In search of new ways of producing nano-materials
A life in academia was a natural career path for Jing Kong, the daughter of two Chinese academics at Tianjin Finance and Economics University: Her father taught and was editor of a journal, and her mother was in the university’s foreign trade department and later worked with graduate students. And last year, after seven years at MIT, Kong was granted tenure as the ITT Career Development Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering.Her interest in science and technology started, as it does for many people, with an inspiring teacher. “I had many very good teachers,” Kong recalls, but there was “one in particular, a teacher of physics in middle school, Baoyi Liu. He gave me a lot of encouragement, and helped me to be interested” in the subject.While in high school, “I took part in math, physics and chemistry competitions. I was chosen for the preparation class for a chemistry olympics,” Kong...