| Posted: June 3, 2008 |
Purdue delegation to pursue research partnerships in China |
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(Nanowerk News) A Purdue University delegation will travel to China this month to explore interdisciplinary research collaborations with the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
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Twelve faculty and staff members from Purdue's West Lafayette and Calumet campuses will meet with Chinese researchers and administrators to discuss joint research projects in energy, nanotechnology, food safety, urban issues and the environment.
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A meeting and reception, organized by the Purdue Club of Hong Kong, also is planned for Purdue's Chinese alumni at the Hong Kong Football Club on June 13.
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"Our colleagues in Hong Kong are very interested in Purdue’s interdisciplinary approach to research and our focus on 'discovery with delivery' exemplified by Discovery Park and the Purdue Research Park," said Jon Harbor, associate vice president of research at Purdue and interim director of Discovery Park's Discovery Learning Center.
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This trip, which will run from June 8-14, is the second in a series of international research collaboration initiatives involving faculty from Purdue campuses in Calumet and West Lafayette. A previous trip to Taiwan resulted in several new joint research projects.
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"Prior visits to Hong Kong by Purdue's top administrators in recent years provided a foundation for this upcoming trip," Harbor said.
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Joining Harbor from Discovery Park are Barbara Fossum, managing director of the Cyber Center; Kai Ming Li, mechanical engineering professor and Energy Center affiliate; Sandra Liu, professor of consumer science and director of Discovery Park's international training; and Timothy Sands, director of Birck Nanotechnology Center and professor of materials engineering.
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Richard H. Linton, director of the Center for Food Safety Engineering and associate director of Competitive and Integrated Programs for the College of Agriculture; and mathematics professor Jie Shen; also are participating in the China trip.
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Leading Purdue Calumet's team is George Hong, associate vice chancellor for research and professional development. He originated the idea for joint research collaboration trips involving Calumet and West Lafayette faculty.
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Hong is joined by Yahya Kamalipour, director of Center for Global Studies, professor and head of Department of Communication and Creative Arts; George Nnanna, deputy director of the Water Institute and mechanical engineering professor; and Shawn Slavin, director of the Center for Computational Science and associate professor of physics and astronomy.
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"These Chinese universities share Purdue's goal of building international collaborations that will combine the strengths of our faculty with those in Hong Kong to address research challenges faced by the U.S., China and the world," said Liu, a Hong Kong Institute of Marketing fellow who is working on urban issues in China and with Chinese hospitals and clinics to improve health care.
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Located on China’s south coast, Hong Kong is home to 7 million people and several of China's top-ranked universities and research institutions.
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Last October, a delegation of professors and laboratory directors from Tsinghua University in Beijing, the highest-ranked university in China, spent more than a week visiting Purdue to learn more about U.S. research funding, policies and laboratory management issues.
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With a particular emphasis on China and India, Purdue's International Programs launched the Asian Initiative in 2005 to broaden its overseas research collaborations, international undergraduate and graduate student recruitment, study abroad, alumni relations, and development.
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Of 5,000 international students enrolled at Purdue this year, there were nearly 800 from China, second only to India. And of the nearly 400 international students enrolled at Purdue Calumet last academic year, more than 285 were from China.
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Nearly 200 Purdue students studied in China in 2007 - an all-time high.
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