Long-time ICTP staff scientist, Yu Lu has found a new home in his old home: China.

Going Farther East

Three years ago, when Yu Lu retired from ICTP, where he had served as long-time head of the Condensed Matter Physics group, he was eager to return to China to work with his native country's rapidly growing number of young researchers. And that's exactly what he's been able to do as the first director of the Interdisciplinary Center of Theoretical Studies (ICTS) in Beijing. The Center was created in 2002 by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), which has provided US$3 million in funding to cover the Center's first four years of activity.
"ICTS's main aim," says Yu Lu, "is to promote research in the emerging interdisciplinary areas that lie between physics and other branches of science, including biology, chemistry, informatics, material science and mathematics."
"It is not a conventional initiative," he adds. "We don't have a faculty to speak of. Indeed we have very few people with full-time contracts. Most of our 'research tutors' come from Chinese or US universities and research institutes, spending only part of their time with the Center. Post-doc fellows and long-term visiting scientists come for two to five years. ICTS represents an effort to explore new trends in science in a light but supportive bureaucratic structure. The Center is hosted by the Institute of Theoretical Physics (ITP), and hopefully we will move into a new building by the end of next year."
The Center has formed five teams: (1) computational studies and simulations of complex condensed matter systems; (2) strongly correlated systems and low-dimensional condensed matter physics; (3) physical and mathematical issues in superstring theory and applications to cosmology; (4) interactions and modelling in living systems; and (5) frontier topics in quantum information physics.

Yu Lu

Yu Lu explains: "Every research team operates in its own way. For example, in strongly correlated systems, the meetings---dubbed 'journal clubs' and 'paper clinics'---are often held on weekends and involve discussions of articles before they are submitted to journals for formal review. Such discussions permit frank but friendly criticism of each other's work, which not only promotes collegiality but also improves the chances for getting the papers published in internationally renowned journals."
Thanks largely to Yu Lu's assistance, ICTP is lending a helping hand in the development of the new Center. For example, the two institutions held a joint school on Electronic Structure Methods and Applications in Beijing, China, in July 2004, which attracted more than 250 participants. "The lecturers were quite surprised both by the large number of young people and their enthusiasm," notes Yu Lu.
ICTP will continue its collaboration with ICTS next year when three joint schools focussing on string theory, nanosciences and statistical physics are scheduled to take place in Beijing. "We hope to be able to continue to develop excellent programmes and to draw outstanding lecturers and participants," says Yu Lu. "At some point, I hope that ICTS can assume the status of an Asian-Pacific branch of ICTP."
"The experience and inspiration I acquired during my 16-year tenure in Trieste," Yu Lu says, "now guides what I am doing in Beijing. So, in some measure, it's been nice to think that I have taken some of ICTP with me to China."

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