On April 24-25, the First Future Engineering and Global Women’s Leadership Symposium, which was jointly organized by the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) and theSociety of Women Engineers (SWE), was held in the Central South University (CSU). This is a conversation between Chinese women and US women, a conversation on the relationship between the engineering and the industry, the present and the future, and theself and the world, passionately reasonable and lightly profound; the conversation hasattracted attention of both male and female audience inside and outside the meeting hall.
Engineering and womenmake a better world
It is undisputed that engineering technology is a major force in shaping the world, and that innovation in this regard represents an inexhaustible source of contributions to the progress of human civilization. The participation of women in such technology will not only increase its workforce, but also improve its quality. In recent years, thanks to the policy support and market development, China’s engineering technology has achieved remarkable progress. The increasing number of female scientists, engineers and scholars are playing an important role in the country’s economic development. However, as observed by Ge Jianzhong, Deputy Director of the Education Department of Hunan Province, womenrepresent a relatively small portion of engineering workforce, as they are more cautious about their selection in terms of study and employment, considering the unique nature of engineering and more domestic and social challenges they are facing than men. It is an urgent problem to provide women with more opportunities for learning and growth and encourage them to play a bigger role in the sector of engineering.
Bearing such problem in mind perhaps, SWE has dedicated itself to establishing engineering as a highly desirable career aspiration for women since its inception in 1950. To ensure SWE members reach their full potential as engineers and leaders, the Society provides networking opportunities and professional development opportunities for them, suggestions on public policies to relevant authorities, and recognition for the outstanding contributions and achievements of women engineers.
Such event took place with the goals of motivating women’s potentials, encouraging greater participation of women in the world-changing innovation of engineering technology and enabling their creative participation to make a more beautiful world in an era of scientific and technological innovation. It is such mission that brought together CAE and SWE. Cheng Jiayi, Chief of CAE Bureau of International Cooperation, expressed the hope that this activity could be turned into an opportunity for Chinese and US experts to share latest developments and advanced concepts, and build consensus, so as to contribute to cultural exchanges, technology cooperation in the context of global competition and gender equality in the sector of engineering technology.
Karen Horting, SWE Global Executive Director and CEO, agreed with Cheng’s remarks and hoped that both sides would make concerted efforts to motivate women to bring their potential into full play in terms of engineering and leadership, facilitate women to participate in cross-cultural communication on engineering, explore development tendency of engineering and meditate education strategy of college students.
A gathering of Chinese and US experts with focus on future engineering
On the morning of April 24, the First Future Engineering and Global Women’s Leadership Symposium was opened in the CSU Lecture Hall, under widespread attention and support. Cheng Jiayi, Chief of CAE Bureau of International Cooperation, Ge Jianzhong, Deputy Director of the Education Department of Hunan Province, Zhu Wan, Deputy Director of China Hunan Provincial Science & Technology Department, Chen Chunyang and Chen Xiang, CSU Vice Presidents attended the opening ceremony and extended their congratulations. Female academicians, famous female engineers, businesswomen, experts and scholars from both countries attended the seminar.
Leaders from academia and business community delivered their keynote speeches on the morning: in her speech entitled “Ecological Civilization and Green Development”, Chen Xiaohong, an academician of CAE and the honorary dean of Business School of CSU, shared her research and thoughts; Karinna Vernaza, a professor with Mechanical Engineering at Gannon University, analyzed the challenges facing the engineering sector in the 21stcentury; Zhou Jian, the Secretary of Party Committee of North China Electric Power University (NCEPU), shared her thoughts on the priorities in promoting the reform and innovation of higher engineering education in the new era; Karan Ramesey-Idem, the Global Technical Operations Excellence and Capacity Planning Leader for Commins Inc., analyzed the relationship between industry and academia from the perspective of the company; Zhang Yingjie, the Secretary of the Party Committee of Kunming University of Science and Technology, talked about how to globalize and industrialize the research outcomes of colleges under the guidance of “the Belt and Road Initiative”; and in their respective speeches entitled “Engineering Shapes Future” and “New Materials Promise a Brighter Future”, Susan Paish, the Chief Engineer for Boeing Global Service, and Hu Xuemei, the President and General Manager of Hunan Aerospace Co., Ltd., presented their views of how technology will shape future.
At the round table meeting on the afternoon, 19 experts from China and US exchanged their views on the topics of “Engineering makes a better world” and “Global industry and academic research”. The flow of inspiring information and insights, as described inHealth Engineering and Better Futureby Professor Cao Ya of CSU,Ethical and Moral Issues in the Development of Science and Engineeringby Professor Jade Morton at theAnn and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado (CU), andMeasures Taken By Global Organizations for Gender Equalityby Kristen Siemen, General Motors Executive Director of Global Vehicle Validation Engineering, converted the idea of “future engineering” into something solid as the discussions went deeper.
Field trip promotes cross-cultural communication
On April 25, nearly 30 female engineers and businesswomen from China and US, who attended the symposium the day before, made a trip to the CSU’s College Students’ Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Practice Base and High-speed Train Research Center, and SANY Heavy Industry Limited Company, where an in-depth exchange of views on technology and academic research took place.
Established in 2005, the Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Guidance of CSU is responsible for the innovation and entrepreneurship education for students. It effectively integrates resources to improve the models of education, training, guidance and service, and yields concrete results in guiding and supporting students’ innovation and entrepreneurship. Yang Fang, Director of the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education of CSU, showed these experts around the exhibition hall of achievements in innovation and entrepreneurship education, and briefed them on the basic information of the practice base. CSU’s efforts in innovation and entrepreneurship education were commended by the visiting experts.
The High-speed Train Research Center was established by combining the “vehicle structure strength laboratory”, “train aerodynamics laboratory” and “CAD/CAM laboratory” of the former Changsha Railway University in 1994, as part of an effort to adapt to the demand for faster railway and high-speed railway development. In 2003, the laboratory of traffic safety on track with the High-speed Train Research Center as the main body was approved as a key laboratory of the Ministry of Education. The visiting experts had exchanges with testers of the Center over the issue of high-speed train.
SANY has emerged as an international industrial group underpinned by high technology, and its founder and president, Mr. Liang Wengen, was graduated from CSU. Its main products include engineering machinery, superhard materials, welding materials, coaches, network communication equipment, etc. These experts visited the group’s large mechanical models and its new incubator.
Forough Ghahramani, the Associate Director of Rutgers Discovery Informatics Institute, said that she felt the passion and learned a lot from others over the one and a half days of discussion and communication, and that the model of innovation and entrepreneurship through collaboration among the Chinese government, enterprises and colleges is impressive and worth learning from. She also expressed her hope for long-term communication and cooperation with China.
Li Xiaobing, the President of Guangdong Yihao Foodstuff Co., Ltd., who was also impressed by these activities, said that engineering technology transforms China’s traditional agriculture and the life of mankind. She also said that she learned a great deal from this symposium, as it provided an opportunity for her to see the efforts everyone here has made to enhance future engineering and women’s status as well as her alma mater’s rapid development in innovation, entrepreneurship and engineering technology.
Source: News Center
