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December 9, 2024: Shanshan Dong (a senior undergraduate student at Jilin University who has been admitted to a graduate program at USTC) arrived in Hefei to begin a one-month experimental attempt for her graduation project. Welcome, Shanshan!

November 30, 2024: On a rare sunny day in winter, the students of the "Volcanology" course went on a group trip to Dashu Mountain in the western suburbs of Hefei—a mountain that no longer shows any signs of its volcanic past. They enjoyed a picnic and hiking together, filled with laughter and joy. See the following group photos—there was plenty of food and drink, including red wine and champagne.

November 14, 2024: The National Key R&D Program Young Scientist Project titled "Evolution of Mars Habitability and Search for Traces of Life" was approved and funded! This project proposal targets guideline 1.6 under the "Earth System and Global Change" category, focusing on "Comparative Studies of Earth-Mars Habitability Evolution." The project is led by Lu Pan from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), with core researchers including Jiacheng Liu from the University of Hong Kong, Ziyao Fang from USTC, and Zhengbin Deng from USTC.

November 7-13, 2024: Professor Sebastien Charnoz from Université Paris Cité/Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris visited USTC. He engaged in various personal and academic exchanges with multiple professors from USTC and students from the research group. On November 11, he delivered a lecture titled "The Origin of the Moon" as part of the Tiandu Forum (Deep Space Exploration Academic Salon) at the 1958 Café on the East Campus of USTC (see highlights in the pictures below).

November 9-10, 2024, Zhengbin Deng represented the School of Earth and Space Sciences at USTC in the 2024 USTC Faculty Air Volleyball Mixed Tournament. A total of 18 teams participated in the tournament. The team from the School of Earth and Space Sciences lost to the USTC High School team (the eventual champions) in the group stage, advancing to the next round as group runners-up. In the quarterfinals, they narrowly lost to the School of Physics team (the eventual runners-up). However, they went on to win two consecutive matches in the placement rounds, finishing in fifth place.

November 3, 2024: Xiaoyan Zhang (Master student, 2024/09-) from our research group participated in the second Freshman Singing Competition at the University of Science and Technology of China and won first place! Congratulations, Xiaoyan!

October 29, 2024: Our new Sapphire CC-MC-ICP-MS was officially unboxed and moved into the newly renovated instrument room, awaiting the next steps of installation and calibration.

October 24-25, 2024: Professor Marc F. Benedetti from the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP) and Professor Zongling Ren from South China Agricultural University visited the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). On the 24th, Professor Benedetti, representing IPGP, signed an agreement of cooperation with the School of Earth and Space Sciences at USTC (photo on the left). On the 25th, he delivered an academic lecture titled “Nanophases Transfer within Biofilms and Rivers” at the Chemical Planet Forum (photo on the right). During the visit, he has also chatted with quite several USTC faculty members and graduate students.

October 17-20, 2024: Professor Frédéric Moynier from the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP) visited the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). During his visit, he had exchanges on both academic and life topics with several faculty members and students (from the research groups of Chao He, Lu Pan, and Zhengbin Deng). In the spare time, he also visited Hong Village and Yellow Mountain (though there were too many people there-_-).

October 16, 2024: The construction of the instrument lab for the Isotope Laboratory of Terrestrial Planet Formation and Evolution was completed and passed inspection. In the future, it will house the installation of the Sapphire CC-MC-ICP-MS.

October 7-9, 2024: Zhengbin Deng participated in the 2024 National Planetary Science Conference held in Nanjing. The conference was organized by the Planetary Physics Professional Committee of the Chinese Geophysical Society and co-hosted by Nanjing University and the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The event attracted over 1,500 experts, scholars, and institutional representatives from across China, and the discussions covered fields such as Earth science, astronomy, space science, life sciences, and engineering exploration technology.

September 29, 2024: Shanshan Dong (Jilin University) was admitted to the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) through a recommendation-based admission process. She will begin her Master's program in the fall of 2025 and plans to conduct her undergraduate thesis in advance at USTC. Welcome, Shanshan!

September 21-24, 2024: Zhengbin Deng represented the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in the Men's Youth Group of the 5th Anhui Province Faculties' Sports Games in the air volleyball competition, which was organized by Chaohu University. The USTC Men's Youth team advanced as the fourth seed in their group but was stopped in the quarterfinals, finishing in 7th place. The USTC Men's Middle-aged Group and Women's Middle-aged Group teams won 2nd and 3rd places in their categories. Congratulations to them!

