Associate Professor Dezhi Zhou from Shanghai Jiao Tong University Global College (SJTUGC, abbreviated as GC hereafter) has won First Prize at the 6th Shanghai College Teachers’ Teaching Innovation Competition, according to the latest announcement of the event organizer. The recognition highlights his excellence in teaching innovation and reflects GC’s continued commitment to advancing educational reform and talent cultivation.
Guided by the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission and organized by the Shanghai Higher Education Association, with Tongji University serving as the host institution, the competition is one of the most influential teaching contests in Shanghai higher education. Centered on the theme “Promoting Teaching Innovation and Cultivating First-Class Talent,” this year’s competition focused on key priorities in higher education reform, including the “New Engineering, New Medicine, New Agriculture, and New Liberal Arts” initiatives, the integration of artificial intelligence into teaching, and the development of innovative experimental teaching systems.
The competition featured nine thematic tracks, covering areas such as foundational courses, curriculum-based ideological and political education, industry–education integration, artificial intelligence, experimental teaching, and the “Four New” disciplines. A total of 285 courses from 39 universities across Shanghai advanced to the municipal-level stage after multiple rounds of selection. Evaluation components included classroom teaching videos, innovation achievement reports, and presentations on instructional design, with both online and on-site review stages conducted.
As one of 14 faculty members selected and trained by SJTU to participate in the competition, Zhou invested significant effort in preparation. He used the competition as an opportunity to further refine his teaching philosophy and strengthen his instructional innovation practices. Through continuous optimization of course design and systematic integration of teaching reform outcomes, he stood out among participants across the city and secured First Prize.
The award-winning undergraduate course, Combustion Science, integrates traditionally separate knowledge areas—including thermodynamics, kinetics, and fluid mechanics—into a unified teaching framework. The course emphasizes the mathematical and physical foundations of combustion while incorporating artificial intelligence as a cognitive support tool. It also introduces dedicated intelligent solvers and teaching platforms, enabling students to simulate and visually analyze complex combustion processes through project-based learning.
This teaching model moves beyond traditional engineering education paradigms, enabling students to combine classical theories with intelligent technologies to address complex engineering problems. It also strengthens students’ understanding of frontier technologies while enhancing their innovation capabilities.
The award not only recognizes Associate Professor Zhou’s achievements in teaching innovation, but also reflects GC’s sustained efforts to strengthen faculty development, advance curriculum reform, and improve talent cultivation quality. In recent years, GC has continuously encouraged faculty members to deepen classroom teaching practices, pursue pedagogical innovation, and promote teaching excellence through structured training programs and competitive platforms.
Associate Professor Dezhi Zhou is a doctoral supervisor at GC. His research focuses on physical modeling and AI algorithms for chemically reacting flows, as well as high-fidelity numerical simulations of advanced engines. He has led and participated in multiple projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission. He has published more than 50 SCI-indexed papers in journals including Combustion and Flame and Proceedings of the Combustion Institute. His undergraduate course Combustion Science has been recognized as a Shanghai Key Course and selected for a Ministry of Education industry–academia collaborative education project, and it has received the GMA Award from the Global MOOC and Online Education Alliance.
