School of Science
The predecessor of the School of Science (SOS) at Xi’an Technological University (XATU) was the Department of Teaching Research for Basic Courses established in 1965. With continuous development of the university and increase of discipline categories, some sections of teaching research for special specialties have gradually become independent departments of the university since 1985. In 1999, Department of Mathematics and Physics was founded on the basis of the teaching research section for Mathematics, teaching research section for Physics, and laboratory of Physics. And then, the Department of Mathematics and Physics was finally renamed as SOS in 2011. At present, international partners of SOS are the Masaryk University and Brno University of Technology in the Czech Republic.
SOS provides three majors for undergraduates, including Applied Mathematics, Information and Computing Science, and Applied Physics. In addition, SOS also has the first level discipline of Physics for master’s candidates. SOS has more than 400 undergraduates and 20 graduate students as master’s candidates. SOS consists of two departments, which are Department of Mathematics and Department of Physics. The Department of Mathematics has three teaching research sections. They are Section of College Mathematics, Section of Applied Mathematics (including General Laboratory of Mathematics), and Section of Information and Computing Science (including Laboratory of Information and Computing Science and Practical Training Base of Innovative Thinking in Science for Undergraduates). The Department of Physics consists of two Teaching Research Sections of College Physics and Applied Physics, an Experimental Center of Physics (including Laboratory of College Physics, Laboratory of Applied Physics, and Open Laboratory for Physics), and two Institutes of Optics and Condensed Matter Physics. The Laboratory of College Physics has approved to be “Shaanxi Provincial Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center”. From a department only for teaching of basic courses in the past, SOS has developed to be a more comprehensive school. In this teaching-oriented school, scientific research strengths of disciplines are enhanced gradually. The disciplines of Mathematics and Physics have become essential supports for all-round development of the university. In particular, through long-term scientific research accumulations, optics forms a scientific research system on information optics and photoelectric detection, laser theory and technology, optoelectronic materials, optical element and detection technology, and related research directions. The optical research system has mature research team and cooperation framework. Recently, optical properties and measurements of wake flow and solid-state laser engineering have become superiorities and features.
SOS has a group of 93 faculty members, including 7 professors and 24 associate professors. Among these 93 faculty members, 37 members have doctorates. There are 2 provincial teaching teams, 3 provincial excellent courses, and 2 provincial famous teachers in SOS. As a recruitment program of experts, Prof. Sergey Antonyan (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), Prof. Yong-Tang Shi, Prof. Wen-Peng Zhang, and Prof. Xiang-Chu Feng have been appointed as Visiting Professors, and they will obviously promote the development of teaching and research of SOS.
Since 1999, SOS has trained nearly 2000 talents in Information and Computing Science, Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, and Applied Physics for the country. Many of them have become leaders and/or technological backbone in their enterprises. In recent years, a lot of undergraduates in SOS have participated in more than 20 National College Students' Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training programs, and also have attended more than 800 competitions of scientific and technological skills. As a result, they have won more than 10 national and 50 provincial prizes. The one-time employment rate of graduates is more than 90% throughout, and the admission rate for postgraduate enrollment is always about 20%.
