Scholar’s Advanced Technological System

Among the many materials available, only a very small subset of materials had the so-called “subversive genes”, and graphene was one of them. As one of the most popular materials, it could be combined with almost any other material.

At least that was how it was in theory.

To a large extent, what restricted the development of modern materials technology wasn’t the lack of innovative ideas. It was to find a way to realize the ideas.

With the current technology available, it would be almost impossible to achieve a composite of silver nanoparticles and graphene with a particle diameter of 1-5 nm.

Whether it was a laboratory preparation method or a developed industry technology, Lu Zhou and Yang Xu couldn’t think of any good methods. After some discussion, the two eventually reached a research consensus.

Which was, to first bond the 10,000-mesh silver powder to the single-layer graphene crumb by powder metallurgy, and if it was successful, the particle size could be further reduced until it reached the nano-scale.

At the same time, the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study had also begun to carry out research on the method of bonding small-sized metal particles and graphene chips to form alloys.

Even though the short-term application prospects of this technology were bleak, Lu Zhou still decided to spend 120 million yuan on a series of projects that were related to Ag/GF composite materials.

In addition to this, they were also doing research on carbon-based computer chips.

However, that side of research wasn’t only done by the Institute of Computational Materials. The Institute of Physics at the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study and the physics department at Jinling University were all involved in carbon-based computer chip research.

Regarding the computer chip technology research, Lu Zhou spent almost twice the amount of research funding compared to Ag/GF composite materials. He himself even participate in this project.

On the other hand, his research on the Debris No.3 was still going on. In addition to researching the treasures that had been retrieved, Lu Zhou still hoped to find more treasures on this piece of debris.

Of course, even though there were so many things to do, Lu Zhou didn’t forget about the system mission.

Honestly, the description of this reward mission was quite interesting.

The theses required the students to have a certain degree of participation in the research project. However, the system didn’t specify this requirement.

If only Lu Zhou knew about this participation requirement, it would make the mission a lot easier.

As of now, Lu Zhou could only make general speculation. If all he did was to make the students pour some tea, clean the equipment, and then write the students’ names on the theses, the system probably wouldn’t consider the mission to be completed.

Also, there were other researchers in the research institute that weren’t his students.

Even though Lu Zhou took a lot of time to help them with their research projects, the system didn’t consider them as his students.

Obviously, the system didn’t give him any loophole opportunities. If he wanted to complete the mission, he still had to do it the old-fashioned way.

However, since this was only a reward mission, Lu Zhou felt more relaxed than usual.

He still had another mission card in his inventory.

That mission card should contain a large project.

By that time, he would be a lot busier.

…

Jin Ling University mathematics building.

The office at the end of the corridor.

Four guys and two girls stood in front of the office door; no one dared to knock on the door.

Other than Han Mengqi, most of the people here had only even seen Lu Zhou on television.

Seeing someone on a screen or on stage was a very different feeling than seeing them face-to-face, especially for these beginners.

As for Han Mengqi…

She didn’t expect to feel nervous…

After some negotiation between the students, finally, a young man who seemed to have a little courage bravely knocked on the door.

The office door was opened.

Feng Jin, who knocked on the door, saw the lady and asked bravely, “Hello, is this Professor Lu’s office?”

When Lin Yuxiang saw the students, she smiled and said, “You guys are Professor Lu’s students, right? Come on in.”

Assistant Lin brought the group of people into the office and gestured them to sit down on the sofa. She poured a cup of tea for each of them.

“It might be a while until Professor Lu comes back, just sit here and wait for a bit.”

When Lin Yuxiang turned around and walked toward her desk, almost all of the male students couldn’t help but look at her.

A guy said, “Professor Lu’s assistants are so pretty.”

The other guys said, “Yeah…”

Han Mengqi heard their whisper and couldn’t help but look at her.

Where exactly is she pretty? I don’t see it.

She continued to look at Lin Yuxiang for a while and went silent.

Fine.

She had to admit, that Lin Yuxiang was stronger than her in the fashion department.

However, that was only because she was normally introverted and didn’t have time to dress up!

A man with thin hair walked into the office.

He saw the six students sitting on the office sofa and paused for a second.

