At the invitation of Prof. WU Feng, Dr. Soulaymane Kachani, Vice Provost of Columbia University and Vice Dean of Columbia Engineering, and Dr. Jenny Mak, Executive Director of Columbia Engineering, paid their first visit to USTC on Sep 18. The Columbia delegation aims at discussing cooperative plans on talent training and international exchanges with USTC.
In the morning Sep 18, the Columbia delegation met USTC Vice President CHEN Chusheng at East Campus, flanked by Prof. WU Feng, Executive Dean of School of Information Science and Technology, and Mr. LIU Zhifeng, secretary of USTC Initiative Foundation. President CHEN showed a warm welcome to Dr. Soulaymane Kachani and Dr. Jenny Mak. The two parties exchanged ideas on talent training, further study, and disciplinary construction etc. The conversation went on smoothly in a pleasant, friendly atmosphere.
After that, the Columbia delegations arrived West Campus to attend the discussion meeting with faculty representatives in School of Information Science and Technology (SIST). Through this meeting, the two parties gained further understanding on disciplinary arrangements, scientific powers and teaching model of the opposite side, and thus laid the foundation of follow-up cooperation between Columbia Engineering and SIST.
Later, Dr. Soulaymane Kachani and Dr. Jenny Mak visited School for the Gifted Young (SGY) and met leaders of SGY as well as other schools there.
In the afternoon, Dr. Soulaymane Kachani delivered campus propaganda for those who are intended to further study at the United States at 3B215 classroom, west campus. Students from all Schools and Disciplines gathered there to obtain skills and experiences for admissions to study abroad. The activity benefited the students a lot by humorous interactions and detailed Q&A session, and it gained big ovation by the audiences.
After the propaganda activity, the two guests attended a conversation activity organized by USTC Initiative Foundation and “AdvanceEdu” Section of USTC BBS. Some twenty senior students with intentions towards Columbia University attended the activity to learn more about the details of applications and future research interests.
The one-day visit finished in a short and tight schedule, but still it was long enough for USTC to leave a deep, good impression on Dr. Soulaymane Kachani and Dr. Jenny Mak. They were looking forward to visiting USTC again and hoping that effective cooperation between Columbia University and USTC could be realized in the near future.
(Ashley Fan, School of Information Science and Technology)
