How time flies! As 2023 begins, a brand new Dii Fair was held successfully, waiting for new seekers to reveal the veil of starting up innovative/creative projects. To unveil the overview of Dii, current Dii projects, supports and resources, as well as its running mechanism, Dii Fair was held as scheduled on a rainy Monday.
Opening Season
The Dii Fair was unfolded firstly by professor Liqi Ren, director of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative of Duke Kunshan University. Professor Ren began by introducing the application process, the project categories, and the abundant resources and supports available for the Dii project: Innovation Training Project (ITP), Entrepreneurship Training Project (ETP), and Entrepreneurship Practice Project (EPP).
Shortlisted groups will be not only able to receive funding but also the plentiful hardware facilities from Dii. Plus, Dii will also match promising projects with professional mentors in the related field for detailed guidance. In a word, Dii is an incubation for students to cultivate their innovative projects and an accelerator to realize entrepreneurial start-up plans.
After professor Ren’s speech, several DKU professors from various majors introduced their proposed projects to the audience. Chuanhui Gu, Associate Professor of Environmental Science, presented his new project concerning hydrological connectivity between river and riparian zones at a tidal river. Hyun-Min Kim, Associate Professor of Biology, is currently leading a team exploring new nematocidal drugs, welcoming new students to join.
Two Associate Professors of Biology, Anastasia Tsigkou and Ferdinand Kappes, hoped to work together with students to delve into the secrets of oncogenes and molecular pathways in prostate and skin cancer. Bing Luo, Assistant Professor of Data and Computational Science, wanted to apply federated learning and connect students’ devices to create a highly privacy-preserving data platform for the smart DKU campus. Lijing Yan, Professor of Global Health and Associate Research Professor of Global Health, hoped to promote her health-testing project with assistance from Dii.
Junyi Li, Lecturer of English Language from the Language and Culture Center, hoped to develop a unique art education course with passionate DKU students to deepen the understanding of traditional Chinese arts and crafts among rural students. Due to time constraints, many professors were not able to present at the Dii Fair. Despite the pity, a wide range of topics and directions of Dii projects were already revealed, encompassing Data Science, Psychology, Molecular Biology, and Art Education.
Four current Dii groups were also invited to share their unique experiences:
“Int’ly”, with the initial aspiration of “creating a one-stop information platform for international students”, has grown into a mature registered firm with its own software.
With the robust support of funding and resources from the Dii, the iGEM team continues making outstanding achievements and won two global silver awards in 2022.
The Pulse project, focusing on students’ well-being and mental health, consists of professional students from different grades who managed to achieve development in software construction, brand marketing, and theoretical advancement, striving all efforts in finishing the beta test and product launch under the guidance of Dii.
The student-initiated project named “Mood Psychology” focuses on bringing various themed activities regarding psychological services for the DKU community and seeking effective methods to spread psychological knowledge through new media within and beyond campus.
Although seasons flow sneakily, we are filled with delight as witnessing the rapid growth of our student groups. The breadth and depth of student-faculty collaborative projects have amazed us with insights from various fields. The cutting-edge proposed projects from every DKUer truly deserve our respect as they highly accord with InE’s vision – continually seek to be innovative and creative in 2023.
The current path has been ignited by whimsy and great passion, and the innovative blueprint of the future has been painted in vibrant hues. With a successful and joyful start to this brand-new year, the seeds of creativity and innovation have been sowed, and we eagerly anticipate the blossoms that are sure to come. Let us forge the future with boldness and creativity, knowing that we can achieve greatness and make the world change via combined forces.