professor liu xianglei of beijing university of architecture and technology: to do scientific research, one must "always have the courage to explore the unknown"
2024-09-14
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"during the graduation season of 2017, the college held a party and the students rehearsed a drama program in which i played the role of a teacher. unexpectedly, when the program ended, the children threw me into the air." to this day, liu xianglei, dean and professor of the school of surveying, mapping and urban spatial information of beijing university of civil engineering and architecture, still keeps a photo. in the photo, he was surrounded by a group of students and thrown into the air. his expression showed surprise, surprise and emotion.
that was the first class he taught after becoming a teacher - surveying and mapping class 131.
after graduating with a doctorate in 2012, liu xianglei went to teach at beijing university of architecture and civil engineering. in 2013, he began to grow with students as a class teacher. today, liu xianglei, who is already the dean, still prefers the title of "teacher liu". "i can't be a dean for life, but being a teacher is definitely a lifelong thing."
liu xianglei, dean and professor of the school of surveying, mapping and urban spatial information, beijing university of civil engineering and architecture. photo provided by the interviewee
spend the entire summer doing internships on the front line before taking the podium
"being a teacher is a big responsibility. the school is a big family, and teachers have the responsibility to be the guiding light for students on their life path and show them the right direction." in liu xianglei's view, being a teacher is a very sacred job that can also reflect personal value.
while studying for a doctorate at tongji university, liu xianglei had the idea of becoming a teacher. "at that time, i admired our teachers very much and felt that this job of a teacher could really teach and educate people." the "teacher" liu xianglei mentioned was his doctoral supervisor. in liu xianglei's memory, his supervisor worked very "hard". "he basically worked until 12 o'clock at night every day. he has always been the direction of my efforts."
after entering beijing university of architecture and civil engineering, liu xianglei's first course was the professional course "digital terrain model" of the school of surveying and mapping. "i was full of confidence and very excited before the class." but when he started preparing for the class, liu xianglei found many problems: how should this course be taught? how to clarify the logic between knowledge points for students? how to combine the course content with actual production?
at that time, there was still a summer vacation before the start of the autumn semester in september 2013, so liu xianglei decided to go to the aerial survey and remote sensing center of beijing institute of surveying, mapping and design to learn from the production unit. this is a professional and comprehensive production and scientific research unit focusing on basic surveying, professional surveying and geographic information services, and is also one of the main employment units for surveying and mapping students.
"they also undertake the task of updating the digital model of beijing's terrain every year. i want to understand the software, technology and specific production process they use. students will be more receptive to the lectures if i have front-line experience." liu xianglei believes that the content he teaches in class must be combined with production and the needs of the unit. "after a summer internship, liu xianglei had a clear mind and was well prepared. when liu xianglei first started teaching, he felt much less nervous.
"just like what my mentor said, we can't fight a battle without confidence. only by preparing in advance can we be prepared and have confidence when we go to the battlefield." it was in this way that liu xianglei improved his teaching ability while combining teaching content with actual business needs. he finally realized the transformation from a doctoral student to a people's teacher. "i really enjoy this podium."
to this day, liu xianglei still insists on teaching undergraduates, master's and doctoral students. "i teach two or three times a week. although i have a lot of administrative work to do as a dean, i cannot neglect my ability to teach and educate people. i have to be online all the time."
the best class teacher in the eyes of students
among the many honors liu xianglei has received, the school-level “excellent class tutor” title has special meaning to him.
in september 2013, liu xianglei became a class teacher for the first time. in the following four years, he will supervise the growth of more than 30 students in surveying and mapping class 131. "i have set a goal for myself: when they graduate, i want to ensure that each of them has a good development."
at that time, liu xianglei had just turned 30, an age full of vigor and vitality. "i feel there is no age gap between me and the students. i want to become friends with all the classmates in the class." in liu xianglei's view, only by becoming friends can students open their hearts to him and provide them with help when they need it.
it is not easy to truly get into the hearts of students and become their "friend". liu xianglei experienced frustration shortly after becoming a class teacher.
