Stanford PhD physicist applies for rural clerk job in central Chinese town

Su Zhen, with a doctorate from top US university, reportedly appears on civil servant candidate list in Anhui province, sparking speculation

Science

Dannie Peng

Published: 5:00pm, 9 Jun 2024

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A Stanford PhD graduate in physics is reportedly on a list of applicants hoping to work as a grass-roots public servant in rural China, prompting speculation over the career move – and debate on whether it is a waste of his academic talents.

A screenshot circulating on China’s social media shows a shortlist of this year’s township civil servants in the southwest province of Anhui, which includes a candidate named Su Zhen. He stands out for his impressive education: while other candidates attended little-known colleges and vocational schools in China, Su graduated from a leading American institution that ranks third in the Best Global Universities list.

In China, the civil service exam usually consists of a written test, interview and assessment – those listed on the screenshot still have to undergo their “political assessment” before the final decision is made and announced.

As the list has not yet been made public, the Post could not independently verify the original source of the screenshot. However the Post did confirm the authenticity of the case with two insiders, including one from Xiao county, a region of around 1 million people in northern Anhui province, where Su was born and graduated from a local high school.

One of Su’s high school classmates, who goes by the username Hyman, expressed his surprise on Monday on social media site Zhihu, a Quora-like online content platform.

He said when he heard the news from his high school alumni group, his first reaction was, “It’s impossible.”

He said he then turned to other classmates for confirmation, but was told that Su’s WeChat was no longer in use and others had lost contact with him a long time ago.

Hyman said they were good friends in high school, but they lost touch when Su went to Stanford for his PhD, while he stayed in China to continue his studies in mathematics at Xian Jiaotong University in the inland province of Shaanxi.

While he noted the year Su graduated coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic, and the job market was particularly harsh, he did not think it was so bad that an excellent graduate such as Su would not be able to get a good job.

“I think his intelligence and diligence make him a better academic researcher than me, and there is no doubt that he has a bright future ahead of him,” he said.

A Stanford PhD graduate with the same name, Su Zhen, is listed as having enrolled in the PhD programme in applied physics in 2016. Photo: Weibo

Stanford has a graduate with the same name. He enrolled in the PhD programme in applied physics, a graduate department in the school of humanities and sciences, in 2016, and his dissertation on serial X-ray crystallography was submitted in August 2022.

Stanford’s physics department is prestigious. For example, Steven Chu, a Nobel laureate who served as US secretary of energy under former US president Barack Obama, currently works there. According to the QS World University Rankings, Stanford is the fourth best university for studying physics this year.

Before Stanford, Su completed his undergraduate studies in physics at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 2016 – a programme ranked in the top three among the country’s universities and also the cradle of many leading physicists.

Su was one of the school’s top academic performers. According to Hyman, Su was the best student in his class – and the top student in USTC’s physics department.

During his studies at USTC, Su was awarded the Guo Moruo Scholarship, the university’s most prestigious scholarship. According to the university, of the 34 recipients in 2016, 26 went to the world’s most famous universities and research institutes. Su chose to head to Stanford.

Which is why his career choice now is seen by many as inexplicable.

Securing an academic position at a top university in China is becoming increasingly hard, even for young talent returning from overseas. But a USTC graduate, who did not want to be named, said despite the fierce competition for teaching jobs in the country in recent years, it should not be too difficult for Su to get into an average university.

The screenshot circulating on China’s social media shows a shortlist of this year’s township civil servants in the southwest province of Anhui, which includes a candidate named Su Zhen. Photo: Weibo

“If he doesn’t want to go into academia and hopes to become a civil servant, a city in China’s economically developed coastal area is also a better choice,” he said.

Others, however, believe Su may have made his decision for personal reasons and his choice should be respected.

In March, there was a similar case in the Yuhang District Education Bureau in the eastern province of Zhejiang when they welcomed a new civil servant who had graduated from Harvard University.

Staff at the bureau told local media that while there was no shortage of graduates from Tsinghua and Peking universities, this was the first time a Harvard graduate had joined their ranks.

Despite such similar cases, Yuan Lanfeng, a researcher at USTC, believes Su’s case is an anomaly that does not represent the general situation for graduates of prestigious universities.

“It’s not necessary to take such a grass-roots job, even if it’s very hard to find work,” Yuan said, adding that with his CV, the most obvious route for Su is academia, followed by companies, and there must be a personal reason for not going to any of these.

The Post has attempted to contact Su to ask him about his life experiences and career considerations, but has not yet received a reply.

The Post also contacted Mike Dunne, Su’s primary thesis adviser and a professor of photon science at Stanford, for comment, but he also did not respond.