2016 John Wu and Jane Sun Sunshine Scholarships and Blastoff Scholarships awarded

The award ceremony of 2016 John Wu and Jane Sun “Sunshine Scholarships” and “Blastoff Scholarships” was held at Yu Liming Student Center on December 4.

Dean Peisen Huang expressed deep gratitude to Investor John Wu and his wife Jane Sun, the donors of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) John Wu and Jane Sun Endowment Fund, for their generous support of the University of Michigan- SJTU Joint Institute (UM-SJTU JI).

On behalf of the Scholarship Committee, Scott Yang, JI Director of Academic Affairs, gave a brief introduction of the John Wu and Jane Sun Endowment Fund, JI’s most extensive scholarship program. The scholarship committee, composed of leaders and key officers of JI’s various offices, launched the review process last September. Based on the donors’ wishes and the principle of fairness, after stringent selection, the committee finally decided 10 winners of the John Wu and Jane Sun Sunshine Scholarship and 5 winners of the John Wu and Jane SunBlastoff Scholarship.

John Wu andJane Sun awarded the “Sunshine Scholarships”

John Wu and Jane Sun awarded the “Blastoff Scholarships”

Mr. John Wu, a founding partner of F&H Fund Management, shared his inspiration for setting up the SJTU John Wu and Jane Sun Endowment Fund. He said that he was deeply affected by his father’s transformation by education and he hoped that the scholarships could help more students benefit from equal educational resources and fulfill their dreams. He believes that science and technology have been a powerful driving force of the civilization. JI’s mission to cultivate talents in the field of engineering also fits his idea of “building China by manufacturing.”

Ms. Jane Sun, CEO of Ctrip, shared her personal experience as the motive to establish the “Sunshine Scholarship” and the “Blastoff Scholarship.” She hoped that the “Sunshine Scholarship” would benefit students like sunshine, just as she was helped by her American professors in the past. The “Blastoff Scholarship” is based on the concept of a “Good Society”, which aims to boost students’ career development and advance the innovation and vitality of the society.

After the award ceremony, Mr. Wu and Ms. Sun had warm chats with scholarship winning students, giving them pointers about life and career planning. Mr. Wu encouraged the students to take advantage of JI’s valuable engineering education, understand their own strengths, forge ahead and create their own life paths. Ms. Sun proposed to have this kind of exchange activities on a regular basis, so students can learn from each other.

The students presented a DIY gift to Mr. Wu and Ms. Sun

Mr. Wu and Ms. Sun and the scholarship winners

Introduction of the John Wu and Jane Sun Endowment Fund:
The SJTU John Wu and Jane Sun Endowment Fund was established in October 2015. Besides “Sunshine Scholarship” and “Blastoff Scholarship,” it also includes “Outstanding Student Scholarship” and “Excellent Student scholarship,” both of which reward JI freshmen who scored top on the National Entrance Examination, with amounts ranging from 20,000 to 50,000 yuan a year. The “Sunshine Scholarship” supports outstanding undergraduates with financial difficulty, with amounts ranging from 10,000 to 40,000 yuan a year. The “Blastoff Scholarship” rewards JI junior and senior students with outstanding comprehensive abilities and leadership potential, with amounts ranging from 20,000 to 40,000 a year. Both scholarships are open for application in the fall semester.