To enhance the cultivation of undergraduate students’ research literacy, break down barriers in research understanding, and stimulate internal motivation for academic exploration, the College of Marine Science and Engineering held the Deep Blue Research — Undergraduate-Postgraduate Face-to-Face Exchange Session in Room 408 of the College Building on January 6, 2026. Through close and in-depth dialogue, the event aimed to pave an early development pathway for undergraduates aspiring to engage in academic research. Three outstanding postgraduate students from the college with remarkable research achievements — Ma Depeng, Zhang Qitong, and Cao Zheng — were invited as guest speakers. During the sharing session, senior student Ma Depeng systematically introduced the complete process and practical tips for publishing SCI papers, covering topic selection, software tools, literature citation, and handling reviewer comments. Senior student Zhang Qitong, drawing on her academic background, elaborated on hands-on experience including how to start research, topic selection strategies, and the design and implementation of experiments. Based on his personal journey, senior student Cao Zheng emphasized the importance of maintaining physical and mental health, keeping active through exercise, and balancing life and studies during research, offering students valuable perspectives rooted in humanistic care. In the subsequent interactive segment The Road to Research, scenario-based multiple-choice questions were innovatively designed across six dimensions: embarking on research, overcoming difficulties, cooperation and communication, time management, research direction decisions, and academic networking, simulating key decision-making points in real research practice. Students on site voted by raising cards, and representatives holding different choices were invited to share their reasoning, sparking an intensive exchange of ideas in a mini forum. This session vividly revealed the diversity and complexity of research pathways, deepened students’ understanding of research ethics, teamwork and long-term planning, and achieved dual outcomes of experience sharing and intellectual inspiration. Adopting a warm and relaxed atmosphere to explore profound academic topics, this undergraduate-postgraduate exchange effectively fostered an open, inclusive academic community where teaching and learning reinforce each other. The event demystified academic research for undergraduates and boosted their confidence in pursuing further studies. It also provided postgraduate students with a platform to organize their experience and pass on knowledge to younger peers. It serves as a vivid practice of the college’s effort to build an integrated educational ecosystem connecting undergraduate and postgraduate training.
Written by: Zhu Diyao
Photographed by: Gao Xuan
Figure 1 Event scene
Figure 2 Sharing Session
Figure 3 Interactive Session