From top student in college to scientific research powerhouse

Chapter 89: One matter at a time, special approval for special cases, our province supports it!
In the laboratory.

Zhu Bingkun and Chen Shuai reviewed the experimental records, looked at the data on the computer, and watched the experimental video from beginning to end.

Both of them became very excited when they saw the numbers on the measuring instrument continuously jumping in the video.

"That's true! The highest value was 145, and it was continuous."

"Didn't Xu Qiujian's team say that electric field transfer only happens instantaneously? Now it is clearly continuous, continuous fluidity, which must also be accompanied by continuous transfer of electric field."

"The electric field wasn't measured, but it should be like this."

“We are right. Look at what they are saying. Because of Xu Qiujian’s team’s research and analysis, they say that our direction is problematic. After all, foreign research is foreign, and their physics may be different from ours…”

This remark made the others laugh.

Zhu Bingkun and Chen Shuai were just as excited as Xue Kun; perhaps because of the disappointment of their project being rejected, they were even more thrilled.

The two of them were so excited that they danced and jumped around.

Zhu Bingkun kept talking about the problems with the project.

The results published by Xu Qiujian's team have had a huge impact. Saying that their experimental direction is wrong only affects their mood. It's much more upsetting to have your project application rejected.

This project has been finalized.

Their team discovered the phenomenon of electromagnetic interference fluidity, which is internationally known as 'zxz', representing Zhang Minghao, Xue Kun, and Zhu Bingkun. However, their application to conduct follow-up research was rejected by the review panel.

This was something I never even imagined.

Zhu Bingkun spoke excitedly, then suddenly took out his phone and saw the chat group.

In that newly formed group, many people were still talking about Xu Qiujian's team's research and discussing the research direction of 'electric field transfer'.

Scrolling up the chat history reveals that some people are discussing project application issues.

Previously, Zhu Bingkun was so depressed that he didn't want to talk. Their project was rejected, and there must have been some 'contribution' to that.

The first step in the project review process is peer review.

Peer review requires colleagues in the same research field to make independent judgments and evaluations on the innovativeness, research value, objectives, and plans of the proposed project.

The peer review stage for the project applied for by the laboratory has already passed.

However, in the next step of the expert review, the review experts will also ask for the opinions of their peers, and some people in the group may be the review experts.

This is confidential.

Zhu Bingkun swiped through the chat page and found that the people inside were talking about the project of the Applied Electromagnetism Laboratory.

"Their project has already been rejected. It's on the wrong track, so there's no way it can have any results."

"The direction is now very clear: negative permittivity and electric field transfer. The ZXZ phenomenon is the electric field transfer brought about by materials with negative permittivity."

"They'll probably have to rethink their plans, but even if they change direction, the funding they can secure will be limited because many people are working in the same field..."

Zhu Bingkun grew angrier the more he looked at it.

They discovered the zxz phenomenon, which is clearly a new physical phenomenon, yet a large number of "colleagues" appeared and said that their research direction was wrong.

He said a few words: “Everyone, I want to emphasize that there is nothing wrong with our group’s research direction. We are starting with materials to amplify fluidity and replicate Zhang Minghao’s experiment at Donggang University.”

"This is the right direction!"

"As for Xu Qiujian's team's research, let them analyze it however they want. You can believe it if you want, but we don't believe it."

"We only trust our own judgment."

"If research grants won't approve this research direction, we'll do it ourselves!"

"Let's go in this direction!"

After sending the message, Zhu Bingkun left the group without giving anyone else a chance to reply.

There was a silence in the group.

Once they discovered that Zhu Bingkun had left the group, they actually started chatting more relaxed.

"The group is full of people in the same industry. Isn't he offending people by saying that? How can he expect good feedback from his peers in the future?"

"If I say that, the project will definitely not pass the review."

"It's one thing for Zhang Minghao to act like this, after all, he's young. But why is Zhu Bingkun acting like this? He's too impulsive."

One of the group administrators is Yan Lihua, a professor at the Institute of Materials Engineering and also a member of the project review expert group.

Yan Lihua was sitting in his office.

He put down his phone, smiled, and said to Gao Haijun on the other end, "You saw the group chat, right? Everyone said it wouldn't work, but he insisted it would, saying he'd keep doing it even if the research grant wasn't approved."

