Recently, alumni of the Class of 1984 (entering year) from the USTC School of the Gifted Young (SGY) made a donation to establish the Chen Yidong Alumni Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship is dedicated to recognizing students of the School who demonstrate academic excellence and outstanding potential in research and innovation. It commemorates the late alumnus, Mr. Chen Yidong, and carries forward his spirit of striving for excellence and giving back with gratitude.

Mr. Chen Yidong was admitted to the SGY program in 1984 with outstanding academic performance from Tianyi High School in Jiangsu Province. He studied diligently and rigorously. As class monitor, he was generous, modest, and responsible. With exceptional organizational and coordination skills, he actively united his classmates and served his peers, earning the trust and respect of both teachers and students. After completing his graduate studies at the University of Massachusetts, he pursued a career on Wall Street, steadily advancing and deepening his expertise in the financial sector. Later, he joined forces with former classmates and served as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Sunrise Futures, a quantitative trading company, making outstanding contributions to the company's success.

Figure 1: Mr. Chen Yidong as an executive at Sunrise Futures

It is with deep regret that Mr. Chen Yidong passed away due to illness in October 2024. His passing has brought profound sorrow to his family, friends, classmates, and the USTC community. To honor his legacy and to inspire more SGY students to pursue excellence, his former colleagues and classmates joined together to donate and establish the Chen Yidong Alumni Memorial Scholarship. This initiative transforms their remembrance into support for talent cultivation of generations of students of the alma mater.

Figure 2: Mr. Chen Yidong with classmates at USTC