On June 24, 2024, the 2023 National Science and Technology Award Conference was held in the Great Hall of the People, and a total of eight units of Shanghai Jiao Tong University were commended by the Party Central Committee and The State Council. Among which, Professor John Edward Hopcroft was awarded with the International Science and Technology Cooperation Award of the People's Republic of China.
"Talent is evenly distributed around the world, and China has a lot of talent, and they need better educational opportunities. I hope to help more young people realize their dreams." Since his visit to Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2011, world-renowned theoretical computer scientist John Hopcroft has forged a strong bond with China's higher education.
A world-renowned computer science researcher and educator who leads the development of the discipline
In 1964, after receiving a doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford University, Hopcroft went to Princeton University to teach in the computer science department. In 1967, he accepted a teaching position at Cornell University and participated in the establishment of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, serving as chairman of the department and dean of the School of Engineering. Today, he has been serving as a visiting professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and a Foreign Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences for years.
Hopcroft is one of the world's most influential computer scientists with a long career in theoretical computer science. In 1986, he received the Turing Award, the highest honor for computer science research, for his foundational achievements in the design and analysis of algorithms and data structures. His research has provided a solid theoretical foundation for computer science and has had a profound and lasting impact on modern algorithm design, programming language processors, and computing theory.
He was also an outstanding educator. He systematically summarized the scattered results of the embryonic stage of computer science into a holistic knowledge system, and his works such as Algorithm Design and Analysis and Formal Language and Its Relationship with Automata became early classic textbooks and promoted the development of computer science. He has trained many outstanding minds in computer science, including several Turing Award winners and members of the National Academy of Sciences. These top scientists have played an important leading role in the development of global computer science.
In-depth international cooperation to promote basic theoretical innovation in the field of computer science in China
In 2011, at the invitation of Academician Zhang Jie, then President of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Hopcroft began to serve as the chief professor of Computer science and the special adviser to the President, and actively engaged in international scientific research cooperation and the training of top talents in computer science. Since then, the in-depth cooperation in computer science research and education with China, especially Shanghai Jiao Tong University, has been initiated. He was the first to propose the establishment of a special academic zone in China to focus on basic problems in the computer field and cultivate outstanding talents in the computer field. Under his impetus, in January 2017, Shanghai Jiao Tong University established the John Hopcroft Computer Science Center, which aims to introduce first-class talents, focus on theoretical scientific research and innovative talent training.
In recent years, Hopcroft and Chinese scholars have made fruitful achievements in the research of social network theory. Together, they defined a series of basic concepts such as "hidden community" and "community core," which became an important tool for analyzing large-scale complex social networks. In collaboration with Chinese scholars, he has established a metric for network robustness, revealed the limiting properties of complex networks, and defined the criteria for network commonality. In the analysis of neural networks, he collaborated with Chinese scholars to propose a measure of similarity representation in the middle layer of neural networks. At the same time, he joined a number of important international science and technology cooperation projects as an academic master, including the "Innovation and Intelligence Base of the Ministry of Education and the National Natural Science Foundation International (regional) cooperation and exchange Project." He has repeatedly recommended Chinese scholars to participate in a number of important honorary awards of international academic organizations, and constantly enhance the international influence of China's science and technology research.
Hopcroft continues to promote the reform of computer science teaching and discipline construction in China, he personally participates in teacher recruitment, curriculum design and student guidance, and cultivates a large number of emerging talents in China's computer science community. Since its establishment, the John Hopcroft Computer Science Center at Shanghai Jiao Tong University has brought in 36 young scholars from top universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore and other countries. Up to now, eight teachers of this group of young scholars have been approved by the National Young Talent Program, and have published more than 300 academic papers recommended by the China Computer Society, including the best paper award at several top academic conferences. In the global CS Rankings for computer science majors, the center has helped Shanghai Jiao Tong University rank first in Asia in theoretical computer science disciplines (2020-2024). Following the establishment of the center, Hopcroft helped Peking University and Huazhong University of Science and Technology establish similar theoretical computer science research bases.
Cultivate the teaching front line and actively promote the cultivation of top innovative talents in our country
Since December 2011, Hopcroft has personally participated in the formulation of the top-notch talent training program of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and personally wrote course handouts. He offers computer courses to top-notch students of Zhiyuan College of Shanghai Jiao Tong University every year. He has continuously taught 20 courses with 684 class hours and cultivated nearly 600 top-notch innovative talents.
At the same time, he promoted the educational cooperation between Shanghai Jiao Tong University and top universities in the United States, inviting more than 20 world-renowned scholars to offer 42 cutting-edge courses for undergraduates. Among them, a number of Turing Award winners and Wolf Award winners gave academic reports to undergraduates and shared their life insights. Under his promotion, the college selected nearly 200 undergraduates to take courses and practice in Cornell University for 1-6 months, and the cooperation radiation to mathematics and chemistry. In 2016, based on his major work achievements at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, he was awarded the Chinese Government Friendship Award, the highest honor for foreign experts working in China.
Drawing on his experience at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Hopcroft has been actively involved in reforming the teaching of computer science across the country. In December 2021, through his advocacy, especially under the leadership and promotion of the Ministry of Education, the "Pilot Work Plan for Undergraduate education and Teaching Reform in the field of Computer" (Program 101) was officially launched. Hopcroft actively promotes the cooperation of 33 universities including Peking University, Tsinghua University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and with the participation of more than 400 teachers in 12 core curriculum groups, The phased outcome of the "101 Plan", "Research Report on the Cultivation Strategy of Computer Professionals in Universities and Core Curriculum System" (" 101 Plan "White paper), was officially published by Higher Education Press in April 2023. At present, the program has become an important project to concentrate the national superior forces to promote teaching reform, and has been applied and promoted in basic disciplines such as mathematics, physics, and life sciences, and its leading effect has become increasingly prominent.
"At the beginning of my freshman year, I attended Professor Hopcroft's seminar, he liked to talk with us face to face, and encouraged us to focus on the research field that made us excited and curious, and then make real valuable work. This gave me great encouragement and courage when I was confused at the beginning of my freshman year, and made me decide to follow Professor Hopcroft's example. Pursue the field of study you love. Professor Hopcroft often patiently teaches us how to plan our academic careers, so that we not only learn how to apply existing technologies and theories, but also have the courage to explore the principles behind them and the wider possibilities, and have the courage and confidence to explore the 'unexplored' areas of scientific research!" Zhang Tianyu, Class 2021 John Hopcroft Class, Zhiyuan College, Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
In the past five years, Hopcroft has worked and lived at Shanghai Jiao Tong University for more than half a year each year, and has continued to deepen undergraduate teaching, international cooperation, talent introduction and other fields.
"China is like my home, and I hope that when I am 100 years old, I can still be here at SJTU and help more young people to realize their dreams." This is a Turing Award winner's deep love for SJTU, but also his dream towards Chinese education.