On the afternoon of August 26, the opening ceremony of the 2020 graduate students of the Department of Earth System Science (DESS) was held in 5204, the fifth teaching building. Gong Peng, dean of DESS, Luo Yong, secretary of the Party branch, Zhang Qiang, deputy dean of teaching, and teacher representatives Li Wei and Xu Lei attended the opening ceremony. The opening ceremony was presided over by Wu Haiping, deputy secretary of the department’s Party branch.    

Dean Gong Peng gives a speech

Gong Peng congratulated and welcomed the freshmen as a member of DESS in his speech. He introduced the historical mission, construction objectives and development goals of DESS to the students, and demonstrated the achievements of DESS since its establishment. Gong Peng said that in the face of the sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 at the beginning of the year, the teachers and students of DESS have played their multi-disciplinary advantages, united and cooperated, completed a number of outstanding research results, and made their own contributions to the scientific fight against the pandemic. He pointed out that the teachers and students of DESS should summarize the experience of the scientific research work in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, practice their skills, make contributions to solving major problems facing the country's social development, and make unremitting efforts to build a better world.                            

Wu Haiping, Deputy Secretary of the Party Branch presided over the ceremony                  

Teacher representative Li Wei speaks

Li Wei, a young teacher from DESS, spoke as a teacher representative. Combining his own study and teaching experience, Li Wei encourages his students to uphold the school motto of Tsinghua University of “constantly strive to become stronger, and to hold world with virtue”, abide by the school ethos of “actions speak louder than words”, and be trustworthy and successful in academic research. Be prosperous, learn well, learn usefully, rigorously conduct academic studies, seek truth from facts, and strive to achieve first-class results.                            

Senior graduate student representative Ren Zhehao made a speech

Ren Zhehao, a 2018 graduate student of DESS spoke as a representative of senior graduate students. Ren Zhehao combined his participation in the special event of the mass demonstration to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China last year and his experience in the research team of Tsinghua University’s COVID-10 pandemic epidemiology at the beginning of this year. He guided the freshmen not to forget their original academic aspirations and adhere to the excellent traditions of Tsinghua University. Do your own scientific research work well and realize your ideals in the great cause of national development and national rejuvenation.        

New student representative Xu Ruochong made a speech

Xu Ruochong, winner of the "Future Scholar" of Tsinghua University, spoke as a representative of the freshmen. He started from contact with Tsinghua University in his high school years and shared his experience of engaging in geoscience research and reaping happiness from scientific research. He expressed that "Don’t forget your original aspirations, work hard, and integrate your personal ideals and ambitions into the national development and national rejuvenation. The determination to contribute to the development of geosciences and the construction of the motherland.             

             Zhang Qiang, Associate Dean of Teaching, explains educational rules and regulations

Finally, Zhang Qiang, deputy dean of the teaching department, explained to the freshmen the various educational rules and regulations of Tsinghua University and DESS regarding the cultivation of doctoral students. He introduced in detail the training program for doctoral students in DESS, doctoral qualification examination, final academic report and thesis defense. He hopes that students will make a reasonable plan for course study and academic research during their studies, arrange a good time, and successfully complete studies.

More than 30 new graduate students from DESS attended the opening ceremony. In the next two weeks, DESS will continue to carry out a number of entrance education activities such as Tsinghua traditional education, professional basic lectures, subject frontier lectures, and visits to practice.