The first meeting of the Second Academic Activities and Publication Committee of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) was held in CAE office building on December 4, 2010. The meeting was chaired by Fan Daiming, Director of the Academic Activities and Publication Committee, also Vice President of CAE.
Placed on the agenda of the meeting are the following: to notify the general information regarding personnel change election of the CAE Academic Activities and Publication Committee; to examine and approve the working plan of the CAE Academic Activities and Publication Committee for year 2010 through 2014; to review the Management Regulations on Academic Activities of CAE (Revised Version); to discuss the academic activities and publication plans of the Academic Activities and Publication Committee for year 2011; to discuss the personnel change related issue of editorial boards of certain publications; and to examine and approve the Research Project on CAE Academic Activities Development working program.
The meeting was also attended by Zhou Ji, President of CAE, Gan Yong, Deputy Director of the Academic Activities and Publication Committee of CAE, also Vice President of CAE, together with new members of the Second Academic Activities and Publication Committee.
Director Fan Daiming, first of all, extended his full recognition and appreciation for all that the previous Committee had done, and then notify the general information concerning personnel change after the completion of term of office of the First Committee. In accordance with the CAE by-laws as well as committee regulations, the Second Academic Activities and Publication Committee of CAE composed of 23 members was formed.
All the members were firstly recommended by the nine Academic Divisions of CAE and the previous Committee, and then approved at CAE Governing Board Meeting. Fan Daiming acts as the Director of the Committee, while Gan Yong and Liu Depei Deputy Directors. Among the 23 members of the Second Academic Activities and Publication Committee, 22 are CAE Members, while one is an expert.
CAE President Zhou Ji presented letters of appointment to the new committee members present at the meeting, and then delivered a speech. He gave credit for the achievements of CAE in terms of the organization of academic activities as well as publication in the past. Zhou pointed out that CAE, as the top-level academic institute in the field of engineering science and technology in China, should shoulder the significant mission of leading the academic sector.
Zhou also said that, in the past sixteen years since the founding of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, CAE has organized a total of more than 1,000 academic activities of various sorts, in which over 80,000 science and technology personnel participated. Those academic activities involved more than 100 disciplines in the field of engineering science and technology covered by the nine Academic Divisions of CAE.
So far, some major serial academic activities have come into being and have been gaining popularity. They are, for example, Engineering Science and Technology Forum, Academic Division Annual Meeting, Frontiers of Engineering Symposium, Frontiers of Medical Science Symposium, etc. These major academic activities organized by CAE have exerted fairly positive influence on the engineering science and technology community home and abroad, and provided a wonderful platform dedicated to academic exchanges and cooperation in the engineering science and technology world.
They have also played extraordinarily significant roles in the dissemination of scientific knowledge, the promotion of scientific and technological progress, as well as the cultivation of engineering science and technology personnel, which greatly helped to boost the innovation and development of engineering science and technology in China.
As a matter of fact, organizing academic activities has become an important piece of routine work for the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
Publication is always an important component of the advisory research project of CAE, thus stays irreplaceable in the construction of the nation s think tank in engineering science and technology. Publications of CAE reflect the wisdom of CAE Members on the one hand, and at the same time, also demonstrate the latest achievements in engineering science and technology in China, as well as achievements coming from consulting research projects and academic activities organized by CAE.
Over the past years, CAE has joined hands with Higher Education Press (HEP) and other publishing agencies and produced a series of publications exerting extensive and far-reaching impacts in the engineering science and technology community, such as large-scale album of paintings named CAE Members , and journals entitled Engineering Science in China , which have made remarkable accomplishments and contributions in promoting the scientific moral ethics of CAE Members and diffusing engineering science and technology achievements.
The publication work of CAE strengthened its exchange and cooperation with foreign academies of engineering, and promoted the academic exchanges and personnel training in the field of engineering science and technology in China, thus won extensive recognition and praise.
President Zhou stressed on the importance of academic activities organizing and publishing work of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He pointed out that, according to what Hu Jintao, Secretary-General of CPC, said in the General Assembly held in June 2010, about the construction of the nation s think tank in engineering science and technology, the newly-issued Working Plan Outline for CAE (2010 2014) states clearly that CAE should center its work on eight major areas of work in two aspects, namely, the construction of the engineering science and technology think tank of China, and the team building of CAE Members, in the future work, further strengthening the work of all Special Committees.
The Academic Activities and Publication Committee ought to play its crucial role in fulfilling CAE s leading position in the academic sector. And all Committee Members ought to act as bridges between the Committee and the nine Academic Divisions, establishing matrix-like high-efficiency management model reliant upon CAE Members, the huge number of science & technology personnel, as well as experts in China, and based on various Academic Divisions.
To truly build up the think tank of China in engineering science and technology, and truly make CAE live up to its title as the highest honorary and advisory academic institute, the Academic Activities and Publication Committee still has a long way to go.
The meeting worked on all issues placed on the agenda one by one conscientiously, making extensive discussion and examination with regard to each of them. The meeting approved all the suggested issues basically. In addition, all Members of the Committee gave a lot of positive and constructive comments and suggestions concerning how to further improve their work for the Committee.
In the end, Vice President Fan Daiming gave concluding remarks. He said that the First Meeting of the Second Academic Activities and Publication Committee turned out to be a great success, in which President Zhou gave significant instructions about the future work of the Committee on behalf of the Academy, which have made specific requests, as well as pointed out directions for the future development of the Second Academic Activities and Publication Committee.
Fan also expressed his hope that all Members of the Committee should take them seriously, trying to understand the essence of them and then implement them in their future work conscientiously. Also Fan hoped that the Committee Secretariat should keep all the newly-approved files in mind and take the comments and recommendations coming from all different parties earnestly, making improvements in the work plan as soon as possible and carry out the preparatory work for the successful implementation of the work plan vigorously.
(By Gao Zhanjun, January 2011; translated by Liu Chang)
