Prof. Jean Marie Basset, Director of KAUST (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology) Catalysis Research Center, Member of the French Academy of Sciences, Member of the French Academy of Engineering, Member of The Academy of Europe and former director of the Institute of Catalysis (Lyon) was conferred Honorary Professorship by NanjingTech on March 11th.

In his speech on the ceremony, Prof. Jean Marie Basset said he was amazed at the fast development of China in both economy and science every time he came to China. He left Europe and joined KAUST, a young university that has attracted top talents, especially young people throughout the world in their pursuit of excellence. He pointed out that the future of the world lies in young people who are the solution to the deteriorating problems like energy and environment. He expressed gratitude for President Huang Wei’s invitation and he would help to promote the exchange and collaborations between two universities.

Academician and President Huang Wei first recalled his connection with catalysis chemistry when was a university student and his admiration and respect for Prof. Basset who is one of the three leading experts in catalysis throughout the world. He pointed out that KAUST is hailed as the "House of Wisdom" and "Arab MIT" for its rapid development and achievements in research and it is one of the research institutions in the world with the highest rate of citation. According to the report of 2014 QS Ranking, KAUST's Research Record has overtaken first-class universities like Yale, Oxford, Cambridge and Princeton. The successful experience of KAUST is a very good example for us to learn from. NanjingTech has officially established the strategic goal of building a "Comprehensive, Research-oriented and Globalized University" and started its new journey of leaping development. At present, the Nature Index of NanjingTech ranked among 41 in Chinese universities and research institutions and ranked 3 in Nanjing universities. This shows that we have made progress in the frontier fields of fundamental research. In the past, Nature Index of NanjingTech was almost zero but with efforts of all NanjingTech staff, the indicator has risen very rapidly and is expected to rank among top 30 in 2018. President Huang Wei believes that more Chinese universities will have higher rankings in world ranking of universities in the future.

After the conferring ceremony, Prof. Basset delivered an academic report entitled "Catalyst by Design" which introduced the latest development in catalysis research and had in-depth exchange with NanjingTech teachers and students.

Link: Nanjing Tech University.