On July 3，2023 the closing ceremony of the 2023 ICTP-AP Summer School was held successfully on Zhongguancun Campus of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences(UCAS), marking the end of this year’s summer school.On the closing ceremony, faculty including professor representatives, administrative staff and postdoc representative all showed up, with a student representative pre-recorded video being shown on the stage. 


                                       

At the very beginning of the ceremony, Dr. Min Zhang showed a video that recorded students’ activities over the past three days, from the opening ceremony on the evening of June 30 to the last day’s visit on Yanqi Campus. On the first two days, students enjoyed an academic feast characterized by 10 lectures given by professors of UCAS, including a CAS academician, Professor Yue-Liang Wu, who is also the director of the ICTP-AP.

                                         

Lecture given by CAS academician Yue-Liang Wu via video

These two days also witnessed heated discussions between teachers and students, which inspired the students and provided a valuable experience for them to talk to the distinguished professors and peers from across the country face to face. 


                                        

                                       

At the end of the video was their last day’s visits to places including the Museum of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Two Bombs and One Satellite, the history Museum of UCAS on Yanqi Lake Campus of UCAS, which helps the students better understand the “huge campus” atmosphere and the history and development of UCAS.  

Students at the Museum of CAS and Two Bombs and One Satellite


Students at the History Museum of UCAS

After a brief break on the campus, students then visited the National Space Science Center (NSSC) and went to the lab of the Institute of Mechanics,CAS. This special experience allowed Students to learn more about our country’s rapid development in space science and knew more about the significance of gravitational wave exploration. 


                             


      

                                                 

                                                 

Students going into the Lab of the Institute of Mechanics, CAS

After watching the video, Professor Jun Zhang, as the professor representative of ICTP-AP, delivered a brief speech to the students and extended warm thanks to all the participants and organizers of this event. And then, Yuxin Liu, a doctoral student of ICTP-AP who is currently exchanging abroad, shared his experience about the advantages of studying in UCAS and how grateful he is as a student of ICTP-AP. He also encouraged the fellow students to work hard and pursue their dream in scientific studies and research.


To help the students to learn more about Taiji Space Program, the post-doctoral He Wang also gave a brief introduction of his scientific work at ICTP-AP. After Dr. Wang’s speech comes the most unique and interesting part of the ceremony. Students who have been divided into four groups on the opening ceremony gave vivid and elaborate preseantations on their topics. Professors present said that the students have done a great job, and they also commented on their reports and shared their own insights respectively, which helped students to learn the strengths and shortcomings of their own work. Professor Tian commented that this is the most special and unique closing ceremony of summer school that he has ever been to, which is a huge encouragement to all the participants of this event.                     

Closing Ceremony

After the professors’ hard-hitting and professional comments, two groups won the prizes, which are the cultural and creative souvenirs of ICTP-AP, for their excellent group performance. Dr Min said that this is to encourage students to work hard and value the spirits of team work. Then comes to the most exciting part that the students are waiting for, that is to reveal the final 19  Students of Excellence.


With the end of the closing ceremony, this year’s ICTP-AP summer school also came to a period, yet this special memory during the past four days will be carried by every participant. It provided students from universities across the country with a great opportunity to know about each other, talk with each other and most importantly, to have academic exchanges with the professors in the field of the advanced scientific research and to experience the study and life at ICTP-AP, UCAS in an immersive way.