Biology

The discipline of Biology funded by the Priority Academic Program Development (PAPD) of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions is composed by two first-level disciplines, i.e., Ecology and Biology. It embraces sub-disciplines as Ecology, Botany, Zoology, Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Development Biology. It is one of the first-class disciplines in Nanjing Forestry University (NJFU) under the national Double-First Class University Project.

(1)     History

Its origin can be traced back to the Forest Department of Jinling University (founded in 1888) and Central University (in 1902). During the nationwide restructuring of institutions of higher learning in 1952, the university was called Nanjing Forestry College. The first generation of NJFU scientists such as Profs. Wanjun Zheng, Wenyu Xiong, and Chuandao Li, started the disciplines of Forestry Botany, Forestry Ecology, and Forestry Microbiology. They are also famous for their great accomplishments in plant science. For example, Prof. Wanjun Zheng discovered Metasequoia glyptostroboides, which is one of the living fossils from the plant kingdom and known as one of the greatest scientific discoveries in the 20th century. Prof. Wenyu Xiong initiated the research on Bamboo and proposed the theory of Ecoboundary. Prof. Qibai Xiang led the International Registration Center for Osmanthus, exerting a significant influence both home and abroad.

Carrying forward the traditions and creating more glories, the recruitment of doctoral students in the discipline of Ecology and Botany has been initiated in 1981 and 1986, respectively. The discipline of Ecology was honored as the national-level key discipline as early as 1980, and the Botany joined in the list of the key disciplines approved by the State Forestry Administration in 1994. In 2001, the discipline of Biology started to accept postdocs and then upgraded as the first-level discipline program for Doctor Degree. The discipline of Ecology was promoted to the first-level discipline program in 2011 and meanwhile was honored as the first-level key discipline in Jiangsu province. In 2015, the disciplines of Biology and Ecology were listed in the first-level key disciplines approved by the State Forestry Administration, and were funded by the Priority Academic Program Development (PAPD) of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions in 2010, 2014, and 2018.   

(2)     Academic team

Now this discipline has 80 faculty of which there are 60 professors, 73.6% are at their middle age (<45 year old), 70% got their highest degree from outside or abroad, and 67% has more than one year overseas study experience. Faculties have claimed several honored titles of the provincial and national level. For example, two faculty were recruited in the national Thousand Youth Talents Plan, one was honored in the Jiangsu Province “333 High-level Talents Cultivating Project”, two were honored as members of Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council, and five were titled as the distinguished professors of Jiangsu Province. The discipline also have one national-level outstanding teaching team and two provincial-level outstanding innovative team.

(3)     Facilities and Research Centers

The discipline of Biology has 10 provincial-level (Table 1) and 8 university-level Teaching and Research platforms. In recent five years, around 80 millions RMB has been invested to the development of this discipline among of which 68 millions were funded by the PAPD program. Via this investment, a batch of advanced instruments with total value of 115 millions RMB such as nuclear magnetic resonance apparatus was bought, among which there are 68 sets of instruments valued more than 500,000 RMB.

(4)     Scientific Projects and Innovation

In recent five years, the faculty in this discipline got ~130 projects or grants valued over 100 million RMB from either the provincial- or the national-level funds, including 9 grants from the National Science & Technology Pillar Program during the 12th Five-year Plan Period, the China National Key R&D Program during the 13th Five-year Plan Period, the National Program on Key Basic Research Project (973 Program), and the National Science and Technology Major Project, 2 funds from the Special Fund for Forest Scientific Research in the Public Welfare, and 42 from National Science Funding. The faculty won two National Awards for Science and Technology Progress and 11 State Awards for Science and Technology Progress, published over 200 SCI articles including one in the journal of Nature, 10 text books and monographs, and got granted of 40 patent rights and copyrights.      

Table 1 Teaching and Research platforms at or above province-level

(5)     Education

The discipline has a integral training system of undergraduate-master-doctoral program. In recent five years, 63 students got doctoral degrees, 241 students got master’s degrees, 300 out of 300 undergraduates got their bachelor’s degree, 3 students won the best doctoral dissertation, and 15 masters won the best master thesis. All of the major courses for graduates who pursue for a doctoral degree in this discipline are taught in English. Around 30% of the major courses for masters are taught bilingually. Fifty-six master graduates were sent overseas for study in recent five years.