The School of Life Sciences of ShanghaiTech University held the graduation ceremony for the class of 2024 on the afternoon of July 7, 2024. The ceremony took place in the university’s auditorium. Xiong-Li Yang, the Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhen-Ge Luo, the executive dean of SLST at ShanghaiTech University, the vice deans Qiu-Ning Li and Ji Hu, the assistant dean Hao-Peng Wang, Hai-Tao Yang,the executive director of SIAIS and Zhi-Jie Liu,the executive director of the iHuman Institute, were in attendance. Qiu-Ning Li hosted the ceremony.
This year, SLST had a total of 64 undergraduate students, 116 master students, and 109 doctoral students who have graduated or are about to obtain their degrees, setting a new record for the number of graduates. Benefiting from the school’s international and innovative training system, the graduates’ further studies and employment opportunities have been highly recognized by society. Among this year’s undergraduate graduates, 82% have received offers to further their studies, and the job placement rates for master and doctoral graduates are 70% and 84%, respectively.
Among the graduates, 21 students received the honor of being named outstanding graduates of Shanghai, and 27 students were honored as outstanding graduates of ShanghaiTech. Three students, Shu-Yao Su, Yin-Kai Duan, and Jia-Ling Lin, received the President’s Award for the Graduates of ShanghaiTech University for the year 2024.
Dean Zhen-Ge Luo mentioned in his speech that difficulties should not be glorified, but they make us stronger. He set forth three expectations for the graduates: First, to have passion and ideals to become a pioneer of the times. Second, lifelong learning to continually evolve. Third, to closely combine one’s career development with the needs of the nation and society.
Academician Xiong-Li Yang shared his own story, during the most difficult times when the ideal of science was on the brink of disillusionment, he still held a very simple belief—that knowledge is always useful. Academician Yang also hoped that students would have the courage to challenge authority. “We respect authority as it reflects our respect for knowledge, and we challenge authority to show our pursuit of truth.”
After the graduates took their oath, the ceremony proceeded to its most important part — the conferral of degrees. Zhen-Ge Luo, Ji Hu, Hao-Peng Wang, Hai-Tao Yang, and Zhi-Jie Liu presented degrees to the graduates in turn.