September 19, 2024: Zhengbin Deng received the 2024 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Hisashi Kuno Award, in recognition of his contributions to solid Earth sciences, including research on continental growth, mantle convection, planetary accretion, and related geological evolution. The Hisashi Kuno Award is presented annually to one or two scientists who have made outstanding contributions in volcanology, geochemistry, and petrology. Successful nominees must have received their Ph.D. or highest degree no more than seven years prior to the beginning of the award year. The awardee will receive a certificate and will be honored at the AGU's annual meeting in the award year.

September 3, 2024: Yipo Jike (Master’s student, 2024), Liang Zhang (PhD student, 2024), Yue Wang (Master’s student, 2024), and Xiaoyan Zhang (Master’s student, 2024) have completed their registration. Welcome to Yipo, Liang, Yue, and Xiaoyan for joining USTC and our research group!

August 21-September 1, 2024: Zhengbin Deng, along with Wei Leng, Shaobing Zhang, and Junhong Qian, participated in the Sino-French joint geological field expedition in the Alps. The group from USTC consisted of 15 undergraduate students from the Zhao Jiuzhang Talent Class of 2022, along with five French professors (Christian Sue, Frédéric Moynier, Arnaud Agranier, Sebastien Charnoz, and Dimitri Rigoussen). After the field expedition, the group visited the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP). In their spare time, they also explored Paris, and some of them attended the women’s wheelchair basketball match (China vs. Spain) at the Paris Paralympics on their last night in France. Revisiting the same field expedition route after 12 years brought back many memories. I hope it was helpful to all the students involved. Special thanks to the five French professors for their support and to USTC for providing this opportunity. For a glimpse of the highlights, please see the video (edited by Zhengbin) and the news on the USTC News website.

August 6-8, 2024: Zhengbin Deng participated in the Fifth "Non-Traditional Stable Isotope Geochemistry" Summer School (held from August 2 to 8, lasting for 7 days). He gave a 1.5-hour lecture titled "Applications of Non-Traditional Stable Isotopes in Planetary Science". After introducing about the evolution from nebula to planets, he explained with the formation and evolution of protoplanetary disks, asteroids, and terrestrial planets to illustrate the application of non-traditional stable isotopes in the study of related scientific questions. The section on terrestrial planets contains four parts: "Physical paradigm of terrestrial planet formation", "Formation of the Earth-Moon system", "Light elements in the Earth's core", and "Evolution of Earth's mantle convection regime". The organizers will later compile and release a full video of the lecture. This summer school was organized by Chengdu University of Technology and admitted 350 students, primarily graduate students from universities across the country. Special thanks to Prof. Zhaofeng Zhang for the invitation, as well as to the faculties and students from Chengdu University of Technology for their organization!

July 5, 2024: A historical moment! The next generation of multicollector mass spectrometry (Sapphire Collision Cell-MC-ICP-MS, co-purchased by Zhengbin Deng and Haolan Tang) has been delivered, which is expected to be installed in late September.

From left to right: Chao He, Haolan Tang, Zhengbin Deng, Wenxia Huang, Yuanyuan Tian, Chao Wu. Appreciate Prof. Chao He for coming at this historical moment!

July 1, 2024: Dr. Chao Wu officially join the University of Science and Technology of China as a Research Associate. Welcome Dr. Wu!

June 23, 2024: Congratulations to Dr. Chao Wu for passing the recruitment defense of the School of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Science and Technology of China. Fom this July, he will join the research group as a Research Associate! Chao graduated from East China Normal University and later worked as a postdoctoral fellow in Professor Gangjian Wei's team at the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He specializes in sediment source analysis, studying paleogeographic changes, and depicting the evolution history of large rivers. Welcome, Dr. Wu!

June 13, 2024: Congratulations to Liang Zhang on passing the PhD application assessment and being admitted!

June 7-9, 2024: Group members Yuanyuan Tian, Wenxia Huang, Zhiyi Chen, and Zhengbin Deng attended the 13th National Symposium on Isotope Geochronology and Isotope Geochemistry (Xi'an). They participated in discussions on the application of isotopes in planetary sciences. Zhiyi provided an oral presentation on "Elemental and Isotopic Behavior of Antimony During Melt Volatilization Processes". Yuanyuan presented a poster on "Chondrule-Matrix Complementarity and Its Origin in Carbonaceous Chondrites". Zhengbin gave an invited oral presentation titled "Constraining Initial Oxygen Fugacity Conditions of Planetary Mantles Using Titanium Isotopes".

June 7, 2024: Zhengbin Deng received Hou Defeng Young Scientist Award in Mineralogy, Petrology, and Geochemistry.

