Regarding the future, people are always imagining every possibility. But amidst these diverse imaginings and constructions, one thing is certain: the future belongs to the era of information technology. Iris recognition, three-dimensional urban transportation across land, sea, and air, ubiquitous virtual electronic screens… These are common scenes in Hollywood sci-fi blockbusters, and also a microcosm of human society’s expectations for an ideal future.

“Hello World!” – this is a familiar term to everyone who has learned a programming language. It comes from “The C Programming Language” written by Brian Kernighan in 1974. As the first demonstration program code, it made computers output “Hello World!” to greet the world, and people began to explore ways to express ideas through machines. In just a few decades, with big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and so on, and the deep integration of physical and virtual information resources, we have long since moved past the initial stages of exploration. Technological progress has ushered us into a brand new era of intelligent unmanned systems.

“Intelligent Unmanned Systems Science and Technology” is a leading interdisciplinary discipline vigorously developed by the Unmanned Systems Technology Research Institute. It continuously attracts outstanding talents to form an “ace team.” At this opportune moment, a graceful figure unexpectedly appeared, like “Athena” from Greek mythology, carrying achievements brimming with wisdom and power, composing a “song of wisdom” on this young, passionate stage. She is a young faculty member at the Unmanned Systems Technology Research Institute – Shen Junge!

Figure 1. Professor Shen Junge at work

-- Pioneering --

As a researcher in AI, big data, computer vision, and machine learning, she continuously integrates various technologies to promote the deep application of intelligent unmanned system technology across diverse fields. In national defense, Professor Shen proposed a decentralized edge-cloud intelligent sensing and decision-making model for complex battlefield environments. This core technology has been applied to a national defense science and technology innovation project she leads, and she collaborates with institutions like the Naval Research Institute and CSIC on underwater information sensing and decision-making. In urban transportation, her independently developed multi-source information fusion and intelligent decision-making recommendation systems are already in use. Moreover, Professor Shen actively supports the national initiative for “research-based education and integrated teaching-research.” She leverages big data to innovate AI applications in classrooms, building on data mining and machine learning. Her self-designed algorithms, productized with a renowned Sichuan enterprise, have established demonstration smart classrooms in universities, earning unanimous praise from faculty and students.

Figure 2: Professor Shen demonstrates the underwater object detection hardware platform to students.

Figure 3: Professor Shen discusses smart classroom solutions with students.

She is a diligent and dedicated individual, constantly striving and exploring. She is active in industry-academia-research collaboration, interdisciplinary integration and application, technology transfer, and scientific talent cultivation, working tirelessly at the forefront of new technologies and sowing seeds of hope.

-- Legacy --

We all wonder what “smart” technology truly means. In her “Smart Cities and Computer Vision” class, Professor Shen comprehensively demonstrated to undergraduates the computer vision technologies and infrastructure needed for smart cities, from macro concepts to individual applications, and from surface phenomena to underlying technical support. The course received high praise. One student noted in their final assignment: “Before this course, my understanding of the popular ‘smart’ concept was vague. Now, I have my own insights. ‘Smart’ technology is not individual or group-owned; it stems from deep societal collaboration, is information technology-based, and represents systemic power.” This transformation of students from novices to insightful thinkers exemplifies Professor Shen’s “teach a man to fish” philosophy and her legacy of “wisdom.”

In just two years, she supervised undergraduate graduation projects, earning honors for outstanding designs. She guided students in various competitions, winning the Grand Prize at the “2019 International Silk Road Robot Competition” and an International Second Prize at the “International University Student Entrepreneurship Competition in Osaka.” She participated in the curriculum development for the Unmanned Systems Technology Institute, receiving high praise from students. She actively traveled to promote the “Intelligent Unmanned Systems Science and Technology” discipline for admissions, becoming one of the first young faculty members at the institute to qualify for graduate student supervision. For her, the teaching process is a simultaneous improvement and progress for herself and others. She steadfastly breaks through her own limits at each new stage, step by step, while also offering students unique concepts and experiences.

Figure 4: Professor Shen discusses research topics with students.

Figure 5: Students receive the International Second Prize certificate for the entrepreneurship competition.

-- Future --

How to describe Professor Shen? In her work, she is capable and decisive, like a valiant female general; in life, she is gentle and warm, like a graceful lady. Perhaps “atypical” strong woman best describes her. On the highly promising platform of interdisciplinary intelligent unmanned systems science and technology, her expertise in AI and computer vision gives her a significant advantage, allowing her to navigate effortlessly. The explosion of 5G, providing diverse data entry points and opening data transmission channels for future networks, presents both opportunities and challenges. Professor Shen tirelessly dedicates herself to the organic integration of edge computing, cloud computing, big data, and AI technologies. Her goal is to form core technologies based on edge-cloud intelligence, explore application scenarios, establish unmanned systems with foundational intelligence, and achieve the integration of smart technology across industry, academia, research, and application.

In a rapidly developing society, the future holds infinite possibilities. Turing, when creating computer technology, could not have foreseen our current development. Perhaps in the next moment, we will step into an intelligent world of boundless wisdom, and Professor Shen, with lines of code flowing from her hands, is laying the bricks and tiles, the foundation for our future!

（Photos: Shen Jungo Text: Li Yaxi Review: Miaoying）