"Why persist in a clearly wrong direction? Is it even meaningful? If we can't get funding, are we supposed to cover the R&D expenses ourselves?"

Gao Haijun shook his head and said, "That's called being arrogant because you're favored!"

"zxz is a phenomenon they discovered, and they probably felt that the research had to be done by them."

"Some time ago, they were researching stanene superconductivity. Professor Xu from the Ministry of Science and Technology went there and said on the spot that the Ministry of Science and Technology must support them."

"We will definitely support the Ministry of Science and Technology, but research and development must be on the right track, right? We can't support everything."

"That's it."

Yan Lihua nodded and said, "Many teams are preparing to apply for projects in this direction. New physics has great potential, and there will be competition when multiple teams work on it together."

“I’ve also spoken with other people, and if they don’t change their direction, they definitely won’t get approval.”

……

Zhu Bingkun and Chen Shuai reviewed the experimental records together, and their excitement subsided slightly.

They all calmed down.

The group went to the director's office to discuss the next steps in the experimental plan.

"We'll use the two materials Ma Yan made for our experiment tomorrow," Xue Kun said. "Let's see how it goes."

"After three experiments, and comparing his special operations, we can find some patterns."

Zhang Minghao then shared his assessment: "Ma Yan directly stirred the powder. Due to the large weight of nickel, the nickel particles were thrown to the edge."

"Therefore, I believe that the nickel content is higher at the edges of the material and lower in the center, but the content in each part is within the threshold range."

"In addition, the distribution of nickel within the material should ideally be a gradual decrease from the edges to the center."

That's the conclusion.

To draw further conclusions, more experiments are needed, including those focusing on the direction of continuous flow, the direction of the electric field, and so on.

These have not been measured yet.

Xue Kun, Zhu Bingkun, and Chen Shuai started discussing it together.

Zhang Minghao mentioned that the material requirements are quite high.

In terms of nickel distribution, materials with uniform distribution are easy to prepare, but materials with a gradual decrease in nickel content from the outside to the inside are much more difficult to prepare.

They need to design something before they can come up with a material preparation plan.

The group discussed it for a long time without reaching a conclusion.

Zhang Minghao thought for a moment and said, "We're not experts in materials preparation, so could we invite a materials expert to join the project team?" "Who?"

"Professor Han Xiaoxu!"

Zhang Minghao said, "Professor Han is very experienced and prepares high-quality materials. If he joins our research, all the material-related problems can be solved."

Zhu Bingkun and the other two exchanged glances and immediately agreed to his proposal.

However, another problem arose: their research was conducted independently, using laboratory funding.

If we invite others to join the research, we can no longer use the lab's funding.

That's equivalent to using lab funds to hire people to work.

On the one hand, laboratory funds cannot be used arbitrarily.

On the other hand, without the project title, it's no different from asking Professor Han Xiaoxu for help before.

It would be a waste to produce results directly using lab funds without any projects available.

This is, after all, basic scientific research.

The research has made progress, but it has not yet reached the point where it can be published publicly. Submitting the results to a science foundation is no different from publishing the research publicly.

The 'peers' will soon find out.

This is equivalent to having come up with a good idea and then telling your competitors, essentially giving them free pointers.

Chen Shuai thought for a moment and made a suggestion, "How about this? If we can't get a science grant, we'll apply for a provincial grant."

"We have received approval for the project at the provincial level."

“It’s much easier to apply for funding from the province, and the review process is faster. This year there’s a ‘case-by-case’ major project support plan, with a maximum of ten million yuan.”

Zhu Bingkun and Xue Kun exchanged a glance and agreed.

……

Zhang Minghao and Xue Kun originally planned to conduct the experiment the next day.

Zhu Bingkun and Chen Shuai couldn't wait any longer, so they pulled Zhang Minghao and Xue Kun along and waited until evening.

The material prepared by Ma Yan had just cooled down and left the experimental building when it was taken to the laboratory for testing.

They conducted two consecutive experiments. In the first experiment, the high value of the flow meter fluctuation was '78', which lasted for 37 seconds.

