With the progress of science and technology in the energy area, promoting clean and efficient usage of energy, as well as accelerating the industry upgrading of the energy market, have become the new concerns of the energy field. Thanks to the rapid development of the internet, interdisciplinary technologies are now changing the operation mode of our society. Therefore, academia has proposed to “build a smarter planet” and a cutting-edge notion of “smart energy” in the energy area, by merging the internet with energy production, transmission, storage, consumption as well as energy market. At the same time, President Xi Jinping proposed in 2020 that our country would strive to reach the "carbon peak" by 2030 and realize the "carbon neutrality" by 2060, and undertake the global responsibility and historical mission of carbon reduction. Since 80% of the total carbon emissions are from energy consumption sources, the development of new energy technologies will play a key role in achieving the strategic goals of carbon peak and neutrality in our country.

The School of Science and Engineering is now actively cooperating with well-known domestic and overseas universities for the “3+1+1” Joint Program of New Energy Science and Engineering (NSE). The NSE Program is also offering a “Final Year Project” to train students’ independent practical and researching abilities, which can greatly benefit them for their further study or career. NSE graduates will be able to work in emerging fields of new energy, including renewable energy, smart grid, new energy vehicles, etc. as well as new energy-related research in universities and institutes.

The NSE Program is highly interdisciplinary. Students can choose to pursue further studies in the direction of new energy science or new energy engineering according to their interests.

1. New Energy Science

Based on the classic courses of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and materials science, the stream of new energy science will introduce the latest progress in frontier research areas, such as optoelectronics, catalytic chemistry, energy storage, and energy conversion, with a focus on the development and utilization of new energy, especially renewable energy. Through the combination of lectures and experiments, students in the new energy science stream will receive solid training in natural sciences and equip with international vision, innovative spirit, and comprehensive abilities. Graduates in the new energy science stream will be ready to contribute to the strategic goals of carbon peak and neutrality, and fulfill their talents in job markets of photovoltaics, energy storage, electric vehicles, display technology, etc.

2. New Energy Engineering

The stream of new energy engineering aims to explore the “smart energy system”, which is the new form of energy development. In addition to the electric power system, electrical machinery, power electronics, new energy materials, students will also study courses including integrated circuits, signal systems, advanced statistics, artificial intelligence, etc. The combination of new energy knowledge and data computing technology guarantees a balance training of energy and information technology, which are both needed for the smart energy system and can meet the demand in the energy-related industries. With the interdisciplinary skills of new energy engineering and information science, graduates in the new energy engineering stream will become competitive candidates in the job market of photovoltaics, smart grids, electric vehicles, energy storage, industrial internet, and other fields.