China Expands Research Funding, Luring U.S. Scientists And Students

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November 27th, 2018

Tianjin, in northern China, is home to Tianjin University, an international research center that recently hired an American to lead its school of pharmaceutical science and technology. He recruits students from all over the world, he says, and the program’s classes are taught in English.

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In 2003, Jay Siegel was up for a new challenge. Siegel was a tenured professor of chemistry at the University of California, San Diego, but he took a job at the University of Zurich.

“When I first moved, people said, ‘Oh, you’re crazy to leave San Diego; it’s a paradise. Why would you go to Europe? Blah, blah blah,’ “recalls Siegel. “And after 10 years people were saying, ‘Oh, man, that was the smartest thing you ever did. Zurich is wonderful.’ ”

Then he told his friends he was moving to China. “And again, people said ‘What? Are you crazy?’ ” Siegel says. But he thinks they’ll soon realize he again made the smart choice.

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