I. History
The origin of School of Applied Physics and Materials dates back to the Department of Mathematics, Physics, and Physical Education in 1985. In 1992, the department was restructured into the Department of Mathematics and Physics. The Applied Physics program (Optoelectronic Information and Technology) commenced enrollment in 2008 and the School of Applied Physics and Materials was officially founded the next year (2009). Over the past decade, the school has experienced rapid growth and has become an essential institute within the university’s key development and building scheme. We offer four undergraduate majors and specialized modules: Electronic Information Engineering (with modules in Optoelectronic Engineering, Semiconductor Green Light Source, New Energy Materials and Devices), and Materials Science and Engineering. The school hosts two provincial key disciplines: New Materials and Devices, and Materials Science and Engineering, with the latter designated as one of the key disciplines for doctoral program construction at Wuyi University in 2021. We offer two master's degree programs: Materials Science and Engineering (Academic Master) and Materials and Chemical Engineering (Engineering Master). Since 2020, the school has initiated joint master programs with institutions such as the University of Macau and the Guangdong Academy of Sciences. In 2022, we expanded our joint program to doctoral degree with the University of Macau.
In recent years, our disciplines have developed rapidly and their influence has grown steadily. Started as below 20% the potential threshold for entering the top 1% of the ESI world ranking, the discipline of Materials has officially entered the top 1% since November 2022 after nearly five years of development, and have advanced to the top 5‰ by 2024. The discipline of Materials Science and Engineering was recognized in the ShanghaiRanking's Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) in 2022, with a global ranking of 301-400 and rose to 201-300 in 2023 after a year of continued progress. By 2024, the ESI national ranking of Materials Science has climbed to the 186th place.
II. Faculty & Staff
In recent years, the school has recruited a significant number of high-level talents from domestic and international research institutions, including Curtin University in Australia, Tohoku University in Japan, Hong Kong Baptist University, Tsinghua University, Peking University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, South China University of Technology, etc. This led to the establishment of a robust teaching and research team with a rational structure, excellent quality and great potentials.
The school currently has 76 members, including 57 full-time teachers, 51 of whom hold doctoral degrees (89%). Among them, there are 9 professors and 25 associate professors, 7 doctoral supervisors and 46 master's supervisors. The school has cultivated 2 winners of the Guangdong Outstanding Young Talents, 1 top youth talent under the Pearl River Talent Program, 1 provincial-level training candidate under the "Thousand, Hundred, Ten" talent program, 1 expert with Special Government Allowances of the State Council, 2 recipients of the title of "Excellent Teacher of South Guangdong Province," 1 recipient of the title of "Top Ten Teachers in Jiangmen City," and 1 individual listed as the global top 2% scientists.
III. Platform
The school has established close cooperative relationships with Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the University of Macau, the Guangdong Academy of Sciences, and other institutions. We have built a number of teaching and research platforms, including the "Guangdong Engineering Technology Research Center for Flexible Sensors and Applications," the "Guangdong Engineering Technology Research Center for Optoelectronic Materials and Applications", "Guangdong Provincial University Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Devices," and other high-level teaching and research platforms.
We have developed laboratories spanning approximately 5,000 m2, equipped with state-of-the-art large-scale precision instruments and equipment valued over ¥100 million, including a field emission transmission electron microscope, a high-resolution field emission scanning electron microscope, a high-vacuum vapor-phase synthesis system for nanostructures, a laser confocal Raman spectrometer, an X-ray diffractometer, an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, a steady-state and transient fluorescence spectrometer, an optoelectronic display device platform, a solar cell device platform, a quantum efficiency tester, a high-precision micro-tensile tester, a maskless direct-write lithography machine, a multi-channel electrochemical workstation, an automatic three-station multi-purpose gas adsorption analyzer, a thermogravimetric analyzer, a high-resolution mass spectrometer, a fuel cell test system, an ultra-depth-of-field three-dimensional digital microscope, a comprehensive test system for light source optoelectronics and color, a high-vacuum magnetron sputtering coating equipment, and other large-scale valuable instruments. These high-tech instruments provide robust hardware foundation for creating high-level scientific research outcomes, supporting talent development, and facilitating industry-academia-research cooperation and technical services.