"there was a boy who let himself go after entering university. he didn't study and played every day." liu xianglei recalled that the boy failed some subjects in his freshman year. "i talked to him many times, but it was no use. he felt that studying was useless and he just didn't want to study." in his junior year, the boy was held back due to academic performance and other reasons.
liu xianglei did not give up and still found opportunities to chat with the boy. he moved him little by little with his sincerity and successfully solved the boy's academic problems. "finally, he finally realized his problem, slowly changed his attitude, and started to study hard. he was the first student in our school who was able to graduate with a normal class after repeating a grade." later, the boy was admitted to liu xianglei's graduate school, and they often communicated and interacted after graduation. "now they are like lifelong friends."
the 131 surveying and mapping class left liu xianglei with fond memories. at the graduation party, the students in the class rehearsed a program and invited liu xianglei to play the role of a teacher. the students imitated the little things they did with liu xianglei in their daily lives. at the end of the program, "the kids threw me into the air." at that moment, liu xianglei was overwhelmed with emotions. his efforts were finally recognized by the students. "i will never forget the things i experienced with them."
in 2017, the students of surveying and mapping class 131 led by liu xianglei graduated. at the party, the students held it up. photo provided by the interviewee
it was precisely because of his interactions with students that liu xianglei was awarded the honorary title of "excellent class instructor" at the school level in 2015. the students of the 131 surveying and mapping class all found good homes. liu xianglei also achieved the "goal" he had set at the beginning.
"my biggest wish as a teacher is that every child i train can find their own direction and field of success and demonstrate their own value in different industries." today, liu xianglei is still teaching classes. this year, he is one of the class tutors for the remote sensing major class. "now we have two head teachers for each class, one younger teacher and one more experienced teacher. through this partnership, we can give students more help."
for liu xianglei, being a class teacher is also a way to maintain close communication with students. "only by communicating with children can we understand what this generation is thinking. at the same time, from the perspective of a manager, understanding students' ideas can also help make scientific management decisions."
to do scientific research, you need to be able to "sit still and persist"
my country's first lunar sample return mission chang'e-5, mars tianwen-1, the landing posture verification measurement of the lunar south pole flyby, submillimeter-level posture measurement of large-scale infrastructure seismic vibration table tests, and urban bridge monitoring and evaluation... more than a hundred projects in more than a dozen fields are supported by liu xianglei's scientific research results.
liu xianglei has been engaged in the research of high-precision and high-dynamic remote sensing detection for a long time. he has constructed a new theory and method for high-speed video measurement of moving objects in the air, space and ground, and pioneered a new high-dynamic and high-precision testing model. he has established a theoretical method and technical system for high-precision and high-dynamic monitoring of ground-based sar, and developed a precise judgment model for high-dynamic damage.
so far, he has presided over 4 national projects such as the national natural science foundation and the national key r&d program, authorized/published 21 national invention patents, and won 7 scientific and technological awards including the first prize of shanghai science and technology progress, the first prize of surveying and mapping science and technology progress, and the second prize of huaxia science and technology award. from lecturer to associate professor, and from associate professor to professor, liu xianglei was promoted twice "out of the ordinary" with his excellent scientific research ability.
liu xianglei's current main research direction is high-dynamic remote sensing detection, which mainly involves two methods: high-speed video measurement and radar technology. among them, high-speed video measurement is a research direction he began to explore during his doctoral studies. "to put it simply, it is to use a high-speed camera that can take hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of photos per second to shoot high-dynamic objects, and then track the position, posture, shape and other information of high-dynamic objects in space." liu xianglei mentioned that when he first started exploring, there was little reference material available in china, and the early progress was slow. "at first, i worked on health monitoring of vibration tables serving the civil engineering field. after two or three years of doing this, i formed my own technical system."
liu xianglei takes his students out for study. photo provided by the interviewee
using radar technology to conduct physical examinations on bridges is one of the real-life applications of liu xianglei's research direction.
bridges are part of urban infrastructure. how do we monitor the safety of bridges? previously, the main approach was to conduct static periodic measurements of bridges, and compare several data to understand bridge settlement and other issues. "now we have proposed a dynamic approach, using radar equipment to measure the up and down vibration of bridges under different conditions, so as to analyze whether the bridge is safe, where there may be damage, when the damage may occur, what caused it, etc."
liu xianglei said that this technology has been applied to the safety monitoring of many bridges such as zhaozhou bridge and wanning bridge. "the monitoring of wanning bridge is more difficult. there is water under the bridge, and it is difficult to measure the water on the bridge. so we waited until the spring festival in 2022, when the water was frozen, and then we went to measure it." in order not to affect traffic, liu xianglei and his team members chose to measure in the second half of the night. "in addition to laying out a series of traditional contact collection sensors, we also have non-contact collection sensors, and collected a lot of points. the entire information collection lasted about three hours. the final data analysis showed that wanning bridge was still in a relatively stable state."
"where do the problems come from? they come from the country's strategic development needs and from actual production needs. so scientific research must not be paper-based." in liu xianglei's view, scientific research must start from the problem, require interest, the ability to think independently and solve problems independently, and also require the ability to "sit still and persist", and always have the courage to try and explore unknown areas.
beijing news reporter yang feifei
edited by miao chenxia, proofread by liu baoqing