June 4-5, 2024: Zhiyi Chen and Yipo Jike successfully completed their undergraduate thesis defenses. Congratulations to both of them!

May 25-26, 2024: Zhengbin Deng participated in the 5th Faculty Air Volleyball Competition at the University of Science and Technology of China. This year's competition featured 18 men's and 18 women's teams. The men's team from the School of Earth and Space Sciences advanced as the second place team in their group but unfortunately lost to the School of Biomedical Engineering in the quarter-finals. After the placement matches, they ultimately ranked 5th.

May 18, 2024: Group members Yuanyuan Tian and Wenxia Huang volunteered for the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) Science Day, responsible for the meteorite stand (see the following photos). After this day, the world may have gained a thousand more children who have learned about and touched meteorites! The theme of USTC's 2024 Science Day is "Promoting the Spirit of Scientists, Stimulating Innovation Across Society." This event featured 28 science schemes, including 124 stands/sites and 13 series of outreach talks, which has attracted approximately 30,000 visitors, mainly consisting of primary and middle school students. For highlights of the event, please see the news from USTC's official WeChat account.

April 30, 2024: Zhiyi Chen received a full scholarship for a Ph.D. program at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). She will start her doctoral studies and research in Pasadena this fall. Congratulations to Zhiyi! Keep on moving!

April 30, 2024: Zhiyi Chen received an A-level financial support in the final evaluation of the summer research program for undergraduate students at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). Congratulations to Zhiyi!

April 19-21, 2024: Zhengbin Deng attended the "Frontier Forum on Coupled Processes in Deep Earth and Surface Systems" in Jingzhou, Hubei Province, a historic city in China. During the forum, Zhengbin, along with Professor Wenzhong Wang from the University of Science and Technology of China and Professor Zhuosen Yao from China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), received the "Gao Shan Young Scientist Award" presented by Academician Fuyuan Wu (see the following group photo). The conference featured a series of excellent presentations, discussions, and outcomes. Great thanks to Yangtze University and the organizing units for their efforts. For highlights and snapshots of the forum, please refer to the report on the Yangtze University News website.

April 17, 2024: Congratulations to Yue Wang for passing the graduate entrance examination and being provisionally admitted by the college. Welcome Yue to join the research group!

April 1, 2024: No April Fool's joke. The cherry blossoms at USTC are blooming! After the group meeting, members of the research group went to Jiangnanchun resteraunt for lunch together and took a group photo on the cherry blossom avenue on campus. Note: Yipo Jike, who is now in Chengdu, strongly expresses the willing to make another group photo next year.

From left to right: Zhengbin Deng, Zhiyi Chen, Wenxia Huang, Yuanyuan Tian

February 19, 2024: Zhengbin Deng was awarded the 6th "Gao Shan Young Scientist Award" (for the year 2023), with Professor Chunfei Chen from China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) being another awardee. For detailed information, please refer to the WeChat account "Mantle Exchange Dynamics," and the announcement was also reposted by the WeChat account "Chemical Planet."

January 6-7, 2024: Zhengbin Deng attended the "Solid Earth Science Key Laboratory Alliance 2023 Academic Committee Meeting" in Beijing. The hosting unit for this meeting was the "National Key Laboratory of Shale Gas Enrichment Mechanism and Efficient Development."

January 3, 2024: Yipo Jike (who has been admitted to graduate school and will start his master study in the fall of 2024) arrived in Hefei to begin research work related to his undergraduate thesis. Welcome, Yipo!

December 21-22, 2023: Zhengbin Deng participated in the "2023 Annual Graduate Supervisor Training and Exchange Seminar" at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). This training covered various aspects including mentor career planning, psychological health education, academic integrity, laboratory safety, recruitment and cultivation, and degree management. On the 22nd, new doctoral supervisors engaged in group discussions and exchanges. Highlights of the event can be found on the USTC news website.

December 13, 2023: The procurement process for the latest generation of Sapphire Collision-Cell Multi-Collector Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (Sapphire CC MC-ICP-MS, for a lab jointly built and shared with Haolan Tang) has been completed. Let's await the arrival of the new instrument!

November 18-19, 2023: Zhengbin Deng represented the School of Earth and Space Sciences in the 4th Annual Faculty Air Volleyball Tournament at USTC. The tournament lasted two days, with the school team winning all three matches in the group stage on the first day. In the knockout stage the following day, they defeated the team from USTC Affiliated High School with a score of 2-1. Unfortunately, they lost in the semifinals and the third/fourth-place playoff to the teams from the affiliated hospital and the School of Physics, respectively, ultimately finishing fourth. There were 15 men's teams and 14 women's teams participating in the tournament, making the games lively and exciting. Air volleyball matches not only promote physical fitness but also enrich the extracurricular lives of faculty members. Many thanks to the university's labor union and the Faculty Volleyball Association for their hard work in organizing the event. Highlights of the event can be found on the USTC news website.

