Vol.7 January 2023

清澜教师采访：李春梅博士与 2022年诺贝尔化学奖得主们的那些故事 

Dr. Chunmei Li's Stories with the Winners of the 2022 Nobel Prize for Chemistry

Interviewer 采访人/ G10 Sage Ding 丁诗城

Interviewee 受访人/ Dr. Chummei Li 李春梅博士

Q: Good morning, dear Dr. Li! Could you please share your stories about the laureates of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2022? Do you remain in contact with them？

敬爱的李博士早上好！请问您愿意分享一下您与 2022年诺贝尔化学奖获奖者的故事吗？您现在还仍与他们互通音信吗？

A: I first met Prof. Sharpless when I collaborated with him at the Scripps Research Institute; he had already received one Nobel Prize. We were working on the Click Reaction Project, for which he earned his Nobel Prize this year, and we had a paper published on the application of Click Reaction on material science.

我第一次见到夏普莱斯教授是在我与他在斯克里普斯研究所合作时，那时的他早已获得了一次诺贝尔奖。我们当时正在进行有关链接反应项目的研究，而他也因此获得了今年的诺贝尔奖，我们还发表了一篇关于点击反应在材料科学上的应用的论文。

Prof. Bertozzi and I were colleagues when she worked at UC Berkeley. We were always on different research projects but often met to discuss teaching. We sat on the same sofa once. I never knew she was younger than I was until recently because she looked very young, pretty, and energetic. She's very tall and talks in a very cool way. She's also a professional musician. Chemistry is lucky that she picked Chemistry because she would be equally successful if she chose something else.

贝尔托齐教授在加州大学伯克利分校工作时，我和她互为同事。我们虽一直工作在不同的研究项目上，但我们也经常见面讨论教学，我依稀记得有一次我们还坐在同一张沙发上。直到最近，我才知道她比我年轻，因为她看起来风华正茂且容光焕发。她身材高挑，说话的方式也很酷。同时，她也是一个专业的音乐家。她选择了化学，所以化学是幸运的；倘若她选择了其他的领域，她也同样会成功。

We no longer keep in touch. After I heard they won the Nobel Prize, I thought about writing congratulatory emails, but I was afraid it would be very embarrassing if they replied asking me who I was.

我们已经不再保持联系了。在我听说他们获得诺贝尔奖后，我虽想过写贺信，但我担心如果他们回信问我是谁，那会十分尴尬。

Q: Could you please briefly summarize the thesis, the content, and the research field in the essay you wrote with this year's laureates as a co-author? 

请问您 可否简单概括一下你与今年的诺奖得主共同创作的论文的论题、内容和研究方向吗？

A: We applied Click Chemistry in non-biological nature to make molecular connections with absolute fidelity and create functional species out of simple building blocks.

我们在非生物的环境中应用了点击化学，以绝对精准的方式进行分子连接，并从简单的构件中创造出功能性物

Q: What is the most remarkable research paper you would like to share with us？

您最想和我们分享的最具意义的研究论文是什么？

A: I am most proud of a new polymerization method I developed with a research group from the Dalian University of Technology. It was published in a paper, "Versatile, Oxygen-Insensitive Surface-Initiated Anionic in Aqueous solutions. It was published earier this year. It was published earlier this year on Langmuir, issue 38, page 1001. This method allows us to use anionic polymerization to prepare functional polymers in water in the open air at room temperature. Unfortunately, these reactions required organic solvent with oxygen removed, which was costly and harmful to the environment.

让我最引以为傲的是我和大连理工大学的一个研究小组开发的一种新的聚合方法。它被发表在一篇题为《使用多功能、氧不敏感且由表面引发的阴离子聚合在水溶液中制备功能性的高分子刷》的论文中，于今年早些时候发表在《朗缪尔》第38期第1001页。这种方法使我们能够在室温下的露天环境中使用阴离子聚合来制备水中的功能性聚合物。不幸的是，这些反应需要被除过氧的有机溶剂，成本高且对环境有害。

Q: Could you introduce us to the curriculum of AP Chemistry, including the contents and your teaching style？

您能否向我们介绍一下 AP化学的课程，包括内容与您的教学风格？

A: AP Chemistry is equivalent to a first-year college Chemistry course; it covers chemical bonding and chemical reactions. Several aspects of chemical reactions will be discussed, such as reaction rates and energy profiles. I teach the old-fashioned way. First, I will lecture about all the main concepts. Then, I demonstrate problem-solving on the board. I need students to follow my thoughts in class and focus on understanding rather than memorization.

AP 化学相当于大一的化学课程；它包括化学键和化学反应。课程中我们会讨论化学反应的几个方面，如反应速率和能量曲线。我采用老式的教学方式：首先，我会讲授所有的重要概念；然后，我在黑板上演示解决问题的方法。我要求学生在课堂上跟着我的思路走，把重点放在理解而不是记忆上。

Q: What advice would you give to our Tsinglan students for studying STEM-related AP courses? 

对于学习与 STEM 相关的 AP课程，您对我们的清澜学子有何建议？

A: I am very enthusiastic about AP courses because, based on my understanding of AP Chemistry, AP Physics, and AP Calculus, the AP curriculum focuses on skill building rather than memorization. So, I suggest focusing on understanding basic concepts and analyzing specific situations using these concepts rather than memorizing separate facts, methods, rules, etc.

我非常热衷于教授 AP课程，因为根据我对 AP化学、AP物理和AP微积分的理解，AP课程真正注重的是培养技能，而并非死记硬背。因此，我建议学生们把侧重点放在理解基本概念和利用这些概念分析具体情境上，而不是记住单独的事实、方法、规则等。

Something I want to add: I feel very close to the Nobel laureates this time, but this won't be the closest one. I have taught more than 10,000 students at UC Berkeley, and now I'm teaching elite students in China at Tsinglan. Therefore, I think one of you will be a Nobel Prize recipient one day. And that day, I would be a lot prouder as the teacher of Nobel laureates than as their colleagues!

我非常想补充的是，虽然这次我已经觉得自己与诺奖得主十分接近了，但这次将不会是最接近的一次。我曾在加州大学伯克利分校教过一万多名学生，而我现在正在清澜山学校教授来自中国的精英学生。因此，有朝一日，我相信你们中的一个人将成为诺奖得主。而在那一天，作为诺奖得主的老师，我会比作为诺奖得主的同事感到更加自豪