Hui (Catherine) Wang - 2016-17 SPIE Women in Optics Planner
Deputy Director of Department of International Cooperation, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics (CIOMP), Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Country of Birth: China Address: Department of International Cooperation Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, CAS 3888 Dong Nan Hu Road Changchun 130033 China |
I had a lot of free time at university, which was in sharp contrast to my husband. I decided to work in the CIOMP journals office to get to know the life of scientists and engineers. The more I know about optics and researchers, the more I love my work!
I am currently in charge of the international cooperation and exchange at CIOMP. I visit laboratories and scientists overseas, introduce our institute, and find out about their research. Planning and organizing international conferences and activities is also an important part of my role.
The biggest challenge in my career is that my background is not scientific—so I work very hard to increase my knowledge and understanding of optics by reading books and journals, by talking to my colleagues about their research, and by attending academic conferences.
I am very lucky that I met an important person in my life when I started my career in CIOMP in 2008; Director of the Journals Office, Yuhong Bai. At that time CIOMP published 5 Chinese journals and planned to publish a new one, only in English. At the beginning we met with huge difficulties and pressure from all sides. The journal recently reached a new milestone with a 2014 Impact Factor of 14.603, placing it second in the globally competitive Optics category. I still remember Yuhong’s advice to me when I started – stick to your dreams and conquer any difficulty.
My advice to young girls and women is to keep four words in your mind at all times: ambition, confidence, diligence, and perseverance. I also advise them not to be afraid of difficulties and mistakes–facing these can make you stronger.