On July 8, the opening ceremony of the Weirui Cup of the 2nd National Experimental Chemistry Innovation and Design Competition for College Students in North China and the 100-day Countdown Ceremony of the 100th Anniversary of Nankai’s Chemistry Discipline were held at the Balitai campus.

Attendees included Chen Jun, Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Vice President of Nankai University and the Director of Organizing Committee of the competition, Song Licheng, Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Professor of College of Chemistry, Zhang Jianrong, leader of the Chemical and Chemical Engineering Group of National Demonstration Center for Experimental Education of Ministry of Education and Professor of Nanjing University, Liu Yu, General Manager of Beijing Weiruijizhi Technology Co., Ltd. Teachers and students of the 90 teams from 50 colleges and universities in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, members of Nankai chemistry summer camp, among others, were present.

The Competition was organized by the Chinese Chemical Society and the National Demonstration Center for Experimental Education of the Ministry of Education, aiming at improving students’ innovative abilities. In the preliminary round of the competition, the organizing committee of the North China section received nearly 140 works from over 50 colleges and universities and 90 were recommended to the semi-final round.

Witnessed by the faculty and students, Chen Jun, together with Zhu Shoufei, Dean of the College of Chemistry, jointly unveiled the logo of the College.  

Since October last year, with the issue of the development plan for the chemistry discipline, the College of Chemistry has enjoyed significant support from alumni. At the ceremony, You Shaochun, an alumnus of the College of Chemistry from the class of 1979, donated 200 thousand yuan in support of publishing A Brief History of Chemistry in Nankai University in the Past Centenary. Besides, alumni of the College of Chemistry from the class of 1990 donated 3.38199 million yuan collectively to support the foundation for chemistry development at Nankai University.

After the event, Prof. David G. Evans, winner of the “Friendship Award” of the Chinese government, a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Distinguished Professor of the Beijing University of Chemical Technology, delivered a lecture for the students.

(Reported by Fang Lan, Photographed by Qiqi Zong, Translated by Moxuan Yang)