The 2014 EAPSI co-sponsored by Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), China Academy of Sciences, National Natural Science Foundation, and the US National Science Foundation and organized by China Science and Technology Exchange Center launched the opening ceremony at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences on June 6, 2014.
Mr. William Chang, head of the Asian-Pacific region, Mr. Gong Xifeng, Deputy Director-General of the Department of International Cooperation, China Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and representatives from MOST, China Academy of Sciences, National Natural Science Foundation, and American Embassy in China made their speeches at the opening ceremony. 40 excellent American young scholars from famous American universities such as Yale University, University of Maryland, University of California, Berkeley attended the ceremony. Representatives from both sides respectively presented the cooperation of the two countries on science and technology and EAPSI, and encouraged young scientists of the two countries to conduct constant and widespread cooperation and promote friendship so as to lay a solid foundation for S&T cooperation in the future.
After the ceremony, American students spent a week attending in Beijing the pre-training, which helped them understand China’s politics, foreign policy systems, and cultural and historical knowledge through lectures, discussions, and visits. After the pre-training, 40 American students would respectively go to famous universities and research institutes such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Chinese Academy of Sciences for collaborative research for 7 weeks. Their majors covered earth and environment, engineering, biotechnology, chemistry, physics, computer and material science.
As an important S&T activity of US-China Consultation on People-to-People Exchange, EAPSI has been successfully conducted for 11 consecutive years since 2004. It has been praised by governments and science communities of both sides. This year marked the third year of the opening of the program to national key universities and research institutes. The Chinese reception units for American students were dotted in many provinces and municipalities like Beijing, Shanghai, Xi’an, Kunming and Chengdu.