Talent Requires Cultivation, but It Also Requires Selection
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Talent certainly requires cultivation. A student does not become a mature researcher simply by entering a research group. Research ability, engineering ability, academic writing, and communication skills all need to be developed through real tasks. Students need opportunities to read papers, build systems, design experiments, discuss ideas, receive feedback, and revise their work again and again. Without cultivation, many promising students may never discover their own potential.
But cultivation alone is not enough. Talent also requires selection.
Selection does not mean rejecting people too early, nor does it mean judging students only by their current background. In my view, selection means identifying who is truly willing to grow. A good research group should not only ask whether a student is already strong, but also whether the student has curiosity, responsibility, persistence, and the ability to respond to feedback. These qualities often matter more than temporary technical skill.
Research is different from routine coursework. In coursework, the problem is usually defined, the answer is often known, and the evaluation standard is relatively clear. In research, the problem may be vague, the method may fail, the experiment may produce unexpected results, and the writing may need many rounds of revision. A student who wants to do research must be able to stay with uncertainty. This requires not only intelligence, but also patience, initiative, and self-discipline.
This is why selection is necessary. If a student is willing to learn, willing to ask questions, willing to correct mistakes, and willing to keep moving forward after failure, then cultivation can be very effective. Even if the student starts slowly, the growth curve can be strong. But if a student remains passive for a long time, avoids difficult tasks, responds weakly to feedback, and only waits for external pressure, then even the best resources may not lead to real growth.
A research group has limited resources. An advisor’s time, project opportunities, computing resources, paper topics, and collaboration networks should be used responsibly. Investing these resources in students who are truly motivated is not only good for the group, but also fair to those who are working hard. Without selection, cultivation may become inefficient. With only selection and no cultivation, a group becomes cold. A healthy group needs both.
The key is to make selection process-based rather than label-based. We should not decide too quickly that someone is “good” or “not good.” Instead, we should observe how students behave in real work. Do they prepare before meetings? Do they record problems clearly? Do they try possible solutions before asking for help? Do they revise after receiving feedback? Do they turn discussion into action? Do they gradually raise their own standards?
These details reveal whether a student is suitable for long-term research training. Strong students are not necessarily those who never make mistakes. They are often those who can learn from mistakes quickly. They do not need every step to be pushed by others. They can transform feedback into tasks, tasks into progress, and progress into new questions.
For students, this also means that joining a research group is not only about choosing an advisor or a topic. It is also about choosing a way of working. Graduate study should not be understood as a passive stage in which tasks are simply assigned and completed. It should be a process of self-shaping. The advisor can provide direction, standards, resources, and feedback, but the student must take responsibility for their own growth.
In our group, I hope to cultivate students who are willing to become stronger. They may not be the most experienced at the beginning, but they should be willing to learn. They may not immediately write excellent papers or build complex systems, but they should be willing to improve through real work. They may encounter failure, but they should not avoid reflection.
Talent requires cultivation, because no one grows without training. Talent also requires selection, because meaningful training should be invested in those who are willing to grow. For a research group, the goal is not to manage everyone with the same pressure, but to find students who are ready to move forward—and then help them go further.