On September 28, 2022, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen hosted a presentation ceremony for the Award for Ethics in Teaching and the Shenzhen Education Excellence Award to honor educators who have shown exemplary commitment to the ethical practice of their profession. One of this year's recipients of the Award for Ethics in Teaching is Professor LI, Yutian from School of Science and Engineering.

Speech of acceptance by Professor Li:

“I am deeply humbled and grateful to have been chosen as the recipient of this award, which recognizes teachers for exemplifying high standards of professionalism and morality. I am thrilled to be recognized by my students and fellow educators. This honor, in my opinion, belongs to all the educators who enthusiastically devote themselves to teaching, not just to me personally.

I joined CUHK-Shenzhen at the end of 2017. I do enjoy my time working here, particularly in the classroom. The students here have a great thirst for knowledge, and are always engaged in class. As a result, I deliver my lectures with great enthusiasm. When I started teaching Partial Differential Equations at the University in 2018, my students were its first cohort of math majors. When class started, I could tell that the students had not had much exposure to multivariable calculus and struggled with interpreting partial differential equations. For the next nine to ten Saturdays, I spent four hours each week with the class going over this material thoroughly. Most of them ended up doing very well and got a lot of offers in their senior year. Some of them came back to me two years later and informed me that they went on to get their PhDs after finishing their master's degrees, and another told me that she got a job at a major investment bank. Positive responses like these make me feel like my efforts are worthwhile. For a teacher, the pinnacle of success is seeing one of their students surpass even that instructor's own standards.

Math faculty was relatively scarce when I arrived at this university. What I could do was to do my best to give our students the fundamental training. As a result, I have assumed teaching responsibilities for eight distinct undergraduate courses so far. As the coordinator of the mathematics program for undergraduates, I am typically required to teach the remaining courses after other faculty teaching assignments have been determined. At the beginning of 2021, the University decided to offer remedial calculus to the first overseas students who needed to enhance their calculus foundations. I agreed quickly to do so. At that moment, time was pressing and the task was burdensome. I needed to plan four sessions to cover the entire Calculus curriculum (II). Furthermore, I had never taught calculus. Therefore, I had to spend the night before teaching by reading Thomas' Calculus, selecting problems from the assigned reading, and going over the test questions. I had to stay up all night to prepare the material and then rush to class because I was so burdened with other tasks. I don't want to be egotistical when I say this, but I believe the most important thing I can do as a teacher is to try my best to educate my students. This is what I stand for because it is what my own teachers instilled in me and led me to pursue a career in education.

Since CUHK-Shenzhen is a brand-new institution, getting a handle on things can be challenging. I am aware that our professors have devoted considerable time and energy to teaching, research, and administration. That our professors and students were brought together at this university by chance is a magnificent twist of fate. I also agree that it is the faculty and the students who have made CUHK-Shenzhen what it is today. It is my sincere wish that in the years to come, our faculty will maintain their collegial spirit, and that our students will persevere in their studies with enthusiasm and academic achievement. Thank you all.”

About Prof. LI, Yutian

Prof. LI received his B.Sc. degree in Mathematics and Applied Mathematics from Jilin University in 2005, and the MPhil and PhD degrees in Mathematics both from City University of Hong Kong in 2007 and 2010 respectively. He was a Postdoc Research Fellow at Liu Bie Ju Centre for Mathematical Sciences of City University of Hong Kong from 2010 to 2012. He then worked at Hong Kong Baptist University as a Research Assistant Professor from 2012 to 2017. He joined the School of Science and Engineering of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen as an Assistant Professor in December 2017.

Prof. Li’s research interests include Partial differential equations, Applied analysis, Scientific computing, and Mathematical finances. He has published more than 30 papers in recognized journals in mathematics, applied mathematics, engineering and finance, including: Studies in Applied Mathematics, SIAM Journal on Scientific Computing, Journal of Computational Physics, Constructive Approximations, Proceedings of the Royal Society London A, Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems, Journal of Scientific Computing, Applied Mathematical Letters, Optics Expresses, IEEE Transaction on Microwave Theory and Technologies, Quantitative Finance, etc.