CHAPTER 524: CHAPTER 165: THE CHAPTER WHERE IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO COME UP WITH A CHAPTER NAME

"Professor Lu is actually a very nice person, and quite capable, with quite a bit of luck. He did his bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. all at Yanbei University, then went to the United States for a postdoctoral stint, and returned to the school through the Young Thousand Talents Plan.

After coming back, he buried himself in frontline research and quickly finished his project. It so happened that in 2019, there was a policy adjustment, and the Science and Technology Committee lifted the restriction that prevented Young Thousand Talents from applying.

The following year, he secured the Distinguished Young Scholar grant. But while Professor Lu is good at everything, he just doesn’t like supervising students. He doesn’t shirk his undergraduate teaching duties but has always been reluctant to apply to supervise master’s or doctoral students.

It was his former advisor, Old Fang, from his integrated master’s and Ph.D. studies who couldn’t stand it anymore and scolded Professor Lu harshly. It was also because Old Fang pushed Lu Huazhou to the limit that he applied to supervise master’s students.

He’s usually very low-key. If you look at the school bulletin board, you’ll find that his homepage is barely maintained. The identities of Young Thousand Talent and Distinguished Young Scholar are not even mentioned, just his research direction.

To check his resume, you have to look it up on the school’s official website. So, recruiting students depends much on fate with him. However, today was unexpected for me too. Most likely, your senior sister truly believes in the potential of the Generalized Modal Axiomatic System, and Professor Lu just happens to be lazy to manage, so they hit it off!"

In the office, Tian Yanzhen leisurely introduced Professor Lu’s life to Qiao Yu.

Lu Huazhou had already left with Zhang Xiao. After all, this kind of situation is quite groundbreaking in the university. However, all things considered, in mathematics, the basics that a mentor can teach are fundamental.

When it comes to the research field, it’s no longer about solving problems. Especially in a first-class university like Yanbei University, mentors prefer students to focus on open-ended, cutting-edge issues.

In this sense, the Generalized Modal Axiomatic System perfectly fits these two criteria. It’s inherently an open-ended axiomatic system and can be said to be at the forefront of the times.

"So what do you mean?" Qiao Yu instinctively asked.

Tian Yanzhen directly gave his advice: "I think you can try to get involved in your mentor’s work. Although you’re a bit young, these are not problems. You’ll definitely become the youngest professor at Yanbei University one day.

And you’ll certainly be the youngest master’s and doctoral supervisor at Yanbei University. It’s not a bad idea to learn how to collaborate with students in advance. It can also help reduce some of Professor Lu’s burden.

Once you become a mentor, you’ll know how busy life can be. The work assigned by leaders, students’ emotional work, achievement analysis, exam paper self-checks, project applications, mid-term, conclusion, title evaluation, paper review, technology award applications, financial reimbursement...

These tasks involve all aspects of life. Talk to more math professors, and you’ll find that there’s relatively little opportunism in our group. At least at Yanbei University, most professors doing math research truly love mathematics.

Math is also different from other fields. Many engineering professors treat research as a business. Students are no different from employees. Most lab work doesn’t require much intelligence or foundation to do. So some professors indeed don’t like supervising students.

Since that senior sister of yours is interested in your Generalized Modal Axiomatic System, guiding her in your free time won’t have much impact on you, but maybe you will help cultivate another famous mathematician."

Tian Yanzhen said quite a lot today, making Qiao Yu feel like he’s pointing something out.

All things considered, however, Qiao Yu thought he might also show his mentor some color—show him that mathematics can be treated like a business in research too.

So Qiao Yu decisively stated, "Got it, Director Tian. But I need to confirm that this senior sister is willing to put in the effort. After all, learning mathematics is not that simple."

Tian Yanzhen laughed and said, "From the perspective of students from the School of Mathematics, those who choose to pursue further studies in mathematics after undergraduate graduation basically do it out of love. What hardship can math research have?

Whether you can learn it and how much you can learn, it depends on your own ability. Since she chose it, she should be serious about it. After all, interest itself is the best teacher. But mainly, you teach, so decide for yourself."

Qiao Yu nodded and said, "Alright, then I’ll get in touch with Professor Lu later and tell him my thoughts."

Tian Yanzhen waved his hand and said, "You go about your business. Just pay some attention to Professor Zhang’s collaboration project at Shuangdan University, don’t be caught empty-handed when they ask about your part."

Qiao Yu responded seriously, "Director Tian, aren’t you underestimating Professor Xue a bit too much? Besides, it’s their request for cooperation, how could they question Professor Xue’s outcomes?"

Tian Yanzhen was taken aback, wondering when Qiao Yu’s cooperation with Shuangdan University got involved with Xue Song.

Suddenly he remembered that Qiao Yu had just reported that Xue Song was leading a team on Group Theory integration with the Generalized Modal Axiomatic System, and he immediately understood.

He raised his finger and pointed at Qiao Yu, scolding, "You rascal, why do you have so much nonsense every day? Get back to what you should be doing! How can you become more annoying as you grow up?"

"Goodbye Director Tian." Qiao Yu shrank his neck back, quickly slipping out of Tian Yanzhen’s office.

What do you mean, more annoying as you grow up? It’s nothing but being too familiar from being around each other every day. Countless facts have proven that distance indeed brings beauty.

Just like when in Star City, all he found about Xia Keke was that she was clingy and annoying. But after coming to Beijing and not seeing her for over half a year, he often thinks of that face and starts to miss Keke’s qualities...