Chapter 292 - 224: Vindication of the ’Sinkhole’ Majors

Chapter 292: Chapter 224: Vindication of the ’Sinkhole’ Majors

"It’s mutually beneficial, so why not?"

Chen Lin’s heart warmed when he heard this.

"Then thank you, Professor Gong," Chen Lin said earnestly. "Regarding the paper, if you need to add anything else for the mathematical sections, feel free to contact me anytime."

"That would be wonderful!" Tang Xuebing immediately chimed in. "Professor Chen, that’s music to my ears!"

"I’ve already assigned two PhD students on the project team, who need to get published, to be in charge of writing this paper."

"They’re certainly not going to understand the mathematical parts, so we’ll have to trouble you for that!"

"No problem." Chen Lin nodded.

Tang Xuebing’s smile grew even wider when he heard Chen Lin agree.

He took a deep breath, his tone becoming extremely solemn.

"Professor Chen, this time, really... I don’t even know how to thank you!"

"Without your mathematical model, we might have spent years without finding this additive!"

"Based on the current progress, we can submit the industrialization verification report for the solid-state battery technology to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology by June of next year at the latest!"

At this point, Tang Xuebing lowered his voice, taking on a mysterious tone.

"Also, I was notified yesterday..."

"Because of our project’s breakthrough progress, the government is preparing to add another 500 million in special funding support!"

"Five hundred million!"

Tang Xuebing held up one hand, his five fingers spread wide.

"That’s cold, hard cash!"

"And," his tone grew even more excited, "the chairmen of three leading new-energy vehicle companies have personally called our executive vice-chancellor, wanting to get involved in technical cooperation early!"

"One of them is the top new-energy vehicle company in the country!"

"The terms they’re offering are incredibly tempting—as long as we can complete the technology transfer in the second half of next year, they’re willing to invest one billion to establish a joint laboratory!"

"One billion!"

As he said this, Tang Xuebing was in a state of extreme euphoria.

"Professor Chen, do you know what this means?"

"It means that our solid-state battery project is no longer just a purely academic study!"

"It now has real value for industrialization!"

"It’s going to directly drive a revolutionary change in the entire new-energy vehicle industry!"

Tang Xuebing’s voice grew more and more agitated, until he was practically shouting.

"And all of this is because of your mathematical model!"

In the conference room, everyone was looking at their screens, looking at Chen Lin.

Their eyes were filled with admiration and gratitude.

Chen Lin sat in front of his computer, facing these eager gazes, feeling quite emotional himself.

’To be honest, back when I was helping Professor Tang derive that mathematical model, I was simply trying to solve a math problem. I never expected this model would cause such a massive chain reaction. It didn’t just solve a technical bottleneck; it also attracted national funding and even had industry giants scrambling to collaborate.’

’This feeling...’

’It’s like the butterfly effect.’

’It’s as if I just gently flapped my wings, yet it kicked up a storm somewhere far away.’

"You’re too kind, Professor Tang," Chen Lin said with a smile. "This is the result of the whole team’s efforts. I just provided a mathematical tool."

"Professor Chen, you’re being too modest!" Tang Xuebing waved his hands dismissively. "Without your tool, we wouldn’t have even known which direction to go!"

After a moment, Tang Xuebing added:

"Oh, right, Professor Chen, according to our prior agreement, the fee for this consulting service is five million."

"I have already submitted the application to the university’s finance department. The money will be in your company’s account by next week at the latest!"

"Okay, thank you, Professor Tang." Chen Lin nodded.

Just then, Professor Gongtan, who had been quiet the whole time, suddenly spoke up.

"Chen Lin, I have a question for you."

Gongtan’s tone was serious.

"How universal is this mathematical model of yours?"

"Can it be extended to other material systems?"

Chen Lin was taken aback for a moment.

’That question...’

’I’ve never really thought about it carefully.’

’Back when I was deriving this model, I designed it specifically for the problem of solid-state battery electrolyte additives.’

’As for extending it to other fields...’

’To be honest, I’m not really sure myself.’

Chen Lin pondered for a moment and answered truthfully:

"Professor Gong, I’m really not sure about that."

"For interdisciplinary applications, you’d probably need an expert in the relevant field to evaluate it."

"But looking at the model itself, different constraints would definitely require recalibrating the parameters."

"Whether it can be generalized depends on how similar the mathematical structure of the new problem is to the current one."

Gongtan nodded thoughtfully after listening.

"Hmm, I understand."

He paused, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.

"However, I have a feeling..."

Gongtan looked at Chen Lin and said slowly:

"This methodology of yours, ’using mathematical models to guide material screening,’ will very likely start a revolution in a much broader range of fields."

"At least in theory, it’s completely feasible."

"It’s just that it requires an incredible amount of mathematical skill to actually implement this methodology."

At this point, Gongtan smiled.

"And that, I’m afraid, is something only you can do."

Chen Lin’s heart stirred slightly upon hearing this.

’Professor Gong’s words sound like a compliment, but they also reveal something else—this methodology will probably attract research teams from many other fields to seek me out for collaboration.’

At that thought, Chen Lin felt a headache coming on.

’While helping a national project achieve a breakthrough is certainly fulfilling... if I get swamped with requests from all sorts of research teams every day, will I have any time left for my own work?’

’But that’s a problem for another day.’

’Right now, the most important thing is to focus on the task at hand.’

After a few more words, the video conference ended.

Chen Lin closed the video window, leaned back in his chair, and let out a long sigh of relief.

’Next, it’s time to put all my energy into the AI project.’

With that thought, Chen Lin sat up straight again and turned his attention back to the computer screen.

On the screen, dense lines of code were waiting for him to continue writing.

"Time to get back to work."

Chen Lin muttered, his fingers returning to the keyboard.

CLACK CLACK CLACK CLACK—

The sound of a keyboard being tapped once again rang out in the office.

Just then, Bai Qian, who was sitting next to him, suddenly turned his head.

"President Chen, was that video conference just now for the solid-state battery project? I think I saw on the news that you solved a math problem for the project team."

Bai Qian’s eyes twinkled with the light of gossip.

"I overheard a little bit. Sounds like it’s going really well?"

Chen Lin smiled and didn’t say much.

"Yeah, it’s alright."

"’Alright?’" Bai Qian’s eyes widened. "President Chen, that’s such a humblebrag!"

"I just heard things like ’the government is adding 500 million’ and ’new-energy vehicle companies are investing 1 billion’!"

"And you call that ’alright’?"

Bai Qian had a look of utter disbelief on his face.

Chen Lin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

"Okay, okay, enough with the nosy questions."

"We still have a ton of code to write."