On Oct. 22, 2019, the establishment ceremony of the “Excellence Scholarship” was held in the Department of Pesticide Science of IPP-CAAS. Prof. Zhou Xueping, Director General of IPP-CAAS, Prof. Zheng Yongquan, Deputy Director General of IPP-CAAS attended the ceremony. The “Excellence Scholarship” for graduate students was sponsored by Mr. Wu Jing, an outstanding alumnus of IPP-CAAS. The ceremony was hosted by Prof. Dong Fengshou, Director of the Department of Pesticide Science. Prof. Yuan Huizhu, Director of the Administrative Office, Prof. Chen Julian, Director of the International Cooperation and Graduate Students, and Prof. Wu Maosen, former supervisor of Wu Jing were present at the ceremony.

Mr. Wu Jing got his master degree from IPP-CAAS in 2007, and started his business in the field of pesticide import and export. In 2012, he founded Tianjin Lianhe Yinong Technology Co., Ltd. Currently, the company has become an enterprise with 6 domestic branches and 3 oversea branches. By the end of 2018, the company was one of the top 100 pesticide export enterprises in China and one of the top 100 foreign exchange earning enterprises in Tianjin with total assets of over 100 million yuan.

On behalf of IPP-CAAS, DG Zhou Xueping welcomed Mr. Wu Jing and acknowledged him for sponsoring the scholarship. Then, DG Zhou Xueping briefly introduced recent development and progress made at IPP-CAAS. He emphasized that graduate students are important innovation forces for scientific research and contribute a great deal to technological innovation. The Department of Pesticide Science has developed rapidly in recent years and especially gave a significant technical support in the field of pesticide reduction application with high efficiency to meet the major national demands. It is significant to set the excellent scholarship for pesticide science, which will encourage graduate students to work hard, forge ahead, pursue excellence. Later, Mr. Wu Jing also gave a talk, reviewed his time spent at IPP-CAAS, acknowledged the institute and advisors for their careful and rigorous training. The purpose for him to set up a scholarship in the Department of Pesticide Science is to encourage more students to get involved in the pesticide business industry. He promised to fund 20,000 yuan each year for ten years continuously. Wu Jing encouraged graduate students to surpass themselves and pursue excellence constantly in life, which also explains why it was named as the “Excellence Scholarship”.

When Mr. Wu Jing shared his stories of entrepreneurship, he showed his own path of growth using vivid photos. He pointed out that farmland is the main battlefield of agricultural scientific research, and encouraged everyone to enter farmland, get more involved in agricultural practice, look for farmers' real needs, and solve the problems. All attendees joined the heated discussion and shared their ideas. Prof. Dong Fengshou gave a concluding speech. He acknowledged Mr. Wu Jing for setting up the scholarship and selfless experience sharing. In the future, the Department of Pesticide Science will host more academic reports and story sharing ses-sions, where researchers and students can get more inspiration from people who succeed in their careers to pursue excellence in their life.

By Dong Fengshou (fsdong@ippcaas.cn)