Chemistry and Physics of Complicated Systems

The development and major breakthroughs in science and technology in the modern world significantly depend on the intersection and integration of different disciplines. Disciplines such as physical science, life science, information science and even social actions and human cognition all have the cutting-edge research topics ranging from microscopic properties of simple organisms to complex behavior characteristics of macroscopic systems. A deep understanding of these complex/composite systems requires systematic studies including multi-scale structural analysis, physical and chemical characterizations, dynamic behavior description, and functional mechanism exploration. Therefore, a comprehensive utilization of new concepts, theories, and methods in physics, chemistry, biology, and computer science represents the driving force behind the discovery and unveiling of new phenomena, properties, and mechanisms. These research projects strikingly illustrate the cutting-edge nature and characteristics of the current multidisciplinary development.

Kuang Yaming Honors School cultivates talented students of general science with the idea of integrated education of undergraduate and graduate students. Our school intends to use theoretical analysis, mathematical modeling, and computational simulations to promote cutting-edge cross-disciplinary topics, for example, physics and chemistry in life sciences, and to conduct systematic and in-depth research on complex physical, chemical, and biological systems. Main research fields include:

1) structural characteristics, functional movement, structure-property relationship, and biochemical mechanism of soft matter systems such as biomolecules;

2) physical and chemical properties, involving structures, surfaces and interfaces, reaction mechanism and spectra of chemical systems, such as functional materials and supramolecules; and

3) other cross-disciplinary topics such as biological network related to neuroscience and artificial intelligence, structures of model systems and dynamics in functional signal processes, and (classical and quantum) computing. 

There are nine full-time facultys (6 of them under the age of 40), including one recipient of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars of China and Chang Jiang Distinguished Professor, one “Deng Feng” Distinguished Scholars (Level B) and one Jiangsu Provincial Distinguished Professor. Since 2015, they have led over ten general projects supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and two Young Scientists Fund projects supported by Science and Technology Department of Jiangsu Provincial Government, and they have participated in one project of National Key Research and Development Program and one Key Special Project of Ministry of Science and Technology. They have published more than 40 papers in SCI journals such as PNAS, PRL, JACS, Angew.Chem. and other top international academic journals.