On the afternoon of December 6, 2024, Professor Wendell C. Brase, Vice Chancellor of the University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine), and a delegation of three visited our university for an academic exchange and delivered academic lectures. Vice Chancellor Wang Feng met with the visiting delegation. Present at the meeting were Cheng Daojian, Dean of the School of Chemical Engineering, Feng Jianghong, Deputy Director of the Office of International Cooperation and Exchange, and relevant personnel from the School of Chemical Engineering and the Office of International Cooperation and Exchange.
Vice Chancellor Wang Feng warmly welcomed the delegation and expressed the hope that both sides would continue to strengthen educational exchanges and deepen scientific research collaboration, building on the solid foundation of existing academic cooperation and joint student training. He also emphasized the importance of exploring and expanding new areas of cooperation to achieve more fruitful results. Over 70 graduate students, including Master's and PhD students, attended and listened to the insightful academic reports presented by Professor Brase and his colleagues. Mr. Chi Haipeng, an alumnus of Beijing University of Chemical Technology and founder and chairman of Beijing Dana Experimental Technology Co., Ltd., accompanied the delegation throughout the visit and academic exchange.
The academic report session was chaired by Professor Hu Chuangang from the School of Chemical Engineering. Professor John Lawrence Graham, Emeritus Professor and former Dean of the Business School at UC Irvine, delivered a presentation titled The Imperative of International Collaboration, where he shared his insights on the role of international trade in promoting globalization, fostering cultural understanding, and establishing interdependent relationships. He used the case of the cooperation between Apple and Foxconn to highlight the core idea that creative negotiation is a key management tool in international trade.
Professor Wendell C. Brase presented two excellent academic reports titled Why Your Work on Sustainable Laboratories is Important! and Sustainability and Remarkable Co-Benefits of Smart Labs. He gave a comprehensive introduction to the background and application of UC Irvine's Smart Laboratory Program, discussing its significant impact, including large-scale energy savings, carbon reduction, and financial benefits, as well as the direct and indirect outcomes for the university. He also introduced the sustainability and lifecycle performance standards applied to laboratory construction at UC for several decades, along with the effects of their implementation.
Professor Brian Pratt shared his experiences with academic laboratory construction at UC in a presentation titled Performance-Based Decision Making for Academic Laboratories. He emphasized the importance of balancing researchers' needs in academic laboratories, which face limited resources and continuous research time pressures. He proposed ways to create suitable working environments for researchers and actively reduce unnecessary energy consumption in laboratories through effective measures.
During the academic exchange, Professor Brase and his delegation also toured our campus and visited several laboratories.
