Lingjun Hu, PhD student under the supervision of Prof. Atsushi Urakawa (TU Delft), has virtually defended her PhD thesis entitled “Advancing C1 Catalysis by Spatiotemporal Analysis and Dynamic Operation” (assigned to the Department of Physical and Inorganic Chemistry of the Universitat Rovira i Virgili) publicly on May 28th.

The members of the examining committee were: Prof. Ricard García-Valls (URV), Dr. Noelia Barrabés Rabanal (Technische Universität Wien) and Prof. Luis Francisco Bobadilla Baladron (Universidad de Sevilla).

 

Dr. Hu is originally from China. She graduated in Material Science and Engineering from Hainan University and holds a master’s degree in Material Physics and Chemistry at the Ningbo Institute of Material Technology and Engineering (NIMTE). In November 2015, she joined the Urakawa group at ICIQ as a PhD student. Since then, she has enjoyed living in Tarragona thanks to the weather, the calçots and having fun with her colleagues.

Why did you become a scientist?

When I finished my bachelor’s in chemistry, I found I still knew little about it. So, I decided to continue studying and investigating.

From the lessons learnt at ICIQ, which one do you value the most?

During my PhD at ICIQ, I have learnt that knowing how to ask for help is important, especially in a new environment. When I have tried a new technique or equipment, it was always far more efficient talking to a colleague with experience than only searching for information online.

What ICIQ moment you´ll never forget?

I’ll never forget those moments when I finally got interesting results, the midnight discussions with my supervisor on Slack, the Christmas celebration on the terrace and the Christmas dinners.

What advice do you have for someone who’s starting their PhD now?

Talk to your supervisor when you get stuck. If they are busy then talk to your colleagues, but in any case, talk to people and ask for help when you need it.

Where are you going next? What will you do there?

I am going to take a gap year to spend more time with my family after being far away from them for over four years. After that, I would like to continue my career in science, which could be both in industry or academia.

If you were a piece of lab equipment, what would you be?

I would like to be the reaction setup that I built from scratch. It is versatile – allowing steady-state and unsteady-state operations – and compatible for many operando measurements. I think it’s just fascinating!