Presidents of 13 premier universities in Asia and Middle East to gather at Washington University in St. Louis May 4-7 to discuss global energy and environmental concerns
St. Louis, MO — For the first time in the United States, the presidents of 13 premier universities from Asia and the Middle East will gather at Washington University in St. Louis May 4-7 to discuss ways their institutions are addressing global energy and environmental concerns. These institutions include Peking, Fudan, Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, National Taiwan, Tsinghua and Yonsei universities.
The International Symposium on Energy and Environment is sponsored by Washington University’s McDonnell International Scholars Academy. For more information on the academy, please visit http://mcdonnell.wustl.edu/.
“We are privileged to host the first meeting of the partner universities of the McDonnell International Scholars Academy here in St. Louis,” said Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. “The 20 university partners in the Academy engage more than 200,000 of the world’s most talented students, and it will be rewarding to have so many outstanding academic leaders addressing the global challenges associated with energy and environment. The symposium is intended to identify opportunities to develop collaborative education and research programs involving Washington University and its international partners.”
McDonnell International Scholars Academy
Key speakers will include the former United States ambassador to the United Nations, the president of the National Academy of Sciences and Monsanto Company’s top executive.
Organizers hope the meeting will result in new collaborative research and education projects facilitated by the McDonnell Academy. A preliminary program and details of the program are available at www.eer.wustl.edu.
“This is part of a general effort at Washington University to create a model for a more global university based on partnerships with a network of the world’s leading research institutions,” said James V. Wertsch, Ph.D., the Marshall S. Snow Professor in Arts & Sciences and director of the McDonnell International Scholars Academy. “Our current focus is in Asia, but we have recently expanded our list of partners to include institutions in Turkey and Israel. We now have 20 partner institutions and will be expanding to other parts of the world in the future.
“A core mission of the Academy is to recruit and mentor outstanding graduate and professional degree students who will form networks of future global leaders, but the May meetings reflect our more general purpose of developing our Washington University model for a global university of the future,” Wertsch added.
Headquartered at Washington University, the McDonnell Academy enrolls exceptional graduate and professional students from partner universities across all graduate disciplines and professional schools at the university.
These future leaders have all expenses toward their degree work paid, including tuition, room, board and travel.
The McDonnell Academy not only provides them rigorous graduate instruction in their chosen areas of study, but also uniquely steeps them in a cultural, political and social education program designed to prepare them as future leaders knowledgeable about the United States, other countries and critical international issues.
The first thematic symposium of the Academy will begin with a welcome dinner on May 4, followed by a “presidents’ forum” May 5, where the heads of 13 partner institutions will discuss ways that their universities are addressing issues of energy and environment. May 6 and 7 will be devoted to presentations and workshops by scholars with special expertise in energy and environment.
The May 6 session will begin with a keynote lecture on sustainability in urban areas by John C. Crittenden, Ph.D., the Richard Snell Presidential Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering and director of the Sustainable Technologies Program at Arizona State University.
Also scheduled to speak are Thomas R. Pickering, former United States ambassador to the United Nations, on May 4; Hugh Grant, chairman, president and CEO of Monsanto Company, on May 5; and Ralph J. Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences, on May 5.
The remainder of the symposium will be organized into sections, including environmental education, energy, air quality, water resources and sustainable systems and ecosystems.
A novel concept of collecting educational materials from all the 20 partner institutions is being planned. In addition to compiling such information, much of which is available at www.eeed.wustl.edu, the McDonnell Academy will explore technological tools that will allow faculty at the 20 partner universities to communicate more easily with each other.
For more information on the symposium, contact Kim Coleman at (314) 935-5548 or kcole@wustl.edu.
Scheduled to attend are:
Zhang-lian Chen
President, China Agricultural University
Lawrence J. Lau
President, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Khunying Suchada Kiranandana
President, Chulalongkorn University
Shenghong Wang
President, Fudan University
Ashok Misra
Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
B.B. Bhattacharya
Vice Chancellor, Jawarharlal Nehru University
Ural Akbulut
Rector, Middle East Technical University, Ankara
Si-Chen Lee
President, National Taiwan University
Zhihong Xu
President, Peking University
Binglin Gu
President, Tsinghua University
Lap-Chee Tsui
Vice Chancellor, University of Hong Kong
Usman Chatib Warsa
Rector, University of Indonesia
Jung Chang Young
President, Yonsei University
In addition to the presidents, other academic leaders from these institutions will be attending, as will delegations from:
Bo?azi?i University, Istanbul
Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Israel
Korea University
National University of Singapore
Seoul National University
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology
University of Tokyo
****** INBOX is an archive of press releases, statements, announcements, letters to the editors, and manifestos sent to Davao Today for publication. Please email your materials to davaotoday@gmail.com. Davao Today reserves the right to edit or refuse material for publication. *****
