Tsinghua Newsletter (No.3) September 2006 Contents News Briefs ● President GU Attended the 10th APRU Annual Presidents’Meeting (p.2) ● New University President Appointments (p.2) ● Honorary Professor Conferred to Nobel Laureate (p.2) ● Number of Excellent Doctoral Dissertations Ranked Top (p.2) ● Increasing International Students(p.2) ● President GU Met Tsinghua Alumni in South Korea(p.3) ● Outsourcing Contracts from January to August(p.3) ● Quantum Information Research Center Founded(p.3) ● New Student Service Center(p.3) News & Events ● New Honorary Doctorates(p.3) ● Mr. Lester Brown Lectures at Tsinghua Forum (p.4) ● China Institute for Development Planning Established (p.5) ● New Building for Department of Environmental Science and Engineering (p.6) ● US Volunteers Join Tsinghua’s Education-Aiding-the-Poor Project (p.6) Research & Achievements ● From Lab to World Market: Container Inspection System (p.7) ● Advanced Brain-Computer Interface System (p.8) ● IPv6 Project Collaboration between China and Japan (p.9) ● Professor WANG Xiaoyun Awarded Qiushi Outstanding Scientist Prize (p.10) Student Communities ● New Financial Aid System Established (p.11) ● Tsinghua Students Win First National Smart Car Design Competition (p.11) International Cooperation & Exchange ● Tsinghua and MIT Collaborations in Architecture and Management (p.12) ● 2006 Summer School (p.14) ● U.S. Secretary of Treasury Spoke to Tsinghua Students (p.15) ● 2006 ETHICS Regional Workshop for Asia on International Criminal Law (p.15) ● 2006 Far East Meeting of the Econometric Society (p.16) News Briefs President GU Attended the 10th APRU Annual Presidents’Meeting President GU Binglin attended the 10th Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) Annual Presidents’Meeting on June 22nd – 24th in Sydney, Australia. The meeting focused on macro-issues facing global higher education and technology transfer. New University President Appointments Professor GONG Ke, former Vice-President of Tsinghua University, was appointed President of Tianjin University on July 14th. Professor YANG Wei, former Vice-Dean of Tsinghua’s School of Aerospace, became President of Zhejiang University on August 1st. Professor YI Hong, a 1990 Tsinghua University graduate, was appointed President of Southeast University on June 8th. Professor RAO Zihe, former Vice-Dean of Tsinghua’s Institute of Biomedicine, was appointed President of Nankai University on May 26th. Honorary Professor Conferred to Nobel Laureate Professor Hartmut Michel, who shared the Nobel Prize for Chemistry with J. Deisenhofer and R. Huber in 1988, visited Tsinghua University on September 5th and was conferred an honorary professorship by Tsinghua Vice-President XIE Weihe. He also delivered a speech entitled, “Structures and Mechanisms of Membrane Proteins－ Routes and Achievements. ” Number of Excellent Doctoral Dissertations Ranked Top Tsinghua University ranked first among all China’s universities in dissertations selected as National Excellent Doctoral Dissertations in 2006.Of 99 Excellent Doctoral Dissertations in China, 9 came from Tsinghua PhD’s. Increasing International Students International students coming to Tsinghua for degrees increased to 1,150 this academic year, an increase of 20% over last year. The total number of international students, counting continuing education and exchange program students surpassed 2,000, increased 13%. 2 President GU Met Tsinghua Alumni in South Korea President GU Binglin met with Tsinghua alumni on September 23rd at POSCO Center, Seoul, South Korea. He introduced the recent development of Tsinghua and its cooperation with some prestigious universities in South Korea and encouraged the alumni, both Korean and Chinese, to collaborate closely to achieve greater success. Outsourcing Contracts from January to August Research contracts between Tsinghua University and industry totaled 961 in the period from January to August 2006, bringing an income of RMB 506 million. Quantum Information Research Center Founded The Quantum Information Science and Technology Research Center was founded at Tsinghua University in September. Professor LI Zhijian, member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was appointed the Chief Scientist. Professor T.J. Tarn, IEEE Fellow, will serve as the center’s Director. New Student Service Center The new Student Service Center, located in Zijing student dormitory area, recently opened. The 10,000-square-meters building will provide more service options to students. It includes a post-office, bookstore, bank, supermarket, photo-shop, beauty salon and other service facilities. News & Events New Honorary Doctorates Dr. Richard Brodhead, President of Duke University, and Dr. David Ho, Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, received Honorary Doctorate from Tsinghua President GU Binglin on June 29th and September 19th respectively. 