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Wednesday, August 17, 2016, 9 AM. One dozen physics students, who are both undergraduate and graduate level, arrive at the PQI office for the kickoff of the first annual PQI & USTC Day, where they are greeted by PQI Director, Jeremy Levy.

The University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), which is located in Heifei, is one of China’s leading universities. USTC recently made international headlines due to the work of physics professor Jianwei Pan, the chief scientist on the project that culminated with China’s recent launch of the first quantum satellite.

Over the last several years, USTC and PQI have been establishing strong ties and collaborations. In recent years a number of USTC graduates have joined the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) physics departments to work in the groups and labs of PQI faculty. Some PQI faculty are themselves USTC alumni, and other PQI groups often welcome USTC undergraduate students for summer internships or research projects.

In fact, a summer research program was recently set up to bring USTC physics majors to Pittsburgh for a research experience at CMU and Pitt.

This summer program that started in 2014 is coordinated by PQI member and CMU physics professor Di Xiao. For the past three years, third-year USTC students have arrived in Pittsburgh in July and stayed for about two months, working in various labs until mid-September. This year, they have been working on projects ranging from calculating the effective mass of an effective Hamiltonian for pion and kaon fields with Monte Carlo methods, to exfoliating 2D materials such as graphite and boron nitride.

The success and impact of this program has been tremendous. Students have enjoyed their overall experience so much that several of them have applied, and have been accepted, to graduate programs in Pittsburgh following their summer internship.

The number of graduate students at Pitt or CMU whose alma mater is USTC is quite significant. This year alone, a half dozen students from USTC are part of the Pitt graduate program in physics.

The purpose of the PQI & USTC Day is to bring together the undergraduate interns, the incoming graduate class, as well as other USTC alumni who have been in Pittsburgh for few years or more. The inaugural event included about 15 participants from the USTC community, including Prof. Jin Zhao and Prof. Guanglei Cheng, who are both USTC alumni and professors.

Prof. Jin Zhao obtained her B.S. and Ph.D. from USTC, after which she moved to Pittsburgh to work as a postdoc, then a research assistant professor in Prof. Hrvoje Petek’s group. She currently is a professor at USTC, however she has retained an adjunct position at Pitt and therefore spends a few months in Pittsburgh every year. Similarly, Hvroje Petek has a guest position at USTC and stays in Heifei regularly.

Prof. Guanglei Cheng obtained his B.S. from USTC and his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in Prof. Jeremy Levy’s lab. He remained in the Levylab as a postdoc and a research assistant professor. He recently has joined the USTC faculty and is returning in September to start as a professor.