Inspired by a Great Teacher
In the late 80s and early 90s, Professor Charles C. S. Song was among professors at University of Minnesota who first offered research assistantships to graduate students from China. Cuiling (Sue) Gong received the opportunity to study with Professor Song in 1991. Back then China had just opened its doors to the outside world. Arriving in the U.S., Gong and other graduate students from China discovered they had much to learn, academically, technologically, and socially.
Professor Song, himself, had come to the U.S. as an international student, so he understood the challenges faced by his Chinese graduate students. Dr. Song helped them navigate the university and their studies, and supported them financially and emotionally during the transition. Many of Professor Song’s students still remember the positive experience working and studying at the Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL).
For example, Gong recalls when she when she first arrived in Minneapolis, she did not know that renting an apartment and opening a bank account required extra money for deposits. “At my first meeting with Professor Song, when I mentioned that I used all my money he was generous enough to write me a personal check. With his help, I was able to make it to the end of the month when I got paid.”
Another student, Fayi Zhou was impressed with Dr. Song’s humility and hard work. “He never bragged about his academic achievements. He had no ego, but was always respectful of students. And I had never seen such a hard-working professor before. He seemed to work seven days a week. I have been using these two characteristics of his in my career, and I passed them on to my child.”
Qizhong (George) Guo wrote to say, “Each endeavor I undertake in my faculty role evokes the invaluable opportunities afforded to me by Professor Song during my graduate studies at St. Anthony Falls Laboratory. To illustrate, my two imminent journal publications—the first concerning stormwater retention at solar farms and the second devoted to effective management strategies for the Mississippi River Basin have their origins in a pair of significant research projects that Professor Song entrusted me with, hydraulic surges in the stormwater-storing Chicago Deep Tunnel, and ice jam-induced flooding on the Upper Mississippi River.”
“I HAVE BEEN USING THESE TWO CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS IN MY CAREER,
AND I PASSED THEM ON TO MY CHILD.”
-Fayi Zhou
Many students fondly remember the frequent invitations to dinners and get-togethers at Dr. Song’s house. Xiangying Chen still remembers those steaks, “Professor Song would prepare grilled steaks for us by himself. Before the party, he would go to a special butcher’s shop and pick real good beef steak cuts for grilling. Once he brought me with him to look for the best beef steaks in town, and he also taught me how to select steaks with some marbling just like he was teaching in the classroom. I can still recall the great taste of the steaks, as well as his smile while seeing us enjoying the steaks. I am in my early 60s now. I have never had any steaks as good as that prepared by Professor Song.”
Professor Song’s kindness and support in those early years had made a lifechanging impact on his students’ future academic and professional development. When he passed away in 2020, Cuiling Gong, now a professor at Texas Christian University, reached out to her fellow graduate students who were in Professor Song’s research group around the same time. Together they set up the Charles C. S. Song Fellowship to honor the legacy of Professor Charles C. S. Song in August 2021.
The fellowship founders include Cuiling Gong (MSCE 1993, Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering MIT) along with Changsi Chen (Ph.D. 1995, Senior leader at Rocket Homes), Xiangying Chen (Ph.D. 1995, Engineer at Carrier Global Corporation), Qizhong Guo (Ph.D. 1991, Professor at Rutgers University), Jianming He (Ph.D. 1992, President of Chengdu Kesi Pipeline Technology, China), Wenchin Lin (Ph.D. 1995, Professor at Chung Hua University, Taiwan), and Fayi Zhou (1994-1996, visiting Senior Engineer, Manager at EPCOR, Canada).
Since its founding, two Fellowships have been awarded. The first recipient of the new Fellowship in 2022 was Jiaqi Li, Department of Mechanical Engineering, for his research titled “Novel techniques for flow measurement applications.” Jiaqi Li completed his Ph.D. in August 2023. This year’s Charles C.S. Song Fellowship recipient is Shih-Hsun Huang. His research is focused on the mass transport across the sediment-water interface in an aquatic environment.
If you would like to honor Professor Song’s memory by making a gift to the new fellowship, your support is welcome.
