The selection of the 2022 Outstanding International Students has concluded, during which, the selection of awardees for Academic Excellence Award and Best Activity Participation Award has been carefully conducted. The list of the students winning the Academic Excellence Award was determined after the professional review of the students’ application materials by the International College Teaching Committee, and the list has been announced on the official website of International College as required. This year, 5 international students were selected by virtue of their outstanding academic performance in the 2021/2022 academic year. The list of 3 awardees of the Best Activity Participation Award was determined after the review of the students’ application by International College. On December 2, the Award Ceremony was held in the Lecture Hall 307 of International Building.
To follow the epidemic prevention and control policy, only the on-campus award-winning students and some of the staff members of International College were invited to present at the ceremony. Professor Guanglei Cheng, the deputy director of the Office of International Cooperation, and Ms. Judy Shen, the head of International Students Office, also attended the event.
At the start of the event, Professor Guanglei Cheng gave an opening speech. In his speech, Professor Cheng congratulated all eight awardees of "Outstanding International Students in 2022", praised the prominent achievements of these awardees in the 2021/2022 academic year, encouraged them to continue to seek for further development and achievements in the future, and to fulfill their personal targets with maximum determination.
Then, Professor Cheng presented the Certificate of Honor to the 8 award-winning students. Shemsu Ligani Fereja won the 1st prize of the Academic Excellence Award. Altyeb Ali Abaker Omer, Micheal Marembo, Zahid Hussain and Warda Rafaqat won the 2nd prize of the award. Muhammad Usman, Mansoor Iqbal and Rakotondrasoa Sahaza Delis won the Best Activity Participation Award of the year.
Later, Micheal Marembo, a fourth-year doctoral student from the School of Engineering Science gave a speech as the representative of the Academic Excellence Award winning students. In his speech, he extended his heartiest gratitude to his supervisor Professor HengAn Wu, his lab mates and staff members of International College for their guidance and help during his study at USTC. He also shared his reflections and valuable research experience with all the people on the scene.
Following that, Rakotondrasoa Sahaza Delis, a third-year master student majoring in Journalism and Communication at the School of Humanities and Social Science expressed his actual mood in simple but fluent Chinese sincerely on behalf of the winning students of the Best Activity Participation Award. He said “I love to participate in various cultural and sport activities organized by USTC. I also got acquainted with many excellent people through the process, which enriched my entire life at USTC”. He wishes to keep playing the role of Sino-Foreign cultural ambassador, so that more people can have a better understanding of China and its culture.
The Outstanding International Students Award has been successfully held for three years since 2020. The selection of this award is not only a recognition of the award-winning students, but also an encouragement to all the international students of USTC. We wish that all international students keep positive study attitude, forge ahead with great efforts, and finally become the brilliant individuals with international horizons.
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Shemsu Ligani Fereja是中国科学院长春应用化学研究所的博士留学生，专业是化学工程。在导师陈卫教授的指导下,该生主要研究方向是设计和合成多孔纳米复合材料并应用于电化学电解水制氢。该同学克服语言障碍，进入实验室后能够根据确定的研究方向，迅速开展文献调研和确定研究体系，充分利用中科院长春应化所提供的良好科研条件和课题组良好的科研氛围，学习积极主动，工作刻苦认真，研究进展顺利。先后研发了W掺杂MoP材料、三维NiS2/MoO2异质结结构及由MOF制备的新型高熵金属氧化物材料，分别在电解水氢析出、氧析出反应中表现出优异的催化性能，相关工作发表于化工领域TOP期刊Chem. Eng. J.及美国化学会材料类旗舰期刊ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces等。该生的相关研究成果对开发高性能电解水制氢催化剂、降低制氢成本及氢能技术的发展有重要意义。
Altyeb Ali Abaker Omer是我校物理学院光学系博士研究生。自入学以来，积极参与项目组光伏农业课题研发，从事光学与农业交叉科学研究。Ali同学认识到光伏农业课题成果今后可能在他的国家苏丹得到推广应用，故选择以光伏农业系统对农作物生长情况和生态环境情况开展研究。他通过两年多的试验证明，中科大项目组研发的光伏农业系统不仅可以保证光伏发电，而且可以显著提升土壤保湿能力，可以大大节约农田灌溉用水，并实现农作物增产增收。光伏农业课题的核心是光伏发电与农作物植物光合作用二者的光照管理，涉及各种农作物对阳光的需求，包括光强、光谱等的研究。Ali同学在导师和同学们的帮助下，在安徽阜阳、宿州、合肥多地开展了多种农作物在光伏农业生态环境下的种植试验，取得了在光伏农业领域令人关注的多项成果。除了在《Solar Energy》、《Agronomy》等权威SCI杂志发表论文之外，值得一提的是2022年12月1日，全球光伏行业最大、最具影响力的网络媒体PV Magazine也专文报道了Ali的工作。报道链接如下：
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/12/01/agrivoltaics-to-reduce-water-evaporation/
Micheal Marembo是我校工程科学学院近代力学系的四年级博士生。在导师吴恒安教授的指导下，他致力于计算力学数值方法与石油工程应用研究。针对页岩气藏的复杂多尺度裂缝-孔隙结构，Marembo提出了综合考虑多区域和多尺度的页岩气藏产能预测模型，准确描述了岩层中多种非线性渗流机制共同主导下的气体输运行为，为页岩气藏等非常规油气的勘探开发提供了重要理论支撑。已发表高水平SCI论文9篇，其中第一作者论文2篇，分别发表于石油工程领域权威期刊Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering和 Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering上，已获得国际同行学术引用30余次。Marembo来自非洲国家乌干达，尽管异国他乡的气候、饮食和生活习惯都给他带来了巨大挑战，但是他依然努力追求科研与生活的平衡。在实验室里，他专注工作学习，并与课题组成员热情交流；在工作之余，他积极学习汉语，主动参加留学生各项公共服务，与很多中国同学和老师结下了深厚的友谊。Marembo热切希望自己博士毕业后能够投身中国能源企业在乌干达的投资建设，为中乌友谊和共建“一带一路”贡献自己的知识和力量。
Zahid Hussain在中科院苏州纳米所开展细胞表面工程和生物支架的制备及用于组织损伤修复的研究工作，在领域顶尖国际期刊如Chem. Eng. J以及Chemospher上发表了优秀的研究论文。他工作勤奋，学习能力强，基础知识扎实，实验技能好，有较好的创新思维。在团队里他也非常乐于助人，主动承担一些公共事务。
Warda Rafaqat是我校火灾科学国家重点实验室二年级博士生，她的研究方向是野火（森林草原火灾）的监测预警。在导师宋卫国教授的指导下，于2021/2022学年（博士学习第一年）出色完成了研究任务和学术要求，以第一作者发表了两篇SCI论文。第一篇论文中，她尝试采用机器学习分析遥感数据，确定地形、气候和燃料对巴基斯坦野火的影响，以找出不同季节和不同地点野火背后的基本因素，以及火灾预测模型的适应性。第二篇论文中，她利用遥感数据得出的全球网格土壤特性，评估野火发生情况。土壤衍生出植被，因此可能在野火的驱动中起着至关重要的作用。她利用土壤特性分析火灾发生情况，是一种新的尝试。她的工作探索了基于机器学习的土壤属性在监测野火方面的优势，进而结合土壤性质和地形指数，建立多元线性回归模型来估计野火发生次数。随着全球气候变化，中国、巴基斯坦以及全球很多国家都面临着野火的威胁。她的工作对于改善荒地管理策略和减少野火风险具有一定科学价值和实用意义。
