What do you mainly study in college? 

While it is important to learn knowledge, it is more important to cultivate the ability to think independently and embrace the spirit of science. On September 4, 2018, at the opening ceremony for the Class of 2018 at Nankai University, as a teacher representative, Zhou Qilin, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a professor at the College of Chemistry at Nankai University, addressed all new students.

What Zhou Qilin disciplines his students to do is also what he himself  does.

In 1977, the college entrance examination system was restored. At the age of 20, Zhou Qilin was an ordinary educated youth from the Nanjing rural area. Upon learning of the resumption of the college entrance examination, he resumed his long-abandoned studies. In 1978, by virtue of his high marks in physics and chemistry, he was enrolled in the Department of Chemistry of Lanzhou University.

From the farm to the classroom, Zhou greatly treasured the hard-earned opportunity to study. Even in the cold winter, he often sat and read under a streetlight after the light in his dormitory was turned off. In the course of his studies, Zhou Qilin defined the direction of his life - to engage in basic research of organic chemistry.

Over the next ten years, Zhou obtained his Ph.D. from the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and went to Germany, Switzerland, and the United States for postdoctoral research, which prepared him well for future scientific endeavors.

In 1999, Zhou was appointed by the Ministry of Education as a Distinguished Professor of the Chang Jiang Scholars Program and taught at Nankai University.

His research group is mainly engaged in metal-catalyzed organic synthesis reactions, asymmetric catalysis, chiral drug synthesis, etc. In past research, there were very few advantageous chiral catalysts that were really effective in multiple reactions. In order to break through academic difficulties, Zhou Qilin devoted more than ten years of research to the core scientific issues of asymmetric catalytic reaction efficiency and selectivity, and designed and developed a brand-new kind of chiral spirocyclic ligand structure. Based on this type of structure, a series of chiral spiro ligands and catalysts were synthesized. These catalysts are known as Zhou Catalysts by peers both at home and abroad, and have become the landmark achievement of Nankai University's chemistry disciplines.

Zhou believes that it is the fundamental mission of scientific research in universities to bring students to the frontier of the discipline, to equip them with the ability to analyze and solve problems, and to make them the pillars of society.

Based on this philosophy, Zhou developed a set of effective teaching methods.

From the day he came to Nankai University, Zhou has undertaken the teaching of undergraduate and graduate elective courses such as Organic Stereochemistry and Frontiers of Contemporary Chemistry. In his mind, teaching is not simply limited to the classroom and laboratory. His research group is open to all students. Any undergraduate, master or doctor who is interested in his field of research could learn through practice in his laboratory.

Zhou Qilin is particularly strict with himself and the students in his research group, especially when it comes to publishing articles. He often warns his students that they should be responsible for their research, and that any errors in the data would have serious consequences, from the smallest details of their research to even the development of mankind. When it comes to their tutor, Zhou Qilin, the young teachers and students in the research group highly praise him. And they aspire to become as outstanding as him.

On the occasion of the 34th Teachers' Day, the Ministry of Education, in conjunction with the national official central media, selected the Ten National Model Educators of 2018, among which Zhou Qilin was listed. Zhou Qilin was indifferent to the honor. He said, “my life will not change because of any honors awarded to me. I have paid 100% for science education before, and that will not change in the future.”