Qu Zihao

Student from the Admitted Class of 2014, Global Supply Chain and Logistics Management, School of Management and Economics (SME), The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen (CUHK-Shenzhen)

PhD in Operations Management, University of Texas at Dallas

Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst

In 2014, the Phase I campus of The CUHK-Shenzhen was completed in Longgang. That September, Qu Zihao became one of the first batch of 313 students admitted by The CUHK-Shenzhen, majoring in Global Supply Chain and Logistics Management, SME.

Qu, who likes warm climates, came to the southern university where he was exposed to international classes with English immersion education and global topics often discussed in class.

Recalling his campus years, Qu was filled with emotions: “The school education was unique. Had I chosen a more traditional path (i.e., a national postgraduate entrance examination or a postgraduate recommendation, or direct participation in work), I would not have had such a great opportunity to go for exchanges and think about what I want to do in school years, which has ushered in the current academic path for me. Arguably, The CUHK-Shenzhen has significantly changed my life.”

His major includes two exchange experiences, giving him more opportunities to explore the world than other students. He visited the Copenhagen Business School, Denmark in the first semester of his junior year and The University of British Columbia, Canada in the first semester of his senior year.

Qu discovered his academic interests when he was a freshman. He consciously chose many courses that suited his major, and through various classes, exchanges, research, and discussions, he determined his interest and decided to apply for the PhD Program in Operations Management. With a letter of recommendation written by Luo Zhiquan, Vice President of The CUHK-Shenzhen, he was successfully admitted by the University of Texas at Dallas.

In October 2023, the 2023 INFORMS Annual Meeting (hereinafter referred to as the INFORMS Annual Meeting) was held in Phoenix, the United States. The CUHK-Shenzhen Vice President Luo Zhiquan also went to the United States to attend this event. The INFORMS Annual Meeting gathered many top talents in the industry. It was also a great opportunity for most schools with teaching positions open to conduct the first round of interviews to screen candidates. In these interviews, Qu needed to present his research results over the first five years of his doctoral career to the professors from his intended schools one by one.

This January, Qu learned that he had been offered a teaching position at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) as a prospective assistant professor to be employed this fall. He was overjoyed at the news and immediately shared it with Vice President Luo Zhiquan.

“It was Professor Luo who helped me apply for this PhD program back then. Now that I am about to graduate, I want to deliver some good results.”

Ten years later, Qu has a new understanding of the “match” between himself and his alma mater. On the special occasion of its tenth anniversary, he expressed his wishes: “I hope that my alma mater can get better and better and attract more and more students who love the school atmosphere here. This is a win-win situation. Students can give full play to their strengths in The CUHK-Shenzhen, a school that encourages free exploration, while The CUHK-Shenzhen will surely become more prosperous thanks to these excellent students.”