Brief News

Lu Yongxiang Meets M. Mattila

Lu Yongxiang, President of CAS, met with Markku Mattila, the visiting President of Finnish Academy of Sciences and his entourage on June 21. Lu highly commended the S&T cooperation between the two academies over the years, particularly the academic forums co-sponsored by the Finnish Academy of Sciences and the Graduate School of CAS recently. Mattila said that the climate change is a global issue and the Finnish Academy of Sciences wishes to strengthen cooperation in this field with CAS and the research institutes of Russia, the US and other countries. He also introduced the progress made by the Finnish Academy of Sciences in field of supercomputing for bioscience research and wished to cooperate with relevant institutes of CAS in this field. He highly appreciated the high-quality cooperation between two the academies in scientific research.

Overseas Elite Scientists to Work for Large Science Facility Projects

A Cooperation Framework Agreement on Introducing Foreign Talents to Work for Large Science Facilities Program was signed between CAS and the State Bureau of Foreign Experts Affairs on June 30,which marks the in-depth cooperation in the introduction of talents for the Large Science Facilities Program aiming to elevate the international standing of China in the frontier of related basic research and to improve the R&D capability of China in strategic high technology in view of designing the future national development on the large science facilities. Bai Chunli, Executive Vice President of CAS, and Ji Yunshi, Director General of the State Bureau of Foreign Experts Affairs, signed the agreement. Li Jiayang, Vice President of CAS, and Tan Tieniu, Deputy Secretary-General of CAS, chaired the signing ceremony.

Bai Chunli Present at CCS Congress

The 27th Congress of the Chinese Chemical Society (CCS) was solemnly opened at Xiamen University on June 20 morning. The theme of this congress is “innovative society and responsibility of chemistry”. There were about over 3,000 domestic experts and scholars, including 55 members of CAS and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and 44 chemists from chemical societies of the USA, the UK, Germany, Japan and other countries, and the Asian Chemical Society who attended the congress. The participants discussed in depth the positive role that chemistry should play in the construction of an innovative society. In his speech at the opening ceremony, Bai Chunli, Executive Vice President of CAS, President of CCS and Chairman of the Congress, called on experts in the chemical circles to pay more attention to the demands of the state and society in their scientific research, to make greater efforts to the development of innovation capability, to actively promote great leap-forward development of chemical science and technology and to make contributions to the construction of an environment-friendly and resource-conserving society. At the opening ceremony, CCS also bestowed 2008-2009 CCS-John Wiley Press Youth Chemistry Thesis Award, the 5th CCS-BASF Youth Knowledge Innovation Prize and other four academic prizes to 39 outstanding scholars respectively.

Degrees Granted to 8,716 Students

The Graduate University of CAS held the 2010 degree awarding ceremony on July 16. There were 8,716 students, including 10 students from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan respectively, and 14 foreign students awarded master or doctor degrees of the Graduate School of CAS, among whom 3,949 were awarded masters and 4,767 doctors. Bai Chunli, Executive Vice President of CAS and President of the Graduate School of CAS, Deng Yong, Deputy Secretary-General of CAS and leaders of relevant agencies set the tassels straight for the graduates.

Jiang Mianheng Visits South Africa and Kenya

Jiang Mianheng, Vice President of CAS, led a delegation to visit South Africa and Kenya from May 25 to June 2. The delegation focused their survey and discussion on the South African Academy of Sciences, South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Kirstenbosh National Botanic Garden, and University of Nairobi, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology of Kenya. During the visit, several cooperation agreements with related organizations were signed.

Li Jiayang Visits USA

Li Jiayang, Vice President of CAS and his entourage completed their one week visit to USA on Aug. 13th. During their stay in the US, Li and his entourage visited the Monsanto Company, DuPont Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., Missouri Botanical Garden, Donald Danforth Science Plant Center, Duke University and University of Missouri at St. Louis. Li also attended the 12th Congress of International Association for Plant Biotechnology (IAPB) and delivered a keynote speech entitled “Realization of Ideal Rice Plant Type through Cellular Design” at the meeting.

Li Jinghai Meets Moreno Ceballo

On June 25, Li Jinghai, Vice President of CAS and President of the Association of Academies of Sciences in Asia (AASA), met with Moreno Ceballo, the visiting President of the Caribbean Scientific Union. Li Jinghai and Moreno Ceballo exchanged information on the current progress of AASA and the Caribbean Scientific Union and discussed how to further strengthen the cooperation between the two regional academies. Both parties agreed to jointly promote the exchange and cooperation, and to sign a cooperation agreement when appropriate.

Zhan Wenlong Meets William Brinkman

On the afternoon of June 15, Zhan Wenlong, Vice President of CAS, met with William Brinkman, the visiting Director of Office of Science of the US Department of Energy and his entourage in Suzhou during his presence at the 6th Council conference of ITER (the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor).

Ding Zhongli Present at 7th China Russia Mongolia Exhibition

The 7th China Russia Mongolia Technology Exhibition and High-Tech Fair was held at Manzhouli from July 24 to 28. Ding Zhongli, Vice President of CAS, was present at the opening ceremony. Over 20 S&T projects from five different institutions, including the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research and other two research institutes of CAS had their stands at the Fair.

Yin Hejun Meets David Southwood

On June 23, Yin Hejun met with Prof. David Southwood, the visiting Director of Science and Robotic Exploration of the European Space Agency, and his entourage in Chengdu. Both parties highly appreciated the successful implementation of the “Geospace Double Star Exploration Program”. Yin Hejun hoped to further strengthen the cooperation in large-scale space science programs between two parties. Prof. Southwood pointed out that better results from the research in space science could only be achieved through cooperation, and ESA is actively seeking cooperation with governments and scientific research institutes of other countries, particularly the cooperation with CAS.

Amendment: In the 70th issue of the CAS News Letter of June 2010, the word “spending” should be corrected as “sparing”. The Editing Board hereby apologizes for the misunderstanding that may cause from this error.