Chen Xiyao: an Undergraduate Student who is the First Author of a Published Paper in the Journal Listed in both SCI and SSCI

In June, 2017, Chen Xiyao, a junior student majored in environmental engineering in School of Information and Safety Engineering, published his paper “Monitoring, Human Health Risk Assessment and Optimized Management for Typical Pollutants in Indoor Air from Random Families of University Staff, Wuhan City, China” in the journal listed in both SCI and SSCI as the first author. He might be the first undergraduate student who published a paper in the journal listed in both SCI and SSCI in ZUEL as the first author.

This paper was based on the first-hand data from the monitoring of indoor pollution of hundreds of faculty members of ZUEL by Chen Xiyao and Club of “1 Degree Public Benefit” and provided opinions and advice of countermeasures. In his novelty search, Chen Xiyao found that the world lacked data for the research of “indoor pollution”, so, taking advantage of the service of “1 Degree Public Benefit” for the teachers, he monitored the home of hundreds of faculty members to gain the first-hand data. Then he talked to the teacher about his idea of the paper and completed it after many times of revisions.

All teachers in the department were very familiar with him. Director of the department Yang Jun said, he showed his talent in scientific research before. He had got three project approvals in “Bowen” Cup and Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program respectively and led the team of “1 Degree Public Benefit” to win the third prize of the public welfare action of universities of the 3rd “City Environment Protection Cup” Environmental Creative Competition and the 2nd prize of the 3rd Youth Volunteer Public Welfare Project Competition of Hubei Province. He also participated in the research subject of a teacher as a key member and won the first prize of undergraduate teaching achievements.

The Deeper He Explored, the Deeper He Loved

Although Environmental Engineering was not his first choice, he chose to keep on studying instead of switching major or getting a double degree. He gradually developed his interest in Environmental Engineering along his way of study and practice. In his opinion, Environmental Engineering was a major to protect “beauty in life”. He said, “I like to catch the beauty in life with photos and paintings. It’s not bad to choose a major to protect the beauty of life if not to find it.”

He is now devoted himself to the “deeper exploration of the major” and wants to make achievements of his own in the research of Environmental Engineering. In eyes of the counsellor Pan Zhe, Chen Xiyao was a student who loves study and the department. The deeper he explored, the deeper he loved the major of Environmental Engineering. To do the research of the projects, he would go to the laboratory of Wenyong Building every day and stayed late until it was closed. He was appraised for his enthusiasm for the experiments and great ability of operation during his internship in Hubei Academy of Environmental Sciences. He went to sit in the class of thesis instruction for the graduate students to better explore his major even when he had already got postgraduate recommendation.

To Strive to Scale the Heights

He had applied for more than 10 practice projects in his spare time and got three project approvals of “Bowen” Cup and Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program each. His classmates said that he was a man of action, especially in the affairs of the club. The students needed to collect a lot of materials for the research subject and the teacher would only give some advice. Chen Xiyao, once got the mission, would gather several students and lead the discussion in a meeting room to decide the target and divide the work within half a day. For the application of the projects, he would save time by making a plan in advance for everyone to discuss once he got the notice.

Influenced by the instructor, he had high standards for his Bowen theses and academic theses.

Chen Xiyao’s instructor Li Fei told him that you could never revise your thesis for too many times and Chen Xiyao followed the advice. He would revise one thesis for more than 40 times. Li Fei said if put the revised versions and polished versions together, it would be as thick as six or seven professional books together. In the end, the teacher wouldn’t have the heart to give advice and request because Chen Xiyao was very stressful for writing several theses at the same time. But Chen Xiyao still wanted more good advice from the instructor to perfect the theses without any complain. Li Fei said, “he was different from others because he would devote himself to the things he did and he got all the achievements from hard work.”

To Make Achievements with the Spirit of Innovation

Chen Xiyao was not only enthusiastic in public benefit but also paid attention to innovation. As the president of Club of “1 Degree Public Benefit”, he often gathered the students to test and monitor the natural environment of the campus. He found out the status of the water in the campus through two times of water quality tests and provided some data and advice for related departments, which was followed up by the school newspaper with a special page and received good review. They even provided free service of indoor pollution tests for the faculty members. Chen Xiyao also put the contact information, test reports and environmental knowledge on their official website.

He led the team of “1 Degree Public Benefit” to the final of of the 3rd Youth Volunteer Public Welfare Project Competition of Hubei Province and won the 2nd prize in December, 2016. That was the first time a club of ZUEL got into the final and won a prize in that competition. But it was only one of the many honors Chen Xiyao got for the club as the president.

Despite the hard work he did for the theses and subjects, he still devoted himself to the promotion of the development of the of the public benefit club. Zhou Jingcheng, Deputy Director of the department and instructor of the club, said that, Chen Xiyao asked for early resignation to let the next leading body to take the places. Actually, at that time, many key subjects had been applied but still needed time for approval before being awarded. He wanted to leave the honors for the inferiors. And he left the prize for the club and the research teams. From acceptance to love, from books to practice, from public benefit to scientific research and from the campus to the world, Chen Xiyao was referred to as the model of the spirit of the motto of ZUEL “Learned, Rational, Virtuous and Devoted” by the teachers of the department. But he only treated himself as an ordinary undergraduate student cultivated by ZUEL who worked hard and studied hard to live up to his youth.