often set up calculations in the evening to run through the night in order to get results in the morning and start the next step of his studies. He also adjusts and verifies all calculation parameters personally, in order to ensure proper operational efficiency. Xu Hu advises his students on the small ways to improve their experimental effectiveness, which saw his students develop high quality research habits.

As a professional tutor, Xu Hu believes he is a strict mentor compared to others. He keeps up to date with the progress of the work of all his students, often requesting follow-up, reminders and supervision. His demanding research approach has been embedded into his research group, who have made significant leaps in their personal goals

Several postgraduate students pointed out that Xu Hu had been a positive role model for their research, communicating with them consistently and ensuring that their academic development supports their pioneering & cutting-edge scientific research.

“I might be a stubborn and serious person when it comes to research, but it is also the case in the classroom as teaching is the foundation of everything,” said Xu Hu. He has been teaching solid physics and surface physics for several years, adjusting it each year to include new cutting-edge information and the latest research. Xu Hu places his classes at top priority, but has not substantially changed his class more than three times over the last eight years.

Xu Hu said: “Teaching is the greatest responsibility of scholars, and other things must stand aside for teaching.” He gives professional and personal guidance to the students that he teaches. Many students enjoy being associated with him, and some have chosen him as a personal tutor. Some of them studied physics with him after they finished their major, and a large number of Shandong students came to SUSTech to study.

Besides teaching and research, Xu Hu also spends a lot of time socializing with his students, with many of them coming to him with questions. When he was asked to recruit students for Shandong Province, he would say to parents that he is like an “after-sales package,” a comment that parents have come to learn is not a joke.

Despite the significant changes that SUSTech has gone through in the eight years that Xu Hu has seen, it remains an excellent platform for scientific and technological development. With excellent students and a strong faculty team, he is very proud to be a member of the SUSTech community, and will continue to work hard for SUSTech’s future development.