Chapter 481: “Interesting” Research Project

Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

There was no way Hou Jinli could use these instruments to analyze this material.

At the very least, he needed to do an XRD test on it first.

Of course, the best thing would be to use a scanning electron microscope as the situation would then become clear instantly.

If the things observed were “interesting” enough, it might be able to produce an SCI thesis.

Ah, I really want to have my own laboratory…

Hou Jinli sighed in his heart. He looked at the bag of black waste in his hand and hesitated for a second.

In the end, he didn’t throw it into the waste bin. Instead, he left it on the experiment table.

When Yu Junda noticed his colleague’s actions, he asked curiously while looking at him, “Why are you keeping that thing?”

“I plan on applying for a thesis proposal and see if I can borrow the scanning electron microscope to analyze this thing,” Hou Jinli said. He then paused for a second before he continued, “I think this thing is pretty interesting.”

Yu Junda couldn’t help but say, “Isn’t this stuff just carbon waste? What is there to research?”

Of course, it could also be the residue of potassium permanganate, a mixture of the two, or something more interesting.

People in the field of materials science often saw all kinds of weird stuff; this was nothing unusual.

Hou Jinli picked up the plastic waste bag and placed it in his colleague’s hand. He then said, “It’s a little different than carbon residue; try touching it yourself.”

Yu Junda squeezed it in his hand for a while. He then frowned and said, “I don’t feel anything?”

Hou Jinli was confident he was correct, so he said in a positive tone, “You’ll feel it if you touch it more.”

Yu Junda: “…”

Yu Junda didn’t know why, but he felt like his colleague sounded a little dirty.

Actually, both superconducting graphene and SG-1 were completely new research fields.

Most material institutes that did research on carbon nanomaterials or superconducting materials might have heard about the SG-1 at the MRS conference. However, very few institutes knew about the in-depth material details.

Precisely because of this, there were still many places worth exploring.

Hou Jinli wasn’t the only one who was interested in the problems he found while doing experiments related to the SG-1 material, nor was he the only one that was immersed in research ideas. However, he was probably the only one that was interested in experimenting with waste products.

In the end, after some consideration, he used his spare time outside of work to write the thesis proposal.

Then, this proposal and other thesis proposals ended up on Lu Zhou’s desk.

“Unknown black material was created during the preparation of the SG-1 material?”

Lu Zhou looked at the thesis proposal and had a weird expression on his face.

It’s not carbon residue, right?

Speaking of which, this thesis proposal does have a simple title…

Lu Zhou skipped the title section and began reading the proposal body.

For researchers in the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study, other than the National Natural Science Foundation of China or the City Scientific Research Fund, another way to receive funding and equipment was from the institute’s proprietary fund.

As long as the research direction was consistent with the general research direction of the institute and that the thesis proposal was able to convey the value of the research project, the chance of the thesis proposal being accepted was pretty high.

Lu Zhou had always been generous in terms of funding. He even encouraged researchers to dive into problems found in experiments. Even if these findings were not necessarily economically beneficial, it was fine as long as the findings were meaningful.

After all, many marvelous research results were discovered through accidents.

Lu Zhou, who was sitting in his office chair, began to think for a bit. In the end, he decided to sign his name on the application.

In general, the thesis proposal was pretty good; it made him feel like it was worth a try.

Six of the ten thesis proposals were accepted, while the remaining four did not meet the requirements and were rejected.

Once Lu Zhou finally finished this annoying task, he stretched and stood up from his office chair. He then walked to the coffee machine and made himself a cup of coffee.

Suddenly, he heard someone knocking on his door.

“It’s unlocked. Come in.”

The door opened and Yang Xu appeared at the door.

A few days ago, he represented the Institute of Computational Materials and went to Zhi University for an exchange. He only came back today.

When Yang Xu saw Lu Zhou standing next to the coffee machine, he smiled and said, “Aren’t you going to hire an assistant?”

“I don’t need one right now,” Lu Zhou said with a smile. He then picked up his freshly brewed coffee and asked, “I’m pretty good at making coffee; do you want to try?”

Yang Xu smiled as he joked, “It’s coffee made by a Nobel Prize winner, of course I have to try it.”

Yang Xu took the cup of coffee from Lu Zhou and took a sip. He then hesitated for a bit before speaking.

“Isn’t this just instant coffee?”

“It’s instant coffee, but you still have to control the temperature and amount of water…” Lu Zhou coughed and to change the topic, he said, “No more screwing around. How’s the situation at Zhi University?”

Yang Xu said in a relaxed tone, “The situation is looking good, and there are many professors who are interested in our cooperation research plan. They can help us conduct at least 20 research projects.”

When Lu Zhou heard him, he nodded with satisfaction.

“Nicely done, good job.”

“It’s nothing,” Yang Xu said as he waved his hand around. He then smiled and said, “This is part of my job.”

Controllable nuclear fusion was a huge project; there were more than a hundred research projects just for the materials section alone. Not to mention, that was only the projected numbers. The actual number of projects required could be even higher.

Relying only on the Institute for Advanced Study and Jin Ling University for these research projects was obviously difficult. Therefore, they had to cooperate with other universities and research institutes.

Materials science was one of Zhi University’s strong suits, especially in the field of carbon nanomaterials.

Yang Xu still had to go to Shuimu in a few days. The more allies he made, the better.

Yang Xu paused for a second before he said, “Oh yeah, one more thing. Baosheng Group sent us an email yesterday. They already drafted a production plan for SG-1.”

When Lu Zhou heard this, he instantly became interested.

In terms of companies, Baosheng Group, a subsidiary of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, was their main cooperation partner. They were responsible for solving the industrial production issue of the SG-1 material.

The two complemented each other, so they signed a cooperation agreement. The institute would be responsible for solving technical problems, while the Baosheng Group would be responsible for solving design, implementation, and production problems.

As of now, Baosheng Group had already completed the draft of the production plan.

This was the best thing that happened to Lu Zhou over the past few days.

“It’s already done? Send it to my email.”

Yang Xu nodded and said, “I already sent it. Also, in order to complete the final design of the production line, they need us to send a couple of our researchers over there to help.”

Lu Zhou thought for a moment before he said, “Then send some people there. You can choose the people but just make sure not to delay our research progress.”

“Okay.”

Yang Xu nodded and turned around. He then left the office.

Lu Zhou looked at Yang Xu leaving. He then looked at the calendar sitting at the corner of his desk.

It was getting almost Chinese New Year.

He had to start working harder…

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