Nankai University, relying on its Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, has officially established eight frontier centers for basic sciences, involving: Mathematics and Intelligence, New Organic Matter, Cellular Response, Brain-Computer Interfaces, Future Energy, Intelligent Sensing, Embodied AI, and Carbon Neutrality. The move aims to further strengthen basic research, pool innovative talent, and produce major original research achievements.

Nankai University has a strong foundation in basic disciplines, including mathematics, chemistry, physics, life sciences, information science, materials science, and environmental science. It is well positioned to make groundbreaking discoveries, to achieve originals “from 0 to 1” breakthroughs in areas such as new organic matter creation, energy science, life and health, intelligent science, brain-computer interfaces, and carbon neutrality, and to build high-level basic research centers that advance the frontiers of science.

Zhou Qilin, winner of the First Prize of the 2019 National Natural Science Award, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and chief scientist of the Frontier Center for New Organic Matter, noted that as a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation accelerates, global competition in science and technology is increasingly focused on basic and frontier fields. He expressed that it is highly time for Nankai University to leverage its strengths and establish the frontier centers for basic sciences, and that the participation of outstanding young and middle-aged academic leaders will inject strong momentum and vitality into their development. “We will closely focus on national strategic needs, target frontier questions in the creation and manufacturing of new matter, accelerate breakthroughs, strengthen research teams, and leverage key original achievements to support high-level self-reliance and strength in science and technology, contributing to building China into a strong country in science and technology,” said Zhou.

Yuan Mingjian, Director of the Frontier Center for Future Energy and  professor at Nankai University’s College of Chemistry, has led his team in publishing a series of breakthrough research findings in leading international journals in recent years. “Basic research is the source of scientific and technological innovation. Our team’s breakthroughs in areas such as perovskite optoelectronic devices have come from a long-term focus on fundamental scientific questions and deep interdisciplinary integration,” said Yuan. “The establishment of the eight centers will provide an unprecedented collaborative platform for systematic research in areas such as new organic matter and future energy. Relying on the center, we will further break down disciplinary barriers, concentrate efforts on high-efficiency optoelectronic materials and devices, and accelerate the translation of groundbreaking scientific discoveries into key technologies for industrial application,” he added.

Guo Shaoming, a New Cornerstone Investigator, Director of the Frontier Center for Mathematics and Intelligence, and Chair Professor at Nankai University’s Chern Institute of Mathematics, said that the establishment of the eight centers provides a collaborative platform for frontier exploration in mathematics and the integration of mathematics and intelligent technologies. In particular, it serves as an important base for large-model technology to deeply participate in and empower basic mathematics research. Going forward, Guo said that his team would leverage the center to introduce the powerful pattern-discovery capabilities of large models into conjecture generation and assisted proof for complex mathematical structures, accelerating original “from 0 to 1” theoretical breakthroughs in areas such as harmonic analysis and geometric measure theory. At the same time, the team would draw on profound theory of foundations of mathematics to improve large models, addressing key theoretical and methodological challenges in frontier areas of intelligence such as interpretability, and promoting two-way advancement between mathematics and large model technology.

（Edited and translated by Nankai News Team.)