The "environmental doctor" who uses data to "take the pulse" of the ecology

Ge Yanhong (first from left) communicates with team members about online water quality monitoring. All-media reporter Huang Xiying/photo

In the laboratory late at night, Ge Yanhong and her team members were carefully testing the operation of a product prototype, and she was constantly debugging the equipment parameters and recording the data obtained one by one. Ge Yanhong knows that the accuracy of monitoring instruments is crucial to the smooth progress of subsequent environmental monitoring, and any mistake may cause irreparable impact. It is because of this insistence on responsibility that she sticks to her post even when the early hours of the morning are approaching to ensure that the problem is thoroughly followed up and resolved.

Ge Yanhong is the deputy general manager and R&D director of Guangdong Infore Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Infore Technology"), and was awarded the "National May Day Labor Medal" this year. She has had a "doctor's dream" since she was a child, hoping to use superb medical skills to treat diseases and save people, and now her dream has changed to a role, as an "environmental doctor", using environmental monitoring technology to "accurately take the pulse" of Foshan's ecological environment, and using scientific research data to "govern" environmental protection issues, so as to make the ecological environment more "healthy".

The "breakthrough" of scientific and technological bottlenecks Realize the large-scale localization of environmental monitoring instruments

Walking along the rivers and rivers of the Pearl River, or walking in a park in the corner of the city, you are likely to pass by the intelligent environmental monitoring instrument developed by Ge Yanhong's team. These instruments act as "scarecrows" that silently guard the environment, monitoring and collecting data on pollutants in the surrounding waters and atmosphere in real time.

"With the smart supervision system, you can see the changes in the whole environment while sitting at home. As soon as there is an abnormality in the data, the system will issue an early warning, and we can immediately trace it back to a certain enterprise or a certain area that caused the data anomaly in the upstream, and nearby staff can immediately go to the scene to view and solve the problem. Ge Yanhong said that this is the "multi-element intelligent and accurate monitoring and early warning traceability system of environmental quality" developed by her and her team for many years.

This system is also displayed in the exhibition hall on the first floor of Infore technology. Through the huge display screen, the reporter saw that the system was monitoring the ecological environment of a certain area in real time, and the data was clear at a glance.

Back in 2003, Ge Yanhong, who had just graduated from university, joined a Fortune 500 foreign company and engaged in instrument technology research and development. During her tenure, Ge Yanhong has a certain precipitation in theory and technical practice, but she always believes that she should return to domestic enterprises and contribute scientific research to the development of the country, so as to have a greater sense of belonging and achievement. Such thoughts lingered in her heart, for this reason, she resolutely gave up the generous treatment of foreign companies, accepted the invitation of Infore technology, and devoted herself to leading the preparation for the research and development of the company's environmental monitoring sector.

The beginning of the project, starting from scratch, was an extremely difficult step. Ge Yanhong led the scientific research team to devote himself to the research of the key technologies of intelligent and accurate monitoring of multiple elements of the environment and early warning and traceability, and broke the bottleneck technology one by one. "When the prototype first came out, the application effect in Guangdong was very good, but once it was put in the north, it was not so good." Recalling the development process of the particulate matter index analyzer in this system, Ge Yanhong said that due to the large difference in environmental factors such as temperature and humidity between the north and the south, the prototype could not provide accurate values under complex working conditions.

In order to solve the problem of environmental differentiation between the north and the south, analyze the impact of the most extreme use scenarios on products, and continuously optimize and improve the research and development plan, Ge Yanhong led the scientific research team to travel all over the mainland. Whether it is in Xinjiang, where strong sandstorms occurred, or in Harbin, where minus 30 or 40 degrees Celsius is minus, she and her team have left footprints.

Today, this system has been successfully applied to the construction project of the national environmental assessment automatic monitoring station and the construction project of the automatic monitoring station of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and has strongly supported the successful operation of major national strategic tasks such as the national environmental monitoring network and the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project. The successful application of this achievement has also generated economic benefits of more than 2 billion yuan.

The "screws" of the R&D line are planted with the green heritage of new quality productivity

When Ge Yanhong first joined Infore Technology, the company was still "blank" in the research and development of the monitoring field. Faced with the situation of no personnel and no equipment, Ge Yanhong recruited experienced personnel to carry out initial investigation and research on the one hand; On the other hand, it recruits outstanding graduates through school recruitment to cultivate reserve forces for follow-up in-depth research. In only 2 months, she set up a high-level R&D team of environmental monitoring instruments and equipment, and led the team all the way to help the company gradually develop into a leading enterprise in the field of environmental monitoring in the province.

