My name is Brian Musikavanhu fromZimbabwe. I graduated with a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering and Technique in 2020.

I came to China, ZUST in particular, in September of 2017. I was excited, like any normal person would be, and I quickly made friends. I knew a couple of other senior students who were here before me and that made my integration into the campus culture a lot easier. First on my to-do-list was learning the language and I joined some volunteer groups where I met with other students and practiced my Chinese. This was a huge help. I volunteered in various social activities while maintaining a perfect attendance record.

ZUST has different faculties with a lot of qualified staff and I was fortunate to be assigned Prof. Hu Zhijun as my supervisor. He was, and is still a mentor who taught me the fundamentals of research. He is part of the reason why I aspire to have a career in research and development of cellulosic products. With the guide of my supervisor, I did some job in scientific research and finished 3 journal publicationsduringmy study period, one of them is included in Journal “Applied Surface Science” (SCI ZoneⅠ,IF=5.155). ZUST has numerous well-equipped laboratories and that made my research work a lot easier. I had great support from all corners and I am appreciative of that. I thank the School of Biological and Chemical Engineering for running an efficient office. I would also like to thank the ZUST international office for just looking out for us and helping whenever they can. Highlights of my time at ZUST include multiple excellent student awards, internet innovation awards and being a finalist for student of the year (pending). I hope to continue to be a positive role model to the junior students who look up to me.