The second peak value was '159', which was even better than the morning's experiment, but it lasted only 13 seconds.

Two sets of data, one with a long duration and the other with high fluctuation values.

This result validates several points Zhang Minghao made.

For materials with a high fluctuation value of '159', the short mixing time in the machine results in a significantly higher nickel content at the edges compared to the center.

The other material, which was machine-mixed for a longer time, had a lower nickel content at the edges than the first material, but this resulted in a more even distribution of nickel, thus increasing the duration of fluidity.

"These two experiments have clearly verified the role of edge nickel content and uniform nickel distribution."

"The preparation of materials by doctoral students can be paused."

"The next step is to find Professor Han Xiaoxu and ask him to help with the materials. We can invite him to join the project team."

Zhu Bingkun gave a brief summary.

The next day, he and Xue Kun went to the Heterogeneous Materials Physics Laboratory and extended an invitation to Professor Han Xiaoxu.

Han Xiaoxu was somewhat surprised. He was almost retired, yet a team had invited him to join the project group for research and development.

Of course we should agree!
Zhu Bingkun's team is very strong, and they do a lot of big research. One of their team members, Zhang Minghao, is very famous throughout the country.

The last time Zhang Minghao and Xue Kun came to me to do research, they discovered the Zhang phenomenon.

Now that we're doing follow-up research, of course we have to join in. He also hopes to contribute his remaining energy before retiring.

After confirming that Han Xiaoxu would join the project team, Chen Shuai revised the project application report and submitted it to the Provincial Scientific Research Foundation.

Zhu Bingkun took Zhang Minghao to the Provincial Department of Science and Technology; they wanted to talk to the person in charge about the project.

The provincial science foundation's "case-by-case" major project support plan has dedicated personnel in charge, and each major project must undergo a review organized by the provincial science and technology department.

The process is "one issue, one discussion," meaning each project will be evaluated separately.

The two arrived at the Provincial Department of Science and Technology and ran into Song Kaifeng on the second floor.

Song Kaifeng was chatting with an official from a province.

He was taken aback when he saw Zhu Bingkun and Zhang Minghao, and immediately asked, "What's going on with you two...?"

"Let's discuss the project!"

Zhu Bingkun briefly explained his purpose.

Song Kaifeng was stunned and immediately asked, "The Zhang phenomenon? Isn't this research supposed to be submitted for a National Natural Science Foundation grant?"

"The application was rejected," Zhu Bingkun said frankly.

The official walked over and asked curiously, "Rejected? Why? As far as I know, you were the ones who discovered the Zhang phenomenon, weren't you?"

He looked at Zhang Minghao and asked with a smile, "You're Zhang Minghao, right? A genius doctoral student, you're really young."

"Hello!"

Zhang Minghao shook hands with the other person, and Song Kaifeng introduced him as Teacher Chen.

Zhu Bingkun briefly explained the situation.

Teacher Chen immediately asked, "The experts commented that there's a problem with the direction, is that true?"

If the research direction is problematic, it is normal for the project application to be rejected.

Zhang Minghao immediately said, "Our direction is of course not wrong. The reason they say there is a problem is only because of a foreign study."

When you talk about technical things with laypeople, they don't understand.

Zhang Minghao thought for a moment, then leaned close to Professor Chen's ear and whispered, "Professor Chen, our research has made progress, and significant progress at that."

"But we can't submit it to the National Natural Science Foundation of China, otherwise everyone else will know. Think about it, doesn't that make sense?"

"We originally thought we could just apply normally, but it was rejected, so we had to ask the province for support."

Teacher Chen listened and smiled.

He stared at Zhang Minghao for a long time, then nodded and smiled, "Your superconducting material sold for 100 million, right? Half of it was yours. You really made a lot of money."

Zhu Bingkun and Song Kaifeng exchanged a glance, somewhat puzzled.

Teacher Chen continued, "Therefore, I am willing to believe you."

After he finished speaking, he said to Song Kaifeng, "You have a project support plan, right? Since it's a case-by-case matter, we should make special arrangements and approve one project for them."

"The National Natural Science Foundation of China doesn't support it, but our provincial foundation does, which is great!"

"This is our Dongchuan Province project!"

　I'm humbly asking for your monthly votes...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)