3 Professor Brodhead became Duke’s ninth president in July, 2004 after a 32-year career at Yale University. In his speech— “Toward a New University: Research and Education in a Global Society” at the conferral ceremony, Professor Brodhead noted that, together with supplying more Dr. Brodhead Receiving the Certificate range to the expertise teachers hope to from President GU Binglin impart, it is also important to promote the sharing or pooling of understanding. It is important to teach the students how to combine their bits of knowledge with those of others in the service of larger goals. The importance of cooperation was the underlying theme in his speech. Dr. David Ho has been actively engaged in AIDS research for 24 years. He has published over 350 papers on the subject. He is most recognized for the elucidation of the dynamic nature of HIV replication in infected persons. In addition, his research team now devotes considerable effort to develop a vaccine to halt the spread of the AIDS virus. Dr. Ho Receiving the Certificate from President GU Binglin After the conferral of the Honorary Doctorate by Tsinghua President Gu Binglin, he gave a speech on Preparing for Epidemic Diseases such as HIV, SARS, and Influenza. Mr. Lester Brown Lectures at Tsinghua Forum Mr. Lester Brown, President of the Earth Policy Institute, delivered a speech on May 29th at the Tsinghua Forum entitled, “Rescuing a Planet under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble— China Forcing World to Rethink its Economic Future”. Mr. Brown began the speech by reviewing China’s current economic development and its implications for energy and the environment. He illustrated his point by reviewing the economic development and 4 energy situation in some other countries. He then explored the “new economy” philosophy of pursuing sustainable development. Achieving an environmentally sustainable economy, Mr. Brown emphatically urged, was vital for securing mankind’s future. The Tsinghua Forum, organized by Tsinghua University’s Academic Affairs Committee, seeks to keep pace with the latest trends in academic discourse, to stimulate the exchange of new ideas, and to promote world peace and development. Four times a year the Forum sponsors lectures and roundtable discussions. The topics for discussion are selected from a wide range of current issues related to development in the world. These issues typically concern science and technology, economy, culture, and ecology. Forum speakers are recommended by members of Tsinghua’s Academic Affairs Committee. Recent Forum speakers have included former US Vice President Al Gore on “Global Climate Change”, Professor Anders Flodström, President of the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), and three professors on the “Noble Prize and Scientific Discovery”, and physicist ZHOU Guangzhao, Chairman of Chinese Association for Science and Technology, on “Learning, Creation and Innovation.” China Institute for Development Planning Established The China Institute for Development Planning (CIDP) was established at Tsinghua University at the end of June. Jointly established by the National Development and Reform Commission and Tsinghua University, CIDP aims to further strengthen the study of theory and Professor CHEN Xi (left), Chairman of applied research on the national Tsinghua University Council, and Mr. MA economy and social development and to Kai at the Center’s Unveiling Ceremony improve program planning. The CIDP is designed to become an important research center and think tank in China’s overall economic development strategy. Theory and applied research, policy consulting, planning research, and personnel training concerning the national economy and social development will be carried out at the Institute. Mr. MA Kai, Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, has accepted the position of Chairman of CIDP’s Administrative Committee. Professor LIU 5 He, Vice-Director of the Office of Central Government Leading Group on Finance and Economic Affairs, was appointed Chairman of the Institute’s Academic Committee. New Building for Department of Environmental Science and Engineering The Sino-Italian Environment and Energy Efficient Building (SIEEB), jointly sponsored by China's Ministry of Science and Technology and Italy's Environment Ministry, has been constructed and will be put into use this October as the teaching building for the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering at Tsinghua University. SIEEB, designed by Italian architect Mario Cucinella, is an intelligent, ecological, and energy-efficient pilot building. It will become a model for demonstrating the use and diffusion