Chonghe Zhang smiles with a black poodle.

Chonghe Zhang

Image courtesy of the subject.

Graduate Student Spotlight: Chonghe Zhang

by Danielle Doughty | Department of Chemistry |
Categories: Research, Students

Chemistry Graduate Student Chonghe Zhang describes his research and answers 20 random questions as part of the Graduate Student Spotlight series.

Chonghe Zhang is originally from Shenzhen, China, and has been at MIT for three years. A member of both the Cummins and Gilliard research groups, Chonghe’s  research mainly focuses on developing novel borylene precursors and finding their potential in bond activation and borylation reactions.

“I decided to pursue a PhD in chemistry because I found myself loving discovering new things and chemistry is the subject of discovering new knowledge by trying,” said Chonghe. “Chemistry has been my best subject since high school, and I like working on what I am good at. I also want to have a research group in the future.”

As the subject of this Graduate Student Spotlight, Chonghe reveals the movie he’d watch on a loop for 27 hours, the food he craves most often, the best thing he could reasonably expect to find in a cave, and more!

  1. What game or movie universe would you most like to live in? What would be the worst to live in?
    Super Mario; The Matrix
  2. If you were on a 27 hour flight and could only watch one movie, what would it be?
    The Shawshank Redemption
  3. What are some small things that make your day better?
    At Chipotle for lunch, I can get more meat in a bowl.
  4. What is the best vacation you’ve ever taken?
    Last summer in Hawaii.
  5. Who would be the best person you could be stuck in an elevator with?
    A fireman
  6. If you suddenly became a master at woodworking, what would you make?
    A wooden house.
  7. What did you think you would grow out of but haven’t?
    Becoming bald…
  8. What irrational fear do you have?
    Fear of heights
  9. If animals could talk, which animal do you think would be the most annoying, and why?
    Mosquito, thinking about their noise around your ears
  10. What food do you crave most often?
    Hot pot
  11. What is your secret talent?
    Doing mental arithmetic.
  12. What are you most looking forward to in the next decade?
    Owning a lab and traveling around the world.
  13. Who has impressed you most with what they’ve accomplished?
    The speed of Green Line.
  14. What bends your mind every time you think about it?
    Delicious food.
  15. What hobby would you get into if time and money weren’t an issue?
    Diving/Scuba.
  16. What would be your ideal way to spend the weekend?
    In the lab.
  17. What would be the best thing you could reasonably expect to find in a cave?
    Remains of ancient people.
  18. What two things are terrible when separate but great when you put them together?
    H+ and OH- (very corrosive). I like drinking water.
  19. What animal or plant do you think should be renamed, and what should the new name be?
    Starfish. It obviously is not a fish. Seastar is more reasonable.
  20. If you could know the absolute and total truth to one question, what question would you ask?
    Whether or not there are aliens.