SES Organizes Overseas Alumni Sharing Session for Geology Students

On the evening of May 24th, the School of Earth Sciences organized the third overseas alumni online sharing session through zoom. The School invited Ge Zhiyuan, post-doctor of the University of Bergen, Liao Weisen, student studying at the University of Bremen as a joint PhD, Lu Yuehan, associate professor of the University of Alabama, to share their overseas studying, research experience and career planning. Deputy Dean Cao Long, Cheng Xiaogan, international program coordinator Shao Danlei and more than 20 students attended the sharing session.

Ge Zhiyuan suggested that students who intend to study abroad should first think about why they prefer to study abroad, and make decisions based on their own career plans. Different from the domestic situation, he found out that geology is a quite popular major overseas. The average salary of geological industry in the US and Europe is comparable to the salary of the Information industry, and the demand for graduates of geology is also very large. Therefore, graduates of geology have a wide range of employment opportunities abroad.

Liao Weisen is a Ph.D student at the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences and is currently studying at the Marine Environmental Science Center of the University of Bremen in Germany as a joint PhD.He suggested that students who plan to go abroad for joint PhD should make up their mind during the first year of PhD and start to apply funding, contact supervisors and prepare application during the second year. In terms of funding, there are many funding options besides the ones offered by China Scholarship Council. In addition to the overall and subject ranking of the institute, Liao Weisen remind the students to spend more time on choosing a suitable supervisor by carefully analyzing his/her research background，the platform he/she offer to conduct scientific research etc.

Lu Yuehan introduced several aspects worthy of attention from the application to graduation from the perspective of a supervisor. Lu Yuehan believes that supervisors can be roughly divided into two types, one is technical, has its own laboratory or is good at developing models; the other focuses on a certain field, and is more inclined to solve scientific problems. When applying, the students should pay more attention to the type of supervisors. It is equally important to understand the career path of a mentor. For example, choosing an assistant professor as a supervisor, the student can grow and progress together with the supervisor, but it may be slower to achieve results; choosing a supervisor with mature conditions in all aspects the student will receive relatively little attention. Lu Yuehan recommends the students choosing a supervisor who pays attention to cutting-edge technology and scientific problems; and strict supervisors can play a positive role in improving applicants’ academic ability.