November 11, 2023: Zhengbin Deng represented the School of Earth and Space Sciences in the 2nd Annual Faculty Badminton Mixed Team Tournament at USTC. Competing in the mixed doubles category, despite facing tough opponents (from the School of Computer Science, the School of Mathematics, and the Synchrotron Radiation Research Center), they managed to win one out of three matches. The school team finished third in the group stage and had to wait until next year to compete again. With 22 teams and 176 faculty members participating, the tournament showcased a high level of competition, reflecting the excellent badminton atmosphere and grassroots foundation at USTC. Highlights of the event can be found on the USTC news website.

November 4, 2023: Zhengbin Deng attended the First National Forum on Earth and Planetary Science Talent Cultivation for High School Students and the establishment ceremony of the "Earth and Planetary Science Talent Cultivation Alliance" at Chongqing Foreign Language School. Experts from more than 60 universities and high schools engaged in intense discussions on the disconnect between Earth and planetary science teaching in high schools and universities. They hope that, with joint efforts from major universities and high schools, the issue of Earth and planetary science not being emphasized in high school education can be quickly addressed. For more details, please refer to news reports.

October 3, 2023: Collaborator Ninna K. Jensen from the University of Copenhagen developed a new analytical technique based on solution methods, which allows for simultaneous high-precision D-TIMS U-Pb dating, Lu-Hf isotope analysis, and zircon stable isotope composition measurement on single, small zircon grains (approximately 20 micrometers in size). This work was published in GGR!

September 13, 2023: Collaborator Hong Liu from China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) (under the supervision of Professor Zhaochu Hu) characererized and proposed a set of titanium-rich mineral samples suitable as international standards for in-situ titanium isotope analysis, which includes large grains of ilmenite, titanite, and perovskite. This work was published in GGR!

September 5, 2023: Yuanyuan Tian and Wenxia Huang completed their enrollment registration. Welcome Yuanyuan and Wenxia to USTC and the research group!

August 25, 2023: Zhengbin Deng's proposal "Redox histories of terrestrial planetary bodies constrained by titanium stable isotopes" was approved for funding by NNSFC!

July 26, 2023: The research results of tracing geodynamic evolution of Earth using titanium stable isotopes were published in Nature! The USTC news website released the news on the research results first, and it was subsequently reposted by several news media outlets (People's Daily, China National Radio, China Science and Technology Network, China News Network, Anhui Daily, ScienceNet). Many thanks to the efforts and assistance of colleagues from the USTC Publicity Department!

July 2023: Congratulations to Yipo Jike for passing the Dabie Mountain Summer Camp assessment at USTC and joining the research group. Welcome, Yipo!

June 14, 2023: Collaborator Isaac Onyett from the University of Copenhagen's research results on ultra-high-precision silicon isotope nucleosynthesis anomalies and the implications for the paradigms of terrestrial planet accretion were published in Nature!

May 2023: Zhengbin Deng passed the selection for doctoral supervisors at USTC.

April 2023: Research results of collaborator Haoxuan Sun from Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris on triple silicon isotopes and Precambrian silicon cycles were formally published in EPSL. Details can be found in the Chinese intrudction published by Haoxuan on the "Chemical Planet".

March 15, 2023: Collaborator Lu Pan's research results on the impact oxidation effect on early Martian climate were published in GRL. Science journalist Katherine Kornel wrote for this work a news commentary titled "Asteroid Impacts Could Have Warmed Ancient Mars" on Eos.

March 2023: Collaborator Hong Liu from China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) (under the supervision of Professor Zhaochu Hu) implements high-precision in-situ titanium isotope measurements combining femtosecond laser ablation and MC-ICP-MS. This work was published in SAPB.

March 2023: Congratulations to Yuanyuan Tian and Wenxia Huang for passing the graduate admission examination and joining the research group. Welcome, Yuanyuan and Wenxia!

April 26-27, 2023: The International Conference of Deep Space Sciences (ICDSS2023), Session 15 "Formation and evolution of terrestrial planet system" (convened by Haolan Tang and Zhengbin Deng), was successfully held at the Rongchuang Hotel Group. Highlights of the session can be found on the blog.

November 2022: Zhengbin Deng officially joined the School of Earth and Space Sciences at USTC.