At present, the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic situation is still very grim, and the country has entered the critical stage of epidemic prevention. In this special period, every teacher of the college has always been with everyone in the same boat and tide over difficulties.
Recently, the graduate student association of the College of soil and water conservation conducted an online interview with Mr. Shi Mingchang, who is the director of geography discipline and the director of geography major of our school, on postgraduate study, scientific research and employment. Let's learn the valuable suggestions of history teacher in this interview.
Personal introduction to Mr. Shi Mingchang
Shi Mingchang, male, born in Inner Mongolia in 1969, professor and doctoral supervisor of Beijing Forestry University, director of geography discipline and director of geography discipline of Beijing Forestry University. He has successively served as vice president and executive director of China GIS Association, director of water conservancy Professional Committee of China GIS Association, vice chairman of planning and design special committee of China Society of soil and water conservation, vice chairman of marketing professional committee of world society of soil and water conservation, editorial board member of geographic information Science Journal, Ministry of education, Ministry of science and technology and Beijing expert.
Specialty: GIS technology and its application, fine geographic big data mining.
Presided over or participated in the completed and ongoing projects are the sub topics of the "Ninth Five Year Plan" key project "Research on agricultural comprehensive development technology in soil and water loss areas of the Loess Plateau" The research on "development and application technology of regional agricultural engineering comprehensive information management and decision-making system" won the third prize of science and technology progress of Ningxia Autonomous Region; the national "Tenth Five Year Plan" 863 large-scale 3S application demonstration project soil and water conservation, the Songliao basin soil and water conservation monitoring and management information system built on the 863 achievements, won the excellent achievement award of water conservancy informatization of the Ministry of water resources; and the Pinglu District of Shanxi Province The research of integrated forestry resource management information system won the second prize of science and technology progress of Shanxi Province and so on.
Science and Technology Awards:
- 2012 Beijing soil and water conservation core business system, China GIS Association Gold Award
- 2011 third prize for research on Soil and water conservation monitoring technology in Jilin Province
- 2010 national soil and water conservation monitoring network information system, silver award of China GIS Association
- 2009 Beijing Agricultural macro decision support system, second prize of Beijing Science and technology progress
A.
Interview questions and answers
01
Mr. Shi, we all know that interest in scientific research is very important. How do you think we can improve our interest in scientific research?
Mr. Shi: first of all, we should choose a field of our own interest, further choose the direction of our own interest, and then position ourselves: what kind of person I want to be, who will use the research results, what problems I want to solve, and what contribution I have to society. I want to understand all this. Just follow the goal and don't worry about the gains and losses. In the process of research, the lack of knowledge and skills will supplement them. Of course, the motivation is not only from interest, but also responsibility and perseverance. With these two factors, we can move forward quickly. Some students may have such a problem. If they choose a major or a tutor, the research direction will be determined. Whether they are interested in it is not up to them to decide. Just do it on their own. In fact, this is an irresponsible attitude towards yourself, just to find an excuse for not willing to do things. If you integrate the technology and methods you are interested in with the current project, use the theory, technology and methods of interest to solve an unknown problem, that is to say, promoting the development of your interest direction is also the innovation point of the current project, rather than losing your interest and imitating others to do a research you don't want to do. For example, my major is soil and water conservation. Because I am very interested in GIS, I have self-taught all relevant courses of software development for development needs, and applied GIS to relevant topics of soil and water conservation research during my postgraduate study.
02
Ask: Mr. Shi, if you have any problems in the process of scientific research, how do you solve them?
Mr. Shi: scientific research is to find and solve problems. We can meet problems almost all the time, and then think of ways to solve it. First of all, we should analyze the core and essence of the problem, decompose the big problem into several related small problems, condense the small problem into an accurate sentence and several key words, and make clear what the problem is to solve it. This premise is very important and cannot be vague at all. Then we can use the ideas of predecessors, peers, other industries and other different research ideas, technologies and methods to solve the problem. In addition, the best way to solve the problem is to combine the production practice, the theory is abstract, and the technology is boring. It is easy to understand when they are combined with the production practice. The simple way is to quickly build a production practice scene in the brain, and combine the theoretical technology with it to think. Finally, it is to cultivate the habit of constantly finding and solving problems. This is not an overnight thing. We should practice it constantly. Good habits are a good recipe for success. Of course, in the specific form of problem-solving, we can take a variety of ways, such as visiting, field practice, experimental analysis, literature review, group discussion, expert discussion, etc.
I'm talking about "reference" here, not "imitation". Imitation is learning at most, and innovation is research after learning; "flying thinking" must be collected, and it must focus on the core of the problem you want to solve, otherwise you can't find the boundary, or even make yourself dizzy; it's very important to learn from other industries, such as studying geoscience problems and even need to learn from industrial manufacturing and art Methods and achievements in different fields, such as technology and culture, will not be limited to the original vision.
03
Q: for the current employment situation, Mr. Shi, how do you think our graduate students in this major should give full play to their advantages in job selection and employment?
Mr. Shi: this problem needs to be addressed separately, one is professional advantage, the other is personal advantage. A graduate student who has read our major does not have professional advantage. As far as the professional advantages are concerned, geography is a very wide range of disciplines, with the advantages of employment, and then new technologies such as geographic big data mining and analysis. If you are proficient, you should be a hot commodity in the talent market. Therefore, as far as the Forestry University is concerned, the graduate employment of geography is still good. However, this does not mean that there is no problem in our employment. In terms of national strategy and talent demand, if we combine our research projects with ideas, theories and technologies such as spatial big data, geographic environment virtualization, artificial intelligence and 3S technology integration, we can not only achieve scientific research innovation, but also have a strong competitive advantage in employment. If we really master professional skills, the technical route and methods of graduation thesis are all original, at least clear, then even if we give you a new industry, we can quickly apply professional technology, which is our professional advantage.
04
Excuse me, Mr. Shi. Do you have any message or expectation for geography students?
Mr. Shi: for the students of geography, I'd like to talk about three personal opinions: first of all, we need to calm down to study and research solidly. People describe a person as "talented" and use the sentence "knowing astronomy and geography". It can be seen that geoscience itself is broad and profound. It can't be solved by several concepts and technologies. If we choose this subject, we must study it conscientiously and study it meticulously. Impetuous and eager for quick success and instant benefits have no future in this subject. Mastering the geoscience theory is an important foundation. How to master the geoscience theory? If you cover your eyes, fly to a strange place, and then open your mask, your Geoscience Knowledge alone can at least judge which geographical area you are in, and your geoscience skills will pass. The second is to combine new technology methods and disciplines, such as big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and geographic environment virtualization, so as to realize the research and application of geographic science at different scales of macro, meso and micro. The third is to attach importance to practical application. There is less demand for talents engaged in theoretical research. When geographic science is applied to different production practices, the future development space and employment market are very large. Finally, I wish our geography students to go out of their own unique way!
The simplest expectation, the most simple inheritance, and the silent enlightenment are circulating between teachers and students. No matter learning, scientific research or life, teacher Shi's attitude and spirit are worth learning. In the interview with Mr. Shi, the erudite Mr. Shi is warm-hearted and amiable, which makes us learn a lot from him invisibly.
Source: postgraduate information of Beilin water and soil conservation
Reviewed by: Chen Xiao, Luo Xiaoyu