US scientist Zach Smith not shy about showcasing his Thousand Talents Plan award

Not all scientists are shy about their connections to China’s Thousand Talents Plan (TTP).

Zach Smith, a US biophotonics professor, has included his TPP award on his LinkedIn profile and in his résumé on the website of his lab under the Anhui province-based University of Science and Technology of China (USTC).

“The offering of the 1000 Young Talent program is excellent, I think anyone lucky enough to win the award would be crazy to turn it down,” said Smith, who joined USTC in 2015 along with his Chinese wife, who works in the same field – which is a combination of biology and photonics.

The research funds he received via USTC from the 1000 Young Talent program – part of the government-backed TTP – were more or less double the faculty offers he received in the US. Plus, USTC was amenable to offering the couple positions to work in the same department at the same time, which was almost impossible in the US.

After having just passed the three-year mark in Anhui province, Smith is “generally positive” about his working experience, especially the big research group he has in China filled with lots of talented students, a feat difficult to achieve in the US, which generally has smaller-size graduate programs.

Smith said that China is definitely growing in competitiveness compared to more established academic powerhouses in the US and EU, a natural consequence of the increased funding for science as well as the explosion in quality of scientific research at Chinese universities.