IV. Research
In the past five years, faculties have received ¥12.43 million funding from government sponsored researches and ¥5.98 million funding from enterprise sponsored researches, undertaken 19 National Natural Science Foundation projects, and nearly 100 provincial and municipal research projects. Breakthroughs have been made in the fields of lithium battery materials, flexible sensors, and special luminescent materials. A total of 418 SCI papers have been published in renowned international journals such as Adv. Mater. and Nat. Commun., and 266 invention patents were applied with 153 authorized. The faculties have received 2 Excellent Guangdong Patent Awards, 1 Second Prize for Innovation in the China Invention and Entrepreneurship Award, 7 First and Second Prizes for Jiangmen Science and Technology Awards, the Gold Award in the First Jiangmen High-Value Patent Layout Competition, 1 Second Prize for China Industry-University-Research Cooperative Innovation Achievements, and 2 Excellence Awards.
V. Talent Cultivation
The school adheres to the original aspiration and the foundamental mission of fostering virtue and nurturing a new generation of capable young people and always considers teaching as its central task. We actively promote educational and teaching reforms to comprehensively improve the quality of talent cultivation. In the process of talent cultivation, with the main goal of "facilitating students' growth," and guided by improving students' practical and innovative abilities, the school has constructed a classified talent cultivation system for applied talents featuring "one center, two abilities, three goals, four platforms, and five services." It has established and improved three types of applied talent cultivation goals dominated by technical types, supplemented by research and composite types. Relying on four platforms, namely the basic experimental training platform, the professional experimental teaching platform, the industry-education deeply integrated collaborative education platform, and the student scientific and technological innovation training platform, the school cultivates talents to meet the needs of economic development in the Pearl River Delta region and has achieved a series of teaching achievements.
(1) Through reverse design, the school has strengthened humanities education, added a course group on optoelectronic product design, optimized the practical teaching system, reorganized the core professional curriculum system, and reconstructed the innovation talent cultivation system for the optoelectronic engineering program, establishing a "dynamically compatible and continuously innovative" teaching content update mechanism. It has constructed a "multi-path, multi-level, and progressive" practical teaching system, emphasizing the role of industry-education collaborative education and extracurricular scientific and technological activities in cultivating innovative talents. The related achievements have won two Second Prizes for Teaching Achievements in Guangdong Province.
(2) The school has jointly established the Semiconductor Optoelectronic Technology Industry College with leading optoelectronic enterprises and industries. Together with 18 leading optoelectronic enterprises, it has established the Semiconductor Optoelectronic Technology Industry College. In October 2023, the Semiconductor Optoelectronic Technology Industry College was selected as the fourth batch of demonstrative modern industry colleges in Guangdong Province.
(3) By integrating the scientific and technological research and development process with talent cultivation, the school promotes the deep integration and coordinated development of national scientific and technological innovation, the industrial system, and the talent cultivation system. The integration of science, education, and research is an important way to cultivate students' awareness, thinking, and abilities in innovation. The key is to effectively integrate scientific research resources and achievements into the talent cultivation process. For example, pilot majors such as Materials Science and Engineering and Electronic Information Engineering have proposed a hierarchical and phased approach to promote innovation education in their cultivation plans. During the first year, the focus is on cultivating students' preliminary innovation awareness and stimulating their curiosity. During the second and third years, the focus is on cultivating students' innovative thinking. During the fourth year, assessment steps and evaluation methods are set up to stimulate students' innovative potential and evaluate their innovative abilities.
(4) The school deepens cooperation, exchanges, and talent cultivation with external scientific research institutes and universities, promoting the integrated development of science, technology, and education. The school has established joint cultivation bases with renowned research institutions such as the University of Macau, the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Guangdong Provincial Academy of Sciences. So far, five master's students have participated in joint programs at the University of Macau, and one at the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences for joint training, with 11 more students in subsequent plan. They have published six high-quality research papers and have been awarded in provincial or higher-level scientific and technological competitions. Through these joint programs, we provide a broader research platform for the students, enriches their research expertise and global perspective. By engaging in cooperative endeavors, academic seminars, and other activities, the students continuously elevate their academic competencies, and thereby forge a solid foundation for their career development. Concurrently, the school promotes the translation and application of scientific research outcomes through this model, realizing a profound integration of science, technology and education.
