Qiang (Alan) Ye
Ye Qiang, or Alan as he is known in English, grew up in Nanjing, China. He attended Nanjing University, where he received his B.S in physics. Alan is pragmatic; he says he values physics for its "usefulness in understanding the world and the universe." At Duke he has turned his problem-solving skills towards experimental nuclear physics, working with Haiyan Gao. He is involved in a collaboration measuring the electric dipole moment of the neutron. This measurement is so sensitive that simply lowering the upper bound on the moment would be considered a great success.
Alan appreciates the moderate size of the department, and believes it contributes to a friendly environment. Durham's weather, he notes, "is very much like Nanjing, and I got used to it pretty fast." When he is not in the lab, Alan competes in ping-pong tournaments across the country, works out at the gym, and makes custom modificationsi to his car.
Alan may have a practical approach to research, but he is a dreamer at heart: "I may need to get this experiment done first, but then I'll try to go to Mars, or at least the moon."