9th Annual Peking University - UCLA Symposium

80 faculty, students and supporters from Peking University and UCLA gathered to exchange research findings and explore new areas for collaboration at the 9th annual JRI symposium at UCLA.

Peking University (PKU) President Jianhua Lin, 6 other high level PKU administrators and 8 faculty represented PKU during the Joint Research Institute in Science and Engineering (JRI) by PKU and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The Annual Symposium held on October 15, 2018 on the UCLA campus hosted 80 participants. This was the ninth annual symposium which alternates between PKU and UCLA campuses.

During the opening, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block welcomed the esteemed group to UCLA and emphasized the importance of the relationship between UCLA and PKU. President Lin then remarked that UCLA was its top research partner and encouraged more collaboration. 

PKU President Jianhua Lin and UCLA Chancellor Gene Block meet at the opening of the 9th JRI Annual Symposium

JRI Co-director and Professor Jason Cong reflected on nine years of partnership and included an update of JRI joint research, publications and student programs. As JRI is going into its 10th year of partnership, President Lin took the opportunity to recognize top UCLA collaborators with PKU including, Fielding School of Public Health Professor Yifang Zhu with 9 joint publications; Department of Computer Science Professor Songwu Lu with 9 joint publications; Department of Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences Professor Vassilis Angelopoulos with 6 joint publications; and Department of Materials Science & Engineering Professor Yahong Xie with 6 joint publications.

Professor Vassilis Angelopoulos, Professor Yifang Zhu, PKU President Jianhua Lin and Professor Songwu Lu honored as top UCLA collaborators with PKU

Three of this year's JRI Summer Research Program students had a chance to share their research and cultural experiences from their summer at Peking University including Hetvi Doshi, Angie Jierou Chen and Alexander Soohoo.

UCLA undergraduate student and JRI Summer Research Program participant Hetvi Doshi shares her research from this summer at the 9th Annual Symposium of JRI

The audience was then engaged by keynote presentations from prominent faculty from both campuses: UCLA Acting Dean for the Fielding School of Public Health and Professor Yifang Zhu shared about her latest research on Beijing's air quality; PKU Professor Ming Zhang shared a talk titled "Learning the Joint Representation of Heterogeneous Temporal Events for Clinical Endpoint Prediction"; and UCLA Professor and Chair of the Department of Computer Science shared about the latest in Artificial Intelligence.

Professor Yifang Zhu shares her latest research on Beijing and Los Angeles' Air Quality

The afternoon included three breakout sessions where faculty from both schools presented their latest research and engaged in discussions on ways to collaborate together to advance their research. Topics included Edge Computing, Artificial Intelligence and Technology and Medicine.

PKU Professor Yizhou Wang shares his research in the Artificial Intelligence break out session

The day concluded with a dinner with PKU and UCLA faculty where they discussed ways to deepen their collaborations and the potential to apply for joint funding from the U.S. and Chinese governments.

UCLA Samueli School of Engineering Associate Dean Jenn-Ming Yang discussed international collaboration as faculty from both schools dinned together at the conclusion of the symposium

For the full program of the symposium, please visit http://pku-jri.ucla.edu/jri/events/13365.  JRI was founded in 2009 with the intention of fostering new and existing collaborations between UCLA and Peking University. Under the co-direction of Xiaoming Li (PKU) and Jason Cong (UCLA), JRI trains future science and engineering leaders with a global perspective, secures joint funding, and facilitates technology transfer of research results. JRI aims to serve both institutions as they jointly confront global concerns in science and engineering. 

For more info please contact:
Erin Hakim
hakim@international.ucla.edu

Published: Friday, November 2, 2018