"The new batch of Academicians for Huaxia has been announced, Zhang Menglong has been appointed as a dual Academician at both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Engineering Academy, becoming the youngest Academician in the history of Huaxia!"
Just as Han Jinyu had told Zhang Menglong, the news was announced by the media a few days later, and it quickly spread through the streets and alleys.
An Academician in his early 20s, and even still a graduate student, this was definitely big news!
But from a certain perspective, it seemed almost like a normal occurrence.
At the recent global academic conference, of the more than 1000 researchers who attended, which one's level of scientific research hadn't reached that of an Academician? Yet at such a grand event, Zhang Menglong's research results were still wildly impressive, indicating that his academic level had far surpassed that of an Academician. Was it strange to award him this title?
Soon someone calculated that up to now, Zhang Menglong had published more than 30 papers, all of which were featured in top journals like "Nature" and "Science".
Being the first author on a paper in these journals could easily earn one the title of a professor.
Following that, he had won the Nobel Prize in Physics, directly breaking the void Huaxia held in this award category.
And that was just his academic achievements; in terms of national technological advancement, Zhang Menglong had created a trillion-level chip industry chain, which earned him the National Science and Technology Progress First-Class Award together with countless other honors.
This dual Academician title was truly well-deserved!
However, for these honorary titles, Zhang Menglong didn't care at all, he even found them troublesome. Right now, his more pressing concern was to expedite the application for the astronomy academic program points at Jiangnan University of Science and Technology.
On a workday morning, Han Jinyu and Zhang Menglong rushed to the Bureau of Education, as these programs needed approval before proceeding.
Both being Nobel laureates and Academicians, in this Bureau of Education, where academics bustled about, who in the academic circle did not recognize them? Their names were already written in Huaxia's textbooks!
Seeing them, people eagerly greeted them, understanding well that knowing a few prominent figures in the academic circle could be very beneficial during certain award selections or title evaluations if one had their support.
"Menglong, I've brought you here, but whether the application is successful is up to you," Han Jinyu said. "If you follow the normal procedure, it takes two to three years for a bachelor's degree authorization, five to eight years for a master's, and over ten years for a PhD program point. It's nearly impossible to expect it to be approved in just a few days."
"How will we know if we don't try?" Zhang Menglong smiled.
Soon, they walked into the office responsible for academic program authorization. The office was spacious, but there were only two staff members, both in their forties. Here they were essentially part-time, and both held professorial titles.
"Hey, Academician Han is here!" Han Jinyu had made an appointment a few days earlier, so their arrival was no surprise to the staff.
"Menglong, let me introduce you to Professor Liu Jinliang and Professor Sun Chengshan."
"Wait, you don't need to introduce them!" The two professors quickly stood up, eagerly shaking Zhang Menglong's hand, "This must be Academician Zhang, right? A truly young hero. We didn't even know what academia was when we were your age!"
"Exactly, to be an Academician at such a young age. We do not even know if we will ever be nominated for Academician in our lifetimes!"
"You two professors are too kind; I've merely dabbled a bit."
"Dabbled a bit? More like a billion bits, what others don't achieve in a lifetime, you do in just a few days!" Han Jinyu uncompromisingly pointed out.
"Academician Zhang, look, the people from Jiangnan University of Science and Technology don't hesitate at all with you. Why not consider teaching at our Jiangnan University? We will directly offer you a dean position, the biggest and best office, and the finest research group!"
"Academician Zhang, don't listen to him. The only thing they have left at Jiangnan University is some Archaeology Institute with hardly any students—all fluff!" Professor Sun Chengshan began to undercut them, "Come to Modu University of Transportation, we'll directly give you the position of Dean of the Physics Faculty! You name your research budget each year, we absolutely won't bargain, just two national projects per year will do!"
"Psh, does Academician Zhang need your money? He has pocket change worth several times more than your research funds, better offer something substantial!"
"So what substantial thing can you offer?"
"Heh, Academician Zhang, our university has lots of ladies, and each one is both smart and beautiful. Our university is very open-minded—as long as it's sensible and legal, we don't oppose student-teacher relationships."
"??? Old man, you're not playing fair, how can you throw out such a shameless bargaining chip?"
"Humph, Academician Zhang, our university recently established an international fashion institute, all stocked with supermodels..."
"Stop, stop, stop!" Han Jinyu couldn't watch anymore, these two old fellows actually recruiting right in front of him? Knowing that he had even used his own daughter as a bargaining chip previously, these two old fools were going even further, "Are you acting like I don't exist?"
"Hahaha, just kidding, just kidding," laughed the two professors, "But seriously, what are you two here for today?"
"Professors, I want to apply for a new academic program point for Jiangnan University of Science and Technology."
"That can be arranged!" the two professors said, "If you want to apply for a bachelor's degree point, submit an application; normally it takes two to three years to get approved, but since you're an academician, there are special channels. If all goes well, it can be done in a month, and you can start enrolling students next semester."
"I want to apply for both the master's and doctoral points at once!"
"What?" The two were stunned for a moment, "This... this might be a bit difficult."
"Academician Zhang, to apply for master's points or higher, you must undertake provincial or ministerial level scientific research projects, and must present results; without a three to five-year cycle, how could it possibly be done?"
"So, you're saying if I already have the results, all I need to do is go through the process?"
"Technically, yes, but currently these projects haven't officially opened for application..."
"You just take the 'Pulsar Physics' project off your list; you're in charge of that, right?"
"That's managed by the Ministry of Science and Technology," Professor Liu Jinliang said, "They are in the office next to ours, but it's a national level project, how can it just be removed like that?"
"Whack!" Zhang Menglong slapped a USB drive onto the table, "I wrapped up this project just the other day; all the data reports and application model data are in here!"
"You've finished it?"
"All done, you can send someone to verify it right away!"
"Academician Zhang, this is somewhat irregular, you doing this... others will have objections!"
"Who dares object?" Zhang Menglong said, "If anyone dares, I'll complete all those projects as well and directly publish all the research results; I'd like to see what else they can research on, how they'll apply for funds, or sustain their research groups without any projects!"
The two professors exchanged a look; they had never seen such an audacious scholar, who would finish all the projects—couldn't you leave a little opportunity for other scholars?
"Wait a minute... the situation is a bit special, we need to discuss this..."
"No worries, take your time," Zhang Menglong settled into an office chair, casually pulled out his supercomputer, "You go have your meeting; I'll wrap up the 'Gamma Burst Cosmology' and 'Fast Radio Burst Data Statistics' projects in the meantime, just so you can't say later that one isn't enough..."