“You guys are all… Professor Lu’s students?”

“Yeah.” Feng Jin stood up and politely said, “Are you Professor Lu’s assistant?”

He Changwen paused for a second and shook his head. “Assistant? No, I’m Professor Lu’s PhD student.”

The other master’s student said, “You’re a student?”

He Changwen smiled and said, “I don’t look like one?”

The six students looked at each other and nodded.

He Changwen touched his receding hairline and looked at these young students. He then smiled awkwardly.

“No worries, you’ll understand sooner or later.”

Graduate students: “…”

They sat for around ten minutes on the sofa before another PhD student came.

Compared to He Changwen, this student’s hairline was a lot better.

All of the students had arrived, but Lu Zhou, who assembled all of them, was nowhere to be seen.

When the hour hand hit nine, Lu Zhou walked into the office.

When he saw the group of students in his office, he looked surprised.

“You guys are all here?”

They all looked at Professor Lu and nodded.

Han Mengqi originally wanted to greet him, but she thought that it wouldn’t be good to show her relationship with Professor Lu. Therefore, she hesitated for a bit and decided to greet him later.

Lin Yuxiang, who was sitting at the desk near the door, smirked and said, “They’ve been waiting since half-past eight.”

Lu Zhou gently coughed and said, “I told you guys to come after nine o’clock, I didn’t say you have to come at nine o’clock…”

Originally, he wanted to meet the students one by one, he didn’t expect all of them to come together.

After that, he looked at Assistant Kong and said, “Bring me the name list.”

“Okay.” Kong Jie nodded and pulled out a list from the drawer. She then stood up and walked over to Lu Zhou.

Lu Zhou took the name list from her and cleared his throat.

“Since everyone is here, I’ll do a name check. There are a lot of people, so just raise your hand when I call your name.”

Among the eight students, there were only three he could name off the top of his head.

The thin-haired PhD student was called He Changwen; he was in the analytic number theory field.

The PhD student who was quite tall was called Wu Shuimu; he studied applied mathematics for his undergrad, just like Lu Zhou. His master’s degree was in the area of functional analysis, and now, he switched to computational materials science.

As for the other six master’s students, other than Han Mengqi, who he had most definitely met before, Lu Zhou had only read their resumes. He didn’t even know what they looked like.

After Lu Zhou called out their names, he finally had a general idea of who everyone was.

He handed the name list to Zhao Huan and spoke to his eight students.

“From now on, you guys are my students. I will try my best to pass on my knowledge to you guys.

“However, I might be busy, so I won’t have a lot of time to guide you guys. If you encounter academic problems, you can send it directly to my email address. Or you can ask the other researchers at the Institute for Advanced Study.”

The Jinling Institute for Advanced Study opened an Institute of Physics and an Institute of Mathematics last year. Due to the high salary and a relaxed research environment, not to mention the glory of a Fields Medal and Nobel Prize, Lu Zhou was able to attract a group of outstanding talents.

Lu Zhou trusted that his researchers could help his students.

Lu Zhou paused for a second before he continued, “Of course, even though I won’t have a lot of time for you guys, I will definitely not allow you guys to mess around for the next three to five years. Starting tomorrow, I will arrange all of you into different project teams, and you guys can start learning from practice.

“I really hope you all take this job seriously. I don’t have requirements for weekly theses reading. Just read the ones that interest you and benefit your research. Within half a year, I want to see a thesis written by yourselves.”

Other than Han Mengqi and the two PhD students, all of the master’s students took a deep breath.

Writing a thesis within half a year…

Most of them had just finished their undergraduate studies; they didn’t even know the format of writing a thesis. The longest thing they wrote during their undergrad was probably the conclusion reports on the course design and their undergraduate theses.

However, that was far from being a formal thesis…

Lu Zhou explained some simple things for them to pay attention to. He then paused for a second before saying, “Also, I have some suggestions regarding your courses. However, the final choice is up to you. After you have selected your classes, send it to my email.”

“Are there any other questions?”

The students shook their heads and answered, “Nope, no more questions.”

Lu Zhou nodded and said, “Okay then, that’s it for today. Remember to come here tomorrow.”

“The rest can go, except for the master’s and PhD students in the computational materials field.”