On August 23, our professors, counselors, and volunteers welcomed the 2017 undergraduate freshmen at the tennis court located to the west of the Comprehensive Sports Center. Prof. Zuojun Shen, the Honorary Department Head, Prof. Zhizhong Li, the Department Council Chair, Prof. Kaibo Wang, the Vice Head of Education and Assoc. Prof. Liang Ma, Vice Chair of the Department Council, sent greetings to students and staffs. This year is the first time that our department recruits students in union with Department of Automation and Department of Information Management and Information Systems. A total of 60 new students are hosted by our department. They are from 25 provinces across the country and have an average age of 18 years, including seven ethnic groups such as Han, Mongolian, Tibetan, Hui, and Miao. The ratio of male to female is about 2.5:1.

 
Register of freshmen hosted by The Department of Industrial Engineering
 
Prof. Zuojun Shen and other professors visited the welcome site
 
Prof. Kaibo Wang took photos with the freshman and volunteers

At 3:00 pm on August 24, we held the 2017 Undergraduate Welcome Ceremony with participation of Prof. Zuojun Shen, Prof. Zhizhong Li, Prof. Kaibo Wang, Assoc. Prof. Liang Ma, Assoc. Prof. Gao Qin, director of the 2017 grade, and other professors and counselors.

The Welcome Ceremony

Prof. Zuojun Shen welcomed the arrival of freshmen on behalf of the faculty and students. He then gave a brief introduction to the discipline of industrial engineering, from the Ford Model T to the semiconductor industry, from China Manufacturing 2025 to the Belt and Road. As one of the seven major engineering disciplines in the world, industrial engineering has made great contribution to the economic and social development of the developed countries, and now China's economic and social development also urgently needs the wisdom of industrial engineering talents. In addition, Prof. Shen introduced the development of our department and the employment of our graduates. In the past ten years or so, we have trained outstanding talents. Quite a big percentage of our graduates continue their studies at world-class universities, and 20 of them have grown to be professors at distinguished overseas universities; Another similar percentage of our graduate studied for Master or Ph.D. degree at home country and now are working at domestic or oversea universities, influencing enterprises and institutions, and are playing important roles in various sectors. Prof. Shen wished all the 2017 freshmen to embrace independence, receive growth, and strive for self-improvement during the four coming years in the university.

Prof. Zuojun Shen introducing the discipline of industrial engineering

Prof. Zhizhong Li then comprehensively gave the freshmen the "first class" in industrial engineering. He firstly reviewed the history of our department. The Department of Industrial Engineering was born in 2001. Since the beginning of its establishment, it has followed the strategy of high starting point, high standard and openness. In the past sixteen years, the Department of Industrial Engineering's young, open, and innovative genes have made it a unique and vital department in Tsinghua University. As to the feature of research and applications, Prof. Li explained in details that through systematic thinking, quantitative analysis, and behavioral understanding involving the methods of mathematics, engineering technology, and social sciences, industrial engineering is dedicated to solving the problems related to efficiency, quality, cost, and safety of various complex systems.It has a wide range of applications in logistics, smart manufacturing, big data, intelligent transportation, medical services, intelligent networks, and so on.

Prof. Zhizhong Li introducing the history of the department
After that, Assoc. Prof. Qin Gao, director of the 2017 grade, gave a talk to the freshmen. She started with the question “What to pursue for Tsinghua students?”. Then she told the students that the most important thing the university will train the students is the ability of deep thinking, which may involve the abilities to analyze the system, think critically, think independently, and so on. These abilities not only have the significant influence as professional tools, but more importantly, they allow us to deeply understand the observed the world and in turn give the world a broader and more profound meaning. In the end, she expressed her hope that the students should dare to take challenges in the future.

Assoc. Prof. Qin Gao delivering a talk

Mr. Peihao Zhu, the chairman of the Student Union, represented the old students of the department to communicate with the new students. As a senior, he said, if we want to have our own extraordinary value, we firstly should have a goal of our own while creating a sense of purpose for others in addition to meticulously completing our work and fully planning our time and energy.
Finally, Ms. Zhang Wenxin, on behalf of the freshmen of class 71, and Mr. Liu Jingyuan, a freshman of class 72, expressed their great longing for a wonderful life in the university.

Mr. Peihao Zhu giving a talk
 
Ms. Wenxin Zhang giving a speech as a freshman representative
 
Mr. Jingyuan Liu giving a speech as a freshman representative