Upon hearing Qiu Wang, a WHU alumna, was awarded the Sloan Research Fellowship, many were shocked to find she is the “grand slam” kind of girl. With her superb academic experience and gorgeous appearance, she is the combination of beauty and erudition,one that seemed to, until now, only live in campus legends of some sort.
Qiu Wang was a WHU bachelor student majoring in environmental science of the School of Resources and Environmental Science from 1995 to 1999. In 2005, she acquired a PhD in organic chemistry from Emory University. From 2005 to 2011, she was engaged in her post-doctoral studies in Harvard University and the Broad Institute attached to Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard. Since 2011, she has become an assistant professor of the Chemistry Department of Duke University, specializing in organic synthesis and chemical biology. At the same time, she is also member of the American Chemical Society and American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Besides this blinding academic experience, she has also been “bombarded” by various awards and prizes. Qiu Wang is the recipient of scholarship from Boehringer Ingelheim, grant of the ACS Petroleum Research Fund and the Award for Distinguished Young Scholars of the National Science Foundation, etc.
Qiu Wang as an undergraduate student
The news featuring Qiu Wang as the recipient of Sloan Fellowship figures prominently on the official website of the Chemistry Department of Duke University. In the news photo, Qiu Wang wears a white shirt and light grey suit with a pair of glasses and short hair reaching her shoulders, neat and intellectual.
After a lot of efforts, Qiu Wang was finally contacted by the author. Upon being informed of the request for an interview, she, however, modestly declined the request, saying: “as a matter of fact, I have nothing to say, as there are just innumerable WHU alumni who are better than me.”
Mao Xuhui, teaching at the School of Resources and Environmental Science, was the classmate of Qiu Wang back then. When asked about his impression of Wang, Mao smiled, “she was a true smart beauty, a typical ‘winning with talent while face would do’ situation.”
Qiu Wang with his classmates
According to the memory of Mao and other classmates, Qiu Wang was very smart and always worked hard in school. She would always secure the first-class scholarship of WHU and would always be the last several people leaving laboratories. Her experiment reports were beautifully written both in terms of calligraphy and logic, and thus were often subject to the compliments of her teachers and reading by the whole class.
In her senior year, Qiu Wang, due to her solid academic accomplishment, was successfully admitted as a WHU graduate student. After one year’s mentoring by Professor Du Yumin, she went to US to further her education.
Besides knowing how to learn, Qiu Wang also knows how to handle interpersonal relationships. “Qiu Wang not only has a pretty face, but a nice personality as well. She is always ready to help others.” One classmate recalled that Qiu Wang took care of her for several days when she was sick: delivering food, fetching water and accompanying at the ward…
Girl as such is not one of those bookworms or nerds. She participated in various societies including the Student’s Union, Qiu Wang, and with a height of 1.7 m and a charming physique, she was also a model of the Model Team of the Chemistry Department and was therefore a frequent scene in University Art Festivals and other activities. One time, she performed a comedy with several other female classmates, which won them a second prize in WHU.
A beauty? A scholar? Who says she can’t be both.
(Rewritten by Jiahao Xiang, edited by Sijia Hu)
