"I have trained eight doctors in Germany and brought seven of them to Shandong province," said Zhang Youming, the director of the State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology of Shandong University (SDU).

Zhang is a German expert who specializes in microbial genome engineering technology development and application.

Zhang's connection to Shandong dated back to his school days, when he met some Shandong-born classmates who left a good impression on him. When he was a doctoral supervisor, most of his students were from Shandong province, and they impressed him with their dedication.

Zhang decided to move to China with his research team after living in Germany for over two decades.

Zhang was employed by SDU in April 2013 as a high-end talent. Since then, he has been devoted to his job as the director of the State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology and cultivating young researchers.

He has published more than 130 Science Citation Index essays and acquired more than 10 international invention patents.

Zhang was named an "honorary citizen of Shandong province", the highest honor bestowed upon a foreigner. Zhang tries to promote Shandong culture around the world in addition to his academic research.

Zhang Youming (second from the left) does experiment with students. [Photo provided to en.sdu.edu.cn]