When facing an epidemic, preventing its spread is everyone’s responsibility! Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus, USTB has attached great importance to countering its spread through extensive mobilization and calling upon its teachers to participate in the fight against the epidemic. In late February, USTB’s teachers resumed classes with their students online. By adhering to the mission of “guaranteeing ongoing and continuous education”, those teachers have worked hard to guarantee the quality of their online courses. At the same time, they took the initiative to ensure the success of epidemic prevention and control measures, and accelerate relevant emergency scientific research. Ultimately, USTB’s teachers have demonstrated their outstanding qualities in this time of national challenge.

Online Teaching and Care for Students

Since the outbreak, all USTB teachers have shown their concern for the physical and mental well-being of their students and spared no effort in conducting online courses so as to guarantee continuous education and care for their students even while at a distance.

The thesis proposal is the first challenge for postgraduates to overcome before they may begin conducting scientific research. In order to help the postgraduates of 2019 get a good start on their scientific research efforts, Prof. XIE Jianxin, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a professor at the Institute for Advanced Materials and Technology wrote "Guidelines for 2019 Postgraduates in Writing Thesis Proposals”. Meanwhile, Assoc. Prof. WANG Weiqing, a course supervisor for undergraduates at the Donlinks School of Economics and Management, continually voiced her concerns regarding the study habits and well-being of her students. Besides sharing daily global economic and financial updates with her students, she has reached out to those in need and provided recommendations for them to gain online internships as securities brokers.

Online Teaching Through Overcoming Difficulties

USTB has actively adhered to official prevention and control measures since the outbreak began in order to guarantee the successful commencement of the spring semester. By following the relevant arrangements, USTB’s teachers have worked to provide excellent online teaching resources by using a variety of online multimedia platforms. In addition, they have actively explored new methods of teaching in order to adapt to the new online environment and continue to provide high-quality courses.

In order to effectively motivate her students Assoc. Prof. REN Ling, a teacher at the School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, asked those in her course to do an experiment called “Water bell" as a hands-on activity to test their learning comprehension and excite their interests. More than 95% of her students made various blunt objects using items such as bottle caps, coins, and rolling pins, into new objects of different shapes. Prof. LIU Li, a teacher at the School of Mechanical Engineering and a famous teacher in Beijing, prepared his emergency teaching plan to actively adapt to the changes of online teaching conditions. He established a WeChat group to keep in touch with his students, changed his assessment methods to account for students being away from campus, and motivated them to comment on coursework and what they were learning in real-time to increase overall interactions.

USTB Teachers in Scientific Research

In the face of the COVID-19 outbreak, the entirety of USTB has shouldered its responsibility by giving full play to its professional advantages and contributing its expertise for the benefit of nationwide epidemic prevention and control efforts.

Assoc. Prof. XU Zhen, of the School of Civil and Resource Engineering, and his team worked to rapidly analyze the exhaust systems of hospitals since the Spring Festival. Working for three days straight against the clock, the team submitted design proposals before the construction of the Huoshenshan and Leishenshan Hospitals were completed, providing an application for a powerful exhaust system to be used to control air flow. Prof. DUAN Xiaoli’s team at the School of Energy and Environment Engineering, and Prof. HE Xueqiu’s team from the School of Civil and Resource Engineering collected a massive amount of crowd data and epidemic prevention management tracking data after days of intense work by focusing on factors including behavioral patterns, mobility restrictions, and environmental exposure risks. The team then published the “Manual on the Prevention of Exposure Risks of COVID-19” and the “Manual on COVID-19 Prevention for Underground and Mine Workers” respectively. In addition, the electronic editions of the manuals were provided to the general public free of charge, in order to share complete and comprehensive epidemic prevention guidance for everyone.

USTB's Voice of Love

We Are Together  is an original song produced by USTB. It was made to express the hopes, strength, determination and confidence of USTB’s faculty and students in fighting against COVID-19. Since the outbreak, USTB’s teachers have actively organized donations for affected areas and raised nearly 600,000 RMB thus far. Prof. GE Changchun, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a professor at the School of Materials Science and Engineering, personally donated 10,000 RMB. Prof. HU Zhenghuan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a professor at the School of Mechanical Engineering, donated 100,000 RMB through the Xiaogan Charity Federation to help the people in his hometown fight the epidemic. In addition, many teachers have contributed their knowledge and hard work to epidemic prevention and control measures by working on the front lines, donating money and materials for affected areas, working as volunteers, and utilizing their specialties.

Even in the face of an epidemic, hard working people will be the winners of the fight. During his visit to Wuhan, President XI Jinping pointed out that the people must stay sober at this critical moment in order to keep making progress. USTB has successfully demonstrated its outstanding performance in this special period by taking its responsibilities seriously!