Winner of SJTU President's Award 2012, she is outstanding in many fields but there is no doubt that her most amazing achievement lies in scientific research. Till now, she has published 28 papers in core journals, among which 18 with lead authorship. She received her Bachelor's Degree from Tianjin University of Technology in 2007 and since then became a PhD candidate at SJTU.

During her PhD studies, she has devoted herself into the research on dynamics of an optical coherently driven quantum dot, its coupled system and optical controlled devices based on optomechanical system. She has gained remarkable research achievements which even caught the eyes of foreign academia and won their recognition and praises. Physical Review Focus (PRF) once reported her research results with the tile of "Weighing DNA Down to the Zeptogram" and spoke highly of the breakthrough made by this young Chinese student. She is only 26 years old, and her name is Li Jinjin.

About the SJTU Presidential Award: It endows me with responsibility and commitment

You have won many awards and honors, including the Scholarship Award for Excellent Doctoral Student granted by the Ministry of Education, the National Academic Award for Distinguished Doctoral Candidates and eight other top scholarships. Is the Presidential Award different to you in some ways compared with the previous ones you've got?

Li: This award is the highest award granted by SJTU. It endows me with a much more intense sense of responsibility and commitment and encourages me to work harder to reciprocate. The awards and honors I received before were more like a recognition of what I have done. Yet this Presidential Award will always remind of responsibility and gratitude.

About Choices: After I have learnt enough abroad, I will come back home

Why did you choose to pursue a doctor's degree when you graduated from the college?

Li: When I was an undergraduate, I already found my career objective. That is to walk on the road of scientific research in physics-related realms. Thus, I chose further education at SJTU to realize the first step of my goal.

According to another Chinese report, during the past five years, many research teams overseas have contacted you, expecting you can join them. Why did you reject all the invitations?

Li: SJTU is one of the leading universities in China and provides the students with the best faculty and resources. Many researchers from other cities have visited our department to use our advanced equipment to do research. I feel it's my duty to make full use of such good research conditions and bring out research achievements for my department and university.

Why do you choose to go abroad to be a post-doc researcher?

Li: I am already familiar with the related researches in China and am not satisfied with the status quo, thus, I hope to get more opportunities abroad to broaden my horizon and get some new inspirations. After I feel I have learnt enough, I will come back home to make contributions to the development of our country.

About Academic Life: I am accustomed to deal with a variety of problems

Have you ever encountered any setbacks in your academic life?

Li: There will always be setbacks as long as you are a researcher. And I am accustomed to dealing with a variety of problems. If a research project runs smoothly without anything wrong, I would be worried rather than thrilled.

You have done some cross-disciplinary researches, how did you realize such a transfer from pure physics into interdisciplinary studies?

Li: I have a habit of attending a variety of seminars and listening to research reports no matter what subject they are about. As a result, I often get some enlightenment from such speeches and workshops because they are usually about the frontier and bottlenecks in other scientific fields like chemistry, biology, bioengineering and etc. In order to realize such a transfer, I went to labs of biology in both SJTU and Fudan University and talked with their research teams. Once the research plan was identified as workable, I would spend 100% of my time into studies on the part I am not so familiar with. I remembered I once tried to contact a Russian professor, but he doesn't speak English. I immediately found a Russian exchange student to ask him to help me interpret (well, I was a TA of a lab course, and there were some foreign students). In a word, when I am stuck in a dilemma, I will deal with it face to face and try to find efficient ways to solve the problem instead of escaping from it.

Which success makes you most proud of yourself?

Li: That will be the two books: one is the Generalized Optomechanics and Its Applications, invited by the World Scientific, which is written by my advisor and me; the other is Quantum-dot Devices, invited by the prestigious Springer, where I have contributed one chapter with the title "Quantum Optical Transistor and Other Devices Based on Nanostructures".

About Goal and Research Experience: Fewer Words, More Action

What is your recent goal?

Li: To learn as much as I can in the future post-doc research, to find a platform which combines both theoretical research and applied science, and to achieve more results of important practical meaning.

The last question, is there anything you want to share with the SJTU students?

Li: "Fewer Words, More Action". You might not be the best, but you must be the most diligent. The people who make the most efforts may not be the most excellent in the end, but the most outstanding must have struggled harder than anyone else to come this far.

Reviewed by Tian Cong