"Mobile notes" and versatile polymath: ZOU Yiyang's interdisciplinary learning journey

For three consecutive years, ZOU Yiyang has topped the ranks in his major, tackling dozens of courses across nine different faculties. Elevating himself while guiding others, he’s seen as an all-knowing mentor by his juniors and a jack-of-all-trades amongst peers—an exemplary figure in interdisciplinary learning at Zhejiang University. As the recipient of the Chu Kochen Scholarship (the highest honor bestowed upon ZJU students), ZOU, a 2020 undergraduate in the College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, shines brightly.

A beacon for others

To ZOU Yiyang, illuminating the path for others overshadows focusing on oneself. Having once navigated the initial confusion of university life, he resolves to guide newcomers through the transitional phase, reducing the perplexities of academic and social life. Strong in the role of elder brother and navigator since his sophomore year, ZOU has been a beacon, offering bespoke advice based on his own experiences for any career or life quandary, summarizing common issues into a vast and ever-updating shared document.

The knowledge encyclopedia

Realizing that mastering the vast, fast-paced content of core subjects could be more effective with well-organized outlines connecting chapters and concepts, ZOU dedicatedly crafts every class note with clarity, supplemented with extra-curricular insights. By investing my time in organizing materials, juniors can free theirs for social engagements, research innovation, and exploring the unknown, ZOU asserts, drawing motivation from this shared success.

With nearly 20 perfect-scored courses, he has compiled a whopping 151 sets of notes and over 7095 various resources, encompassing everything from Pedology, Plant Nutrition to Microbial Ecology, highlighting key lecture points, textbook essentials, and contemporary scholarly debates.

The Jack-of-all-trades

ZJU’s diverse curriculum, supportive interdisciplinary research environment, and holistic educational approach have provided ZOU with rich educational resources, broadening his knowledge while lifting his perspective, thus building a cross-disciplinary knowledge framework and way of thinking.

Leading an SRTP project (Student Research Training Program), Exploration of Ideal Soil Nitrogen Management Measures for Synergistic Reduction of Water and Air Pollution in China’s Farmlands, ZOU applies his foundational knowledge in economics and management to quantify additional labor, equipment, material, and service costs of farmland management against its societal benefits, seeking to contextualize pollution reduction.

The natural sciences reveal the intrinsic mechanics of phenomena, while the social sciences craft values and discourses. With his multidisciplinary background and interdisciplinary studies, ZOU fuses Academica at a higher plane to better address real-world issues, challenging misconceptions, and grounding cutting-edge technology. His project earned an Excellent rating and spun off into a winning entry at the 18th “Challenge Cup” National College Students’ extracurricular academic science and technology contest.

Indeed, it is these seemingly unrelated expanses of knowledge that constitute ZOU's network across fields, painting a vibrant collage of collegiate achievement, and establishing him as a jack-of-all-trades in the eyes of students and professors alike. ZOU believes that in today's complex world, the flexible creativity and adaptability of the polymath are essential, adept at unraveling knotty interdisciplinary issues, with the potential to push the boundaries of human understanding through valuable innovative research.

Adapted and translated from the article written by HAN Mingzheng CHENG Xuhang &CHEN Tingxiao

Translator: GU Zhaoyu('25,Education)

Photo: the interviewees

Editor: HAN Xiao('25PhD, Education),TIAN Minjie