"When I was a student," recalls Lin, "NTU didn't yet have an entomology department; there was only an entomological group in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology." In those days, he says, the department was split into two areas: economic applications and basic research. Because he was interested in the phenomenon of life, he naturally chose the theoretical group.
「我念書時，台大還沒有昆蟲學系，而是植物病蟲害系昆蟲組，」林宗岐表示，當年植物病蟲又分為「經濟應用」和「基礎研究」二個領域，由於他對生命現象有興趣，自然選擇了基礎研究組。