"Foshan is a very inclusive city, everyone is very motivated, the government has provided us with a lot of help, and the company has also given us enough space for development to grow rapidly." Ge Yanhong said.

Today, Ge Yanhong's R&D team has about 100 people, with an average age of about 30 years old, and most of the members have a master's degree or above. Ge Yanhong not only assumes management responsibilities, but also is active in the front line of research and development. She said that she is still a "screw" in the front line of research and development, and "only in the front line of research and development can we really find and solve technical problems".

Ge Yanhong thinks so and does so. Guo Junhong, product manager of Infore Technology, said: "As long as she does not travel, no matter how busy Ge Yanhong is with her work every day, she must inspect the front line of R&D and production, and go to the front line of the market to understand the needs to ensure that each project can ensure quality, progress and service." ”

"It's really hard to start from scratch and move forward in the dark, but now I see that the whole industry is using domestic instruments, and I think it's all worth it." Ge Yanhong said.

Being awarded the "National May Day Labor Medal" this time is not only an affirmation of personal honor for Ge Yanhong, but also a solemn commitment to her social responsibility. As a representative of model workers and craftsmen, Ge Yanhong deeply understands that high-quality development in the new era must cultivate the green heritage of new quality productivity, and continue to promote the green and low-carbon transformation and upgrading of the energy structure driven by innovation. She said that she will strive to carry forward the spirit of model workers, labor spirit and craftsman spirit, work together with the team to actively develop green technology, and promote the development of products in the direction of high-end, intelligent and green through technological innovation and industrial upgrading.

For newcomers in the workplace who are interested in scientific research, Ge Yanhong advocates that they should always maintain the mentality of lifelong learning and be diligent in learning and asking more questions. "As a scientific research worker, you must be able to calm down, set a high goal for yourself, and formulate an effective plan around this goal, not admit defeat, and study hard. As long as you work hard, you will definitely be able to achieve the goals you set at the beginning. She said.

○A glimpse of life

"I want to set a good example for my children"

Every weekend, as long as the weather is fine and there is no overtime, Ge Yanhong will take her two sons to run 3 kilometers by the Pearl River at around 8 o'clock in the morning. "It's both about exercising my child's body and for myself. In the process, the children were also accompanied. Ge Yanhong smiled and said that this is how her "slim" figure came about.

Ge Yanhong, who works in Foshan, has a home in Guangzhou. Although it is said that "Guangzhou-Foshan is in the same city", in the eyes of Ge Yanhong's mother-in-law, the grandson is like a "left-behind child", and Ge Yanhong and his wife are busy with work and often have no time to take care of the family.

Once, Ge Yanhong dragged her tired body home from a business trip, and when she learned that her son did not do well in the exam, she criticized him. However, the son cried and said, "My classmates come home from school with their parents to do their homework, where are you when I write my homework?" Listening to her son's crying, the "strong woman" Ge Yanhong burst into tears. "Only then did I remember that I am also a mother of two children!"

After that, Ge Yanhong continued to reflect and began to use fragmented time to strengthen parent-child interaction. Every Thursday at 20:50, my son is released from the interest class. Ge Yanhong tried her best to rush home before 20:30, parked the car, ran to the class 1.8 kilometers away, picked up her son, and the two ran home together. On weekends, in addition to running, Ge Yanhong also finds time to play badminton with her children, or do math problems and memorize words together. "Now, our parent-child relationship and family atmosphere are much better."

Since 2021, Ge Yanhong has been studying for a Ph.D. in Resources and Environment at Tsinghua University in addition to work. "In the first year, I went to Tsinghua University Shenzhen International Graduate School every weekend to take classes, and only had a little rest during the 'May Day' and National Day holidays, and I lost a lot of weight." But Ge Yanhong thinks it's worth it, she believes that constantly learning new things can not only further improve work ability, but also a kind of teaching to children, hoping to set a good example for children!

(Source: Southern Labor Daily Author: All-media reporter Huang Xiying Correspondent Huo Jiaqi)

Editor-in-charge: Jiang Lingqian

Second trial: Pan Chao