Academician Lu Yuzhen: Reflections on How Instrument Manufacturing Supports Teaching

I have been engaged in scientific research work and have little knowledge of instrument manufacturing and teaching. However, because our most important resources are instruments and human resources, high quality instruments and excellent people are our eternal expectations. In the most recent period, I was pondering over the question of how the instrument manufacturing industry can more satisfy the needs of teaching, and of course it will ultimately benefit our scientific research.

I have read some of the early "Analytical Chemistry" textbooks. It seems that the curriculum has not given too many hours to analyze the instrument. The main thing is that there are some basic knowledge. Recently, Secretary-General Liu Changkuan sent me a copy of the second edition of the “Analytical Chemistry” of East China University of Science and Technology. This is a basic textbook for science and engineering majors. As far as I know, it is widely used in universities and colleges in China and its content is also very rich. Nearly half of the contents of the instrumental analysis experiments are academic. In other words, students majoring in science and engineering will have to perform a large number of instrumental analysis experiments and use a large number of instruments. These instruments should not be too simple or too complex. It is best to allow students to handle loading and unloading and maintenance, and fully understand the principles and possible applications.

There are more than 6 million undergraduate students in our country, and science and engineering students will account for half of them. Therefore, I have found that this is a large market for instrument manufacturers and has not yet been fully developed. Everyone understands that market development is to be paid, but in order to train our next generation, for the development of our scientific research undertakings, to protect the environment for the healthy survival of human beings, to ensure the safety and advancement of production equipment, for the sake of industrial and agricultural products Quality, China will need a large number of analytical talents engaged in instrument analysis. Obviously, the instrument manufacturers will pay off in this respect.

With regard to the preparation of analytical experiments in science and engineering universities, I really do not have much suggestion. However, from all kinds of periodicals, it can be seen that there are four items that analysts are more concerned about, namely: 1. Separation technology (various types of chromatography, etc.) 2. All kinds of spectroscopy (molecular and atomic spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic and mass spectrometry, etc.) 3. Various types of sensors (specialized measurement technology, etc.) 4. Data processing (stoichiometry is part of it). At present, the 1,2, and 4 items in analytical chemistry in universities have all been discussed. The contents of sensors are still scattered and difficult to summarize. Slightly less about data processing, but in the commonly used analytical instruments, the use of computers for data processing is an indispensable content, if you add some basic knowledge in the analysis of professional courses in analytical data processing seems necessary . Since the 21st century, some analytical instruments can generate huge amounts of data. How to handle such problems also requires students to have basic education.

In colleges and universities, with the continuous increase in the demand for higher education, there will inevitably arise the problem of insufficient allocation of school hours. I have been engaged in the analysis of near-infrared spectroscopy for more than a decade now. Based on the above understanding, I boldly recommend that students of analytical chemistry be assigned a certain amount of time in near-infrared spectroscopy experiments. Because the price of near-infrared spectroscopy apparatus is not high, its optical structure is very similar to the ultraviolet spectrum or infrared spectrum, and the theoretical knowledge of the spectrum is relatively simple, but it is necessary to use a computer for data processing (chemometrics method) to obtain the analysis result. The same mathematical method can also be used for the mass data processing such as mass spectrometry.

If colleges and universities, near-infrared spectroscopy as part of the experimental class, the students can get practical training in instrument construction, spectroscopy, data processing, and not take up too much time. This will be very useful for cultivating students' comprehensive application skills.

Of course, from the perspective of social needs, whether it is environmental protection, human health, or the optimization of industrial processes requires real-time analysis of data, and near-infrared spectroscopy is rapidly adapting to this demand. In the future, our country’s society is in desperate need of professionals in this area. Such training in universities will also actively promote the promotion of this technology.

Instrument manufacturers should pay attention to the development of this market, work together with relevant departments of universities to develop software and hardware suitable for teaching, and scientifically design experimental content so that students can get training in thinking, scientific methods, and basic skills. Train students to build a complete knowledge structure and the ability to solve practical problems to meet the needs of analysts in this era.

summary

We must pay attention to talents and equipment. We need advanced equipment to supply the production units. We should continue to research and develop to meet our needs. At the same time, we need advanced talents that are suitable for the talents we need. The source of these talents is schools. Academician Lu emphasized in particular the cultivation of talents combining instrument research and manufacturing, software development and instrument application.

Academician Lu proposed that schools and factories are the supply of the most critical resources for instrumentation. These two places should attract the attention of the instrumentation industry. By comparing student materials before 2000 and 2006, we learned that the sources of experimental instruments will become an important issue. Instrument manufacturers should see and attach importance to such a huge market, and instrumental analysis associations should promote development efforts. This market.

Academician Lu analyzed from the perspective of instrument structure and application that we can start developing this market with near-infrared spectroscopy instruments. Because such instruments have the following advantages:

First, the principle used is similar to all optical instruments, but the structure is relatively simple, allowing students to freely disassemble the principle and apply it;

Second, students can understand the application of metrology in analytical chemistry in practice;

Third, there is a